The Ten Most Beautiful OS X Apps 118
Phillip Ryu writes "As someone in the Macintosh shareware business, as part of my job, I make the daily crawl through MacUpdate to look for the latest and greatest in Mac software. One thing I've been noticing recently is a renaissance of extremely polished and beautiful Mac apps, so I thought I'd share some of these finds with you guys. Without further ado, presenting the top ten most beautiful OS X apps. Hopefully you'll find some new gems in there, even I found a few surprises while compiling this list. Enjoy!"
Nothing for you to see here. (Score:2, Insightful)
Acquisition (Score:2)
Re:Acquisition (Score:3, Insightful)
Anyway, I think you're way off base. There's no "copying Windows freeware concepts and selling them as crippleware" going on here. None.
There are a host of free Mac Bittorrent clients out there -- this is what the GP was alluding to when he was saying that he wasn't going to pay $18 for Transmit. Azureus, for one, runs fine on OS X and doesn't cost anything.
The complaint about Transmit is that what you're essentially paying $18 for is not the functionality, but
Re:Acquisition (Score:2)
Although the exact same argument would go for Transmit (which is FTP instead of BT), since there are numerous free tools available that do the same thing. What you're paying for is the frontend; I make no comment as to whether it's worthwhile or not, since that's a personal decision which depends on how you work.
Re:Acquisition (Score:1)
Obviously, this offended someone who chose to mod my post Flamebaitwho didn't realize I have more (/.) karma than God.
Re:Acquisition (Score:2)
God posts here? It's not hard to have more karma - the Bible was one of the world's biggest trolls.
Re:Acquisition (Score:2)
Re:Acquisition (Score:2)
And it's unfortunate that PerversionTracker [perversiontracker.com] ground to a halt a couple of years ago. Much easier to navigate than Versiontracker or MacUpdate, it was at least as useful at steering you towards quality Mac apps (or at least steering you away from the truly bad ones)...
Re:Acquisition (Score:1)
Re:Acquisition (Score:3, Insightful)
Yes, I circumvented the nag screen by registering. I did the same with Radiolover. See, I enjoyed the program and wanted to support it. And those nag screens did get annoying. It
Acquisition Cabos (Score:3, Interesting)
Sealed-tight car bonnet? (Score:2)
Just one example: I rewrote and recompiled a kernel extension to quiet my PowerBook's fan. There are dozens of community sites built around hacking the system. Easy things easy, hard things hard, complexity beneath elegance and all that.
Re:Sealed-tight car bonnet? (Score:2, Informative)
Re:Sealed-tight car bonnet? (Score:2)
Re:Bah. (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Bah. (Score:2)
What's that about opinions and butts? Go ahead and label me a heretic, but I think Aqua has nothing on KDE's Plastik theme. The difference is that I just stated an opinion, while you pretended to state a fact.
Now here's a real fact (just to show the difference): some people have different tastes from yours. Don't forget that.
Oh, and one last while I'm being pedantic: it's "elegance", unless Aqua real
Re:Bah. (Score:2)
Re:Bah. (Score:2)
Re:Bah. (Score:1)
Have you tried looking at some websites in it? That's what I usually do when I need a break from contemplating the aesthetic shortcomings of the interface.
Re:Bah. (Score:2)
Re:Bah. (Score:2)
It doesn't fit into the look and feel of the native apps, even the best skins still look like hastily scrapped together icon collections. I use Firefox as my main browser (goes to show that I am not too picky about the eye candy) but would really appreciate if someone sat down and at least created a decent skin. Better still (because that would allow us to get rid of
Re:Bah. (Score:2)
Re:Bah. (Score:2)
Re:Bah. (Score:2)
Re:Bah. (Score:2)
What problems do you perceive in the themes?
Have you actually tried a GrApple theme?
Re:Bah. (Score:2)
1. It doesn't draw focuses properly, so it can be difficult to tell where the cursor is.
2. Context menus are drawn too small and can be hard to read, and do not respond properly to the mouse.
3. The Loaded indicator doesn't look any different than the loading in progress indicator, so it can be difficult to tell when a page is fully loaded.
