I’ve been poring over the (early access) release notes for the upcoming Winter ’11 release, and notice that the new look and feel (the Cloud User Interface, as some folk refer to it), has been extended to cover the admin screens as well.

I like it.  Not just because it’s consistent, but also because it calls things out a little more – makes things pop.   Check out this before and after, where I’ve renamed a few classes to protect the innocent involved:

Left hand side – grey, and a little rusty.  Right hand side – cool blue.   I really like the triangle disclosures instead of the +/- signs, and how the white of the selected item (Apex Triggers) bleeds into the right hand side main screen.  Notice also that the main screen has similarly changed, with the grey banner being replaced by something altogether more pleasant.

Enabling the new UI

While the new UI for the admin screens is only coming up in Winter ’11, you can enable it for the rest of your screens right now.  It’s an org-wide setting, so all of your users will start enjoying the benefits immediately.  Click Setup, and then select Customize, User Interface and check the box next to “Enable New User Interface Theme”.