So Apple gets a facelift

Apple’s WWDC07 ( the developers conference ) kicked off today and Apple.com seems to have gotten a bit of a face lift.

So like the apple nerd I am I watched Steve Jobs Keynote speech at WWDC07 earlier this afternoon and was impressed at what is in store for us apple lovers during the next year. The most interesting is the up coming release of OSX Leopard, just 21 months after the last release of Tiger assuming that is comes on time. Steve was boasting over 300 new features in the lastest release of the operating system but who knows if that true, I don’t think I will notice all 300 that’s for sure. Regardless I am excited, but where am I going to get all the money I’m gonna need for the upgrade?

Well I happen to think that Steve Jobs is a terribly charismatic person, I want nothing more than to believe everything he has to say. As he stands in front of the room his excitement about Apple is ever apperaent. He kinda seems like a kid talking about all his new toys. I like that, it’s how I feel when I get to start talking about design.

Steve starts out his presentation talking about Leopard and some of it’s sweet new features. My favorites were the new finder and the new desktop with stacks. The look of the new desktop is similar to Tigers but more streamlined and simple. The doc extends into the background image like a 3d stage for your app icons to sit on. It’s really pretty cool. Stacks are a way of cleaning up the desktop. They are like a small folder that sits in the dock that holds groups of files that are easily accessable without cluttering your desktop. You can create your own but Leopard ships with a stack for all the files that you download off the internet instead of ( like me ) having so many things on your desktop that you cant see the background.

This image and the one before it are screen captures from the WWDC07 keynote address earlier this afternoon. Check it out at apple… I found it a little long but who cares… it was Steve Jobs right.

Apple.com is sporting a new look as today as well. The navigation has been taken from simple and understated to more simple and more understated. I just love it. Simple is in and that’s cool.

Apple.com is as clean as ever. I have always looked at my enviroment as a designer and Apple has always influenced me as a designer. I like the light windows with the light gradients used by apple. They feel sturdy and brings weight to the page. The information is always present and  easy to access, the main navigation is strong and simple, and the slider at the head of some of the pages is fun and easy. How could you not want play with this thing? I have to figure that out… So cool.