Apple Human Interface Guidelines  

These guidelines are designed to assist you in developing products that provide Mac OS X users with a consistent visual and behavioral experience across applications and the operating system.

Apple Inc. (2003). Design>User Interface>Operating Systems

Deeper into the Paradigm  

The screen may be flat, but the illusion of depth grows stronger. With Apple’s new operating system, OS X, the evolutionary trend of the user interface becomes clear. Starting as flat, monochromatic symbols, the Mac’s icons have become progressively more naturalistic, and the suggestion of depth created by layers of overlapping windows has been enhanced, first by the Classic bas-relief shading on the window frames, and now, with Aqua, the OS X interface, by the addition of feathered drop shadows cast by the windows.

Shinn, Nick. ShinnType (2002). Design>User Interface>Operating Systems>Macintosh

Top Ten Nine Reasons the Apple Dock Still Sucks

Apple Sales is apparently in love with the Dock. You can't go into an Apple store without seeing it splayed across the bottom of the screen, in the very configuration least conducive to computing on a Macintosh. Why? Because it's sexy and it sells. Unfortunately, as a productivity device, it just doesn't work.

Tognazzini, Bruce. Nielsen Norman Group (2004). Design>User Interface>Operating Systems>Macintosh

The UNIX GUI Manifesto

GUI fragmentation is the greatest competitive weakness of UNIX. There is no standard Unix File Manager or Text Editor or Help -- that's shocking, in this age! Every Windows or Mac machine has a standard file manager and text editor and help system. The casual end user can accomplish elementary end-user tasks without encountering anything different from machine to machine.

Hoffman, Michael. Hypertext Navigation. Design>User Interface>Operating Systems>UNIX

Visualización Espacialmente Consciente

Las pantallas de los ordenadores son como una ventana al ciberespacio, a menudo demasiado pequeñas y limitadas. Los dispositivos capaces de localizarse en el espacio personal del usuario ofrecen una ventana a espacios virtuales 3D en el que la combinación de movimiento e interacción abre nuevas posibilidades de visualización.

Dursteler, Juan Carlos. InfoVis (2003). (Spanish) Design>User Interface>Operating Systems>PDA