4. Dragging text doesn't work correctly.
It's definitely the best o
The List (Score:4, Informative)
10 - Transmission
9 - Potion Factory
8 - Podcast Maker
7 - Transmit
6 - Quinn
5 - AppZapper
4 - AcQuisition
3 - CoverFlow
2 - Newsfire
1 - Delicious Library
Re:The List (Score:2)
Seriously (Score:2)
Re:Seriously (Score:2)
Re:Seriously (Score:2)
This is using Firefox 1.0.7 on my work machine (WinXP) with Adblock and Filterset.G. Not sure how it looks on Konqueror/Safari.
Re:The List (Score:2)
For a site doing a story on OSX apps, it renders beautifully in the Safari browser (which is supplied with OSX). The text and blue links are on a white page that sits on the blue background.
I looked at the page in firefox and got the blue links on blue background.
Since the site is heavy on CSS, I would guess that the problem is that your browser doesn't render the CSS properly?
You could check if your
Re:The List (Score:1)
It's rendering as a white "page" against a blueprint-style background on all of the browsers I'm using... That includes Opera9, Firefox and Konqueror. Of these, only Firefox fails the Acid2, but as I mentioned, it's rendering the page just fine.
I wonder if this might be an interaction with an adblocking extensio
Re:The List (Score:5, Informative)
10 - Transmission [m0k.org]
9 - Potion Factory [potionfactory.com]
8 - Podcast Maker [potionfactory.com]
7 - Transmit [panic.com]
6 - Quinn [simonhaertel.de]
5 - AppZapper [appzapper.com]
4 - AcQuisition [acquisitionx.com]
3 - CoverFlow [steelskies.com]
2 - Newsfire [newsfirerss.com]
1 - Delicious Library [delicious-monster.com]
Re:The List (Score:1)
Re:The List (Score:1)
Re:The List (Score:2)
I think you ment minimalistic...? (Score:5, Insightful)
There are so many more visually appealing OS X apps out there. Most of his list is just file-list style apps. A downloader? Good grief.
Re:I think you ment minimalistic...? (Score:1)
Re:I think you ment minimalistic...? (Score:2)
Re:I think you ment minimalistic...? (Score:5, Insightful)
Of course, but this isn't "Ten OS X Apps with a User Interface", it's the "Ten Most Beautiful". And check out this screenshot:
http://www.mathgamehouse.com/images/phillryu/acqu
Does that strike you as particularly "most beautiful" of all OS X apps out there? To me, it looks busy and uninspired... and that's supposed to be the fourth most beautiful app? More beautiful than, say, Google Earth on OS X which didn't make the list even though it's freeware as well? Screenshot:
http://saya.s145.xrea.com/archives/images/GoogleE
The "extremely eye-pleasing" P2P app they mention doesn't look much different than Safari's download panel with a couple of colorful buttons thrown on top. Compare:
P2P app: http://www.mathgamehouse.com/images/phillryu/tran
Safari: http://www.ucl.ac.uk/is/diary/mac/SafariDownloadM
I'd say the list could perhaps qualify as top ten nice OS X application icons.
Re:I think you ment minimalistic...? (Score:4, Funny)
Crap, that didn't come out right at all.
Re:I think you ment minimalistic...? (Score:2)
The Mac-iest Mac app ever.... (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:The Mac-iest Mac app ever.... (Score:2, Informative)
And #1 is... (Score:2, Funny)
Re:And #1 is... (Score:2)
Why go through all that trouble when you could just run dosbox [reactos.org] and have the same effect?
The #1 ugliest Mac website... (Score:4, Funny)
Argh! My eyes...
Re:The #1 ugliest Mac website... (Score:2)
Sorta funny... but you don't know how many of my friends I've convinced to buy Macs, only to find that they suddenly think they're Rembrant. The tools don't solve the problem that you have no taste. DO YOU HEAR ME, PAUL?!?
Re:The #1 ugliest Mac website... (Score:3, Funny)
Re:The #1 ugliest Mac website... (Score:2)
And that comes from a web designer with more than a decade's experience.
