Not everyone likes the new lozenge buttons in Tiger Mail. John Siracusa at Ars Technica calls them 
“hideously ugly”. Giles Turnbull at MacDevCenter finds that “Euw…” sums it all up. And Leopard doesn’t remove them.
In fact, the lozenges are spreading. It looks like Preview will feature them in Leopard:
Foad Afshari has posted a disk image containing the “de-lozenged” icons from Tristan O’Tierney’s Cage Fighter , a utility (broken since 10.4.6) that removes the bubble from the buttons. A before and after shot gives you an idea of the transformation:
The disk image also contains the buttons from Panther Mail and instructions on how to manually install them into Mail.app’s package.
However, there is an easier way. Andrew Escobar’s Mail Stamps still works nicely. It does all the hack work for you, replacing the Tiger lozenges with bold and brassy Panther icons:
Mail Stamps includes an uninstaller so you can return to the Tiger look if the mood takes you.
The change will not bust or damage Mail in any way. It only replaces some images deep inside Mail’s application package. You can banish those lozenges with 100% confidence.
Hopefully, someone is already working on “Preview Stamps”.
Why Apple felt that the older icons needed to be replaced by these “lozenge” style buttons is beyond me, but once I changed them back, I was much happier.
MailStamps is the way to go. Quick and easy to install and you’re up and running with better Mail.app icons in no time at all. Highly recommended.
i must be one of a very few that does not mind the lozenge buttons. i liked the old panther style but i never felt the need to change back. what gets me more are metal windows.
in fact, i’m really ready for the smooth, unified windows that leopard will (hopefully bring to all or most apps). i’ve been using a shapeshifter theme called aquaops that does this for tiger… nice to have a unified theme for all apps! the reason i bring up this theme is that it uses the mail style lozenge buttons for finder window buttons, safari, ichat, and a few others… and i really like it!!
What horror! It looks like Preview has been poised by the same fugly pill as Mail.
I’m beginning work on Mail Stamps 3.0 (Leopard) tonight. It looks like I’ll also have to consider a fix for Preview.
I will never understand the need to theme the user interface, or to get rid of “ugly” lozenge buttons. Sure, they may look a bit weird with the gray background in the lozenge, but I would hardly call them “ugly” and feel the need to get them off my screen ASAP.
Same with brushed metal. It just looks a bit dated, but whatever. In fact, having different styles of windows ENHANCES usability. The fact that iTunes is the only regular app I use that has a smooth metal interface allows me to identify its window immediately, even if it just had a blank window for its interface. The brushed metal window off to the left side of my screen is iChat, and it’s partly identifiable by the brushed metal appearance. Aqua windows indicate other programs, such as Preview or TextEdit, while a unified title bar look might indicate a different program like Skype.
While it’s true that having one different theme for every single program is bad, I don’t see how having 4 slightly different appearances for windows (aqua, unified, brushed metal, smooth metal) is a usability or visual nightmare. They have slightly different tones, but in the end, they’re all basically just a slightly different shade of gray and they go well with each other.
The only place where people have a legitimate argument for ugliness, in my opinion, is the GarageBand window. That “Halloween”-ish orange-and-brown wood-style appearance is horrible, and I can understand if people don’t like that. But lozenges? Brushed metal? Give me a break. I mean, theme all you like, but those things aren’t ugly.
– Simone
@Andrew — Huzzah! Excellent news.
I don’t know if other apps have the lozenges as well. The Preview screenshot comes from a series of images posted on the web (since yanked by Apple Legal). There may be more.
Everybody has a right to their personal tastes. I think it’s great that there are folks around who make it easier for guys like me w/ no programming know-how to customize our computers. I personally prefer Mail 2.0’s new(er) lozenge buttons. I always thought the older style was a little cartoonish and unprofessional looking; the newer style makes the Mail interface look a little more akin to an electronic device. Still, I wish Apple would further clean up and simplify the buttons. The Forward, Reply & Delete icons are well thought-out, easier to apply to muscle memory. “Get New Mail” and “Mark Selected Message As Read” are way too similar.
Debuttonizer will actually get rid of lozenges. I rather prefer the newer icons (sans lozenges) than the Panther ones.
I didn’t like that the cleaned up buttons had no feedback when pressed, so I combined the old and new ones so that normally, you have no lozenge buttons, but a clear lozenge button appears when you hover over one and a colored lozenge button when you press the button. Also, to make the effect smooth, the connected buttons use a rounded edge on both sides since only one at a time gets a lozenge button. Enjoy: MailToolbarButtonsClean.zip