Aqua (Mac OS X)

Aqua is a trade name for the GUI appearance of Apple Computer's Mac OS X operating system.

The two primary features of Aqua are the gel-like buttons (colored red, yellow, and green) that control the windows, and the Dock which facilitates navigation between applications.

There are two main styles of windows that Aqua includes: standard pinstriped and brushed metal. (See thumbnail illustrations.) The standard pinstriped windows contain glass-like buttons that appear to sit on top of the window. The brushed metal variety have a gray gradient, and the buttons are sunken into the window. Also, instead of glassy buttons, brushed metal windows have more plastic-like buttons.

Aqua is powered by the Portable Document Format, which manages the underlying graphics management.

See also: Quartz, Quartz Extreme, Exposé