Re:The #1 ugliest Mac website... (Score:2)
LaunchBar should have made the list. (Score:5, Informative)
Re:LaunchBar should have made the list. (Score:3, Interesting)
QuickSilver [blacktree.com]. LaunchBar is for has-beens. :)
Seriously though, after using LaunchBar for many moons I switched to QuickSilver after giving it a whirl. It's much more elegant, and on a personal level it fits my workflow habits better. Your mileage may vary, of course, but if you haven't tried it, do. Very tasty.
Re:LaunchBar should have made the list. (Score:1)
Coverflow--wow (Score:1)
Re:Coverflow--wow (Score:1)
and it really changed the way i browse my music.
seeing long-forgotten covers and rediscovering music - great little app.
and beautyful
Hey! How dare you! This is Slashdot... (Score:2, Offtopic)
I don't want a command-line desktop. I want command-line servers. Desktop pretty. Server ugly. Pretty server UI useless. (Ugg!)
So, before you Linux zealots start coming out
Re:Hey! How dare you! This is Slashdot... (Score:2)
One man's opinion... (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:One man's opinion... (Score:1)
Beauty... (Score:3, Interesting)
Most of Apple's own programs seem to have exactly this type of beauty.
Re:Beauty... (Score:2)
Handsome is as handsome does . . . (Score:2, Interesting)
Using the idea that utility is at least as important as beauty, I'm going to nominate my brand-new copy of NeoOffice. Why? As a single user and owner of a small business, it lets me compose, proofread, and print out a document--and then print out an envelope to mail it in. It allows me to email that same document in Word doc format to my brethren and sisteren who don't use Mac
Beauty over practical value ? (Score:2)
Re:Beauty over practical value ? (Score:1)
Isn't that the kind of collection though, that DL was designed for? It quickly scans in the barcode, adds it to your catalogue, and then you know you have it, or who you lent it to.
I for one have nearly 200 DVDs, and it gets crazy sometimes remembering which ones are mine, what I
Re:Beauty over practical value ? (Score:2)
what about functionality? (Score:2)
but I think it's more important to care what apps are [b]useable[/b]. Mix beauty and functionality into a big soup bowl, and rate them accordingly. Just rating apps on their look is as redundant as underpants on a Saint Bernard.
Re:what about functionality? (Score:2)
insensitive clod! (Score:1, Offtopic)
Re:insensitive clod! (Score:2)
AdiumX (Score:1)
I cackled with glee as I deleted the atrocious Yahoo Messenger from my Mac. AdiumX is one of the only perfect apps I have used in my 21 years of computing.
My niece stood on my once beloved Dell 8200 the other day and cracked the LCD. I said, "era, what the hell...".
http://adiumx.com/screenshots.php [adiumx.com]
Quicksilver (Score:3, Insightful)
I'm always finding new capabilites with Quicksilver [blacktree.com]. It transforms the way you work with your Mac, and it is beautiful in its minimalism and polish. This is a tool that does so much, and actually does so while not only staying out of your way, but also by removing obstacles to flow. Quicksilver gets my vote for #1.
Re:Quicksilver (Score:2)
I recently had to do something on my wife's laptop, and after about 10 minutes of messing around, I just installed quicksilver so that I could use the sodding thing. I've forgotten how much it hides from you since I've been using it
And serious applications? (Score:2)
Re:And serious applications? (Score:1)
He's a Mac user. He does all his statistical calculation and Latin verb conjugations in his head, from memory.
Vienna (Score:2)
Most stolen Icon ever? (Score:2)
http://www.panic.com/transmit/ [panic.com]
That thing is one of the most stolen icons of all time. They even put a page dedicated to "rip off"
http://www.panic.com/extras/ripoff/ [panic.com]
Note many sites fixed their stolen icons after figuring it out. Yes, it is usually a burglar single webmaster to blame. I personally know one of them got fired who should knaw Panic Inc. and Transmit icon
Re:How about 10 of the ugliest Linux apps, now? (Score:2)
Re:How about 10 of the ugliest Linux apps, now? (Score:2)
Re:How about 10 of the ugliest Linux apps, now? (Score:2)
L
Re:How about 10 of the ugliest Linux apps, now? (Score:2)
My Gnome desktop in Ubuntu is probably more unified than my Mac or Windows desktops. Consider Windows: The Media Player sticks out like a sore thumb, and Office doesn't conform to anything but itself. (Actually I don't use Office, but I can't let that stand in the way of a rhetorical point.) And in Mac OS X, the apps can't agree on whether they want to be Pinstriped, Brushed, or Unified.
