a day ago
- The 1984 Mac Control Panel, designed by Susan Kare, was a wordless appliance-like interface with sliders, steppers, and a mini map, but limited to 10 settings, including motor memory customization for keyboard and mouse.
- 1986's Control Panel added text labels and radio buttons, sacrificing charm for clarity, and introduced complex settings like RAM Cache and AppleTalk, marking the beginning of more technical options.
- By 1987, a sidebar hierarchy allowed more settings to fit, but led to cluttered panels and inconsistency; accessibility features like CloseView and the Map CDEV emerged.
- System 7 (1991) embraced the spatial Finder metaphor with icons and freely moving panels, but felt overburdened; color and new panels like Monitors and Memory appeared, though inconsistency persisted.
- Third-party features like SuperClock (battery and clock) and WindowShade were absorbed into the system by 1994, while extensions and PC Exchange hinted at future complexities and the decline of the classic Mac OS.
- In 1997, Apple struggled with Windows competition; the 'Platinum' appearance and Appearance panel (with themes like Gizmo and Hi-Tech) represented a desperate attempt at innovation, but lacked taste.
- Mac OS 8.5 (1998) included the salvaged Appearance panel with pervasive sounds, bad fonts, and amateurish themes, but also introduced internet-focused panels like Internet and Web Sharing.
- Mac OS X (2001) brought a clean slate with Aqua UI, System Preferences organized into groups, and new panels like Dock and Screen Saver, though early versions suffered from performance issues.
- NeXTStep's Preferences (1988) influenced Mac OS X with column views, custom keyboard shortcuts, and a proto-Dock, but had its own organizational quirks.
- Mac OS X Panther (2003) refined the UI with better consistency, Universal Access, and Exposé, but the metal vs. plastic aesthetic confusion continued; the pace of change slowed after 2004.