Whats with the huge window shadows?

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Is apple trying to give the illusion that the finder window is floating 3 whole inches off the screen?

When the shadow is small, the perception is that the window if off the screen just a bit. And an object 1/4" the screen would not require our 3D eyes to refocus (much).

But the Leopard shadow hints that that window is off the screen many inches. If an object was off the screen that much, our eyes would have to re-focus.

The disconnect between shadow and focus kills the illusion. Aside from that, I think the huge shadow is disruptive and rude. It takes up way too much space. Well not really, but it's clutteryishfull, and overlaps other things.
 
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If you watched the Leopard guided tour you would know that it is intended to make it easier to find your active window.
 
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giulio
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True. Too bad there is no "shadow size" setting in Universal Access control panel.

hheeyy... maybe it's in a plist somewhere?
 
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Most of the time I don't even notice it.
 
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Like Josh, if it wasn't pointed out, I would have never noticed. I think they look fine.
 

bobtomay

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Never even noticed until you pointed it out. Had to change my background to really see what was up.

More often than not, I only have one app up on the screen, so not a biggy to me. Can see how it might not be all that great for some.

Yeah, now that I'm playing with it, I can tell the size of the shadow is larger on the active app. But anyone using the shadow for that has got better eyes them me. :Grimmace:
 
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Like bob mentioned, I often only have one app running on each space. Combine that with a relatively dark background, I find it difficult to see the larger shadow.
 

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