Re:How about 10 of the ugliest Linux apps, now? (Score:2)
However, I do still use and appreciate some of these apps. xterm is still the best terminal emulator, and xpdf is still the best PDF viewer. When in command-line mode, mplayer is great.
Re:Beautiful != Functional (Score:1, Troll)
Re:Beautiful != Functional (Score:1)
There, fixed that for you...
Re:Beautiful != Functional (Score:2)
Re:X11 Apps under MacOSX (Score:2)
Other serious question, why not PHP-QT [berlios.de], which uses the native carbon bindings and doesn't require X11?
If you've gone to a lot of trouble to fake the OS/X behaviours, why not change the toolkits ?
Re:X11 Apps under MacOSX (Score:2)
There are several man-years invested in the current application. With that, you don't just "change the toolkits" without at *least* a year in the making.
Re:X11 Apps under MacOSX (Score:4, Interesting)
If so this is a major undertaking, and If you really pulled all of that off in under a month, my hat's off to you, and I'd like a screenshot !
Please consider giving the OO.org people a tip or two.
I've personnally written a largish application that sort-of-works OK under OS/X, but with all the above caveats. I'm seriously thinking about rewriting the lot with a more sensible toolkit, in this case QT. It doesn't take as long the second time, apparently.
Re:X11 Apps under MacOSX (Score:2)
As it is with PHP-GTK under Windows. Our application generates PDFs when it needs to print and makes a shell call to open whatever app prints PDFs. Works fine in our case, may not work for others.
services don't work
Ahem? Can't respond.
menus are not where they need to be.
Menus appear in the same app as the rest of the application - perhaps this is more weird to a Mac user, but we've got
Re:X11 Apps under MacOSX (Score:2)
Re:X11 Apps under MacOSX (Score:2)
- Services don't work, so the app can't be extended w/ Services --- no auto-setting of capitalization as desired, no interaction w/ Address Book, &c.
- no drag-drop support, so one can't populate a field from text already on-screen w/ a select, click, drag, release.
- what about AppleScript? Can your app be used in an Automator work-flow?
I'm glad to have X-11 apps as a fall-back for when there's nothing native, but they're nowhere near as nice --- take a look at Nova
Re:X11 Apps under MacOSX (Score:2, Interesting)
Ahem... errr... okay, now I feel kinda awkward...
Bye bye... *runs away*
Re:X11 Apps under MacOSX (Score:2)
Just my two cents... X11 apps are a distant third choice for me behind native and java apps. For small utilities I'd prefer a CLI interface. For larger, more complex utilities, the misplaced menu, lack of support for services, and other UI inconsistencies you don't think about till you hit them are just too detrimental to my workflow. I never use drag and drop, except for the occasional image so it is not a big deal to me.
Do not assume, however, that lack of negative feedback means everyone likes somethin
Re:X11 Apps under MacOSX (Score:2)
As an illustration, I avoid using my very own application if I can help it under OS/X, because it so doesn't fit with the rest of the desktop. I wrote it with a portable toolkit (FLTK [fltk.org]) that doesn't require X11, but still looks like one. It doesn't work well with all the rest of OS/X. I painfully got D&D working, I think I can get the menus sort-of worked out, but this is not good enough.
I know some clients use it, I never had negative feedback, but based on my own opinion they can't possibl
Re:X11 Apps under MacOSX (Score:1)
Printing is special? I rarely (read: never) use X11 apps in OS X, but I'd just assumed that since OS X's printing system is CUPS [cups.org], which is become the de facto printer queue on Unix-like systems, and includes analogues of older tools (lpr, lpq, etc.), that printing under X11 would Just Work (assuming, of course, that you've set up your printer in OS X). Am I wrong?
Re:X11 Apps under MacOSX (Score:2)
Slow, perhaps, if you are writing a video game, or a performance-intensive app. We're doing neither. We provide software to administer schools - grades, credits. and the like. For which PHP-GTK does just fine.
We don't have many complaints about performance, even though the average use consists of a database of a few hundred MB