Request for Application Development Guidelines
I have a wizard application for MS Windows which is typical Next-Next-Finish type. The application has a default vendor-specific background theme that persists across all application windows (for example, the vendor's logo and background color for each screen). I want to develop a similar Mac app wizard. I noticed that all applications have a gray window by default on Mac. Are there any design guidelines from Apple that say the background color of windows should be the default? Can I use custom colors and images for the app? Any ideas would be much appreciated.
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Apple has a fairly comprehensive document called the Apple Human Interface Guidelines . Most Mac OS X users expect applications to look and behave in accordance with these guidelines and tend to be slightly less forgiving for applications that deviate from them. It is of course perfectly possible to customize your application however you wish, but I highly recommend reading the document (link is in the title) before deciding how you want to proceed.
These are just guidelines, meaning that if you have a good reason not to follow them, they are not the end of the world, but once you get to know them, you can most likely mix your settings with something that doesn't feel completely foreign. your Mac user base. Even if your main user base is the latest versions of Windows, this will result in them giving them what they are mostly familiar with already and allowing them to start moving towards the design expectations of other Mac apps.
In the end, it’s completely up to you. You can also take a look at how Apple handles these wizards. Take a look at the installer app (many products customize it, and if you have the tools installed you can see where it's easy to customize to get some hints as to what you can allow for customization in your application). In addition, you can take a look at some of the wizards that Xcode uses and what the Apple Pro packages are using (if you have access to them) or what the various iLife applications are using (you must have access to them). This research, combined with at least familiarity with Apple's Human Interface Guidelines, should help you on your way to what satisfies your current customers, your boss (if you have one); and any clientswhich are already rooted in Mac OS X ..
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The problem with using custom colors for windows / controls in a Windows application is that they don't change to match the theme you choose. ControlColor / ControlText and other variations change according to the theme used. I think they should be the same for Mac. Not sure though ... I hope you get clues from other answers ...
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You don't have to gray out your background, but you'd better have a damn good reason (and a professional designer) for doing otherwise. Mac users tend to have an idea of what a Mac application should look like, and projects that cause a lot of odd colors and custom graphics tend to feel "wrong." As with any field, you can break the rules and avoid it, but you really need to know what you are doing, otherwise you will just look stupid.
My advice as a longtime Mac user is to prefer consistency with the Mac UI according to the version of your Windows program. This gives a better user experience. As Jason Coco said, take a look at the wizards included in Mac OS X - the Mac term for "helpers" and some of them are included in the / Applications / Utilities folder. The installer is also such a program.
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