ATPM reviews MarsEdit. Wes Meltzer reviewed MarsEdit 1.0
for About This Particular Macintosh. It got a Very Nice ratingwhich
is nothing to sneeze at for a 1.0. And theres some great feedback in
there we can use for future development.
(Oh, heck, of course we wanted an Excellent ratingbut, hey, even Delicious Library got a Very Nice rating. Good company to be in.)
One of the things I love about the review is that it talks about Bryan Bells work:
In fact, this is one of the applications greatest
strengths. Im no expert on iconography, though I play one on TV, but
all the icons seem immediately recognizable for what they are. Thats a
formidable challenge with a weblog editor, since it doesnt have any
real-life analogues, and piggy-backing off of Mail could be confusing.
I am especially fond of the way the Weblog command icons look: an
action symbol superimposed on a Safari-esque window. And the Post
command icons use a sheet of paper with action symbols. Its a very
clean way of saying a lot with a little, and they make an abstract
concept much more approachable.
I like this because it recognizes Bryans excellent work and also
because its a mini-tutorial on developing toolbar icons. Its not
enough to make them attractive and cleanthe use of metaphors that make
sense and are consistent is a huge part of the icon designers art.
Though not an icon designer myself, I know just enough to have some small idea how wickedly difficult it can be.
And so not only Bryan but all the great OS X icon designersJon Hicks, definitely, and others whose names I dont knowdeserve our fondest thanks for helping make OS X apps usable and fun. [inessential.com]