Or that if there's an option to turn translucency on or off for the menu bar, it only makes sense and is only fair to all our preferences to offer the same option for the drop-down menus.
BTW, David, I love the avatar.
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10.5.2 Drop down menu transparency
- Thread starter t0ny
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Or that if there's an option to turn translucency on or off for the menu bar, it only makes sense and is only fair to all our preferences to offer the same option for the drop-down menus.
BTW, David, I love the avatar.
The fact that some people can't read the menus sometimes is not opinion. And creating an operating system that presents them is bad practice. The only opinion involved here is whether see-through menus are pretty enough to ignore the fact that you can't see them sometimes.
Of all the things I can think of to make optional, translucent menu's isn't one of them. Come on guys, think about how silly you are being wanting to have a switch to customize the look of a dropdown window. Do you have any idea how many options there would be if ever little thing like that had a checkbox? No, I don't think you've thought about it.
I agree. Just because a couple people complained about text being too hard to read? I've NEVER run into a situation where the translucent menus made the text hard to read. In fact, the fonts in OS X are so big and bold, it's almost impossible for someone to have a hard time reading that. I think anyone complaining about the menus making things hard to read should get an appointment with an eye doctor or something... check to see if you need glasses... to me, the translucent menus were never a problem in ANY version of OS X
Thanks!
I honestly don't know what else to say to this.
The fact that some people are happy with the way it was before, and the fact that different people have different tolerances for 'usability', 'readability' means that this is a matter of user opinion.
You're posts are now becoming troll-like as you fail to see that anyone else has a point but yourself. You are not omniscient and you don't know what everyone prefers about this. The very fact that there are at least two other members here taking the time to consider the fact that this is a matter of opinion should really tell you something.
Thanks!
I honestly don't know what else to say to this.
The fact that some people are happy with the way it was before, and the fact that different people have different tolerances for 'usability', 'readability' means that this is a matter of user opinion.
You're posts are now becoming troll-like as you fail to see that anyone else has a point but yourself. You are not omniscient and you don't know what everyone prefers about this. The very fact that there are at least two other members here taking the time to consider the fact that this is a matter of opinion should really tell you something.
It's not about happiness. It's a matter of fact that the menus are in fact unreadable in certain conditions. To criticize them for making things more readable doesn't make much sense.
You have made your opinion clear, and I respect the fact that you liked the menus like they were. I'm not disrespecting your opinion. However, Apple devs made the right call in making this change. It would make me happy if they sent me a dime for every copy they sold. Doesn't mean they should.
I do agree however, and I have already stated such, that it is inconsistent to provide an option for the top menu bar and not the menus.
For people that have no problems with their eye-site, the transparent menus was a feature of Leopard. One that has now been removed just to get some babies to stop crying. Apple did the wrong thing by taking away this feature and should have simply added an opaque option under the handicap accessibility section for those that do not like new operating systems having new features.
I've yet to experience a situation where this is true. Please, show me a screenshot.
Otherwise, it's not a 'matter of fact', it's a 'matter of opinion'.
Well, I guess I'm just a liar then and Apple devs hate you with all their might and just want to make you miserable.
Sorry you don't want to believe it, but it's true. I have better things to do than to prove it to you. Because it doesn't matter if you've seen it, it only matters that it exists.
You chose to believe they made the change to appease a couple idiots.
I wouldn't have requested the change myself, but from what I personally saw on my very own screen, they made the right choice. The new menus were much less readable and provided absolutely no additional functionality.
It is NOT opinion that blending two images ALWAYS reduces readability. That is a FACT.
Well a small "Transparency" section could easily be squeezed into the "Appearance" section of system prefs where you could control the opacity of the Menu bar and Menus. It really wouldn't add too much clutter and that way the people who don't like it can turn it off and those who do can turn it on. It wouldn't be too much to ask. Not like "HEY APPUL GIV US TEH OPSHUN TO CHANJE DA CULLER OF DA WINDOZE KUS I DUN'T LIKE GRAY I LIKE BLUE" or something like that. It's just something that could be subtly added.
Exactly. Just because it's an issue for some people, it doesn't mean it's an issue for everyone.
Anyway, the non-transparent menus don't fit in the transparent Menu bar xD Therefore it should be an option, in my opinion.
I had never run across any issues with the previous transparency of the menus or the menu bar. For those people who supposedly had problems, Apple gave the option to turn off transparency in the menu bar. Why didn't they give the same option for the menus...instead of forcing it to always be mostly opaque for everyone? They could have had one single option like: Turn Transparency: On / Off . Ah well....maybe in 10.2.3 they'll add that option.
And to the people complaining about readability and how translucence was merely a "pretty" thing.....isn't that what OS X (and all modern graphical OS design) is about? The genie effect, transitions, fades, coverflow, etc. are all just "pretty" things that add nothing to functionality. They just make the whole experience that much better. For me, personally, transparency makes the menus look nicer...and more of a pleasure to use. They're not bad in 10.5.2 but they're not as nice as in 10.5.1.
And to the people complaining about readability and how translucence was merely a "pretty" thing.....isn't that what OS X (and all modern graphical OS design) is about? The genie effect, transitions, fades, coverflow, etc. are all just "pretty" things that add nothing to functionality. They just make the whole experience that much better. For me, personally, transparency makes the menus look nicer...and more of a pleasure to use. They're not bad in 10.5.2 but they're not as nice as in 10.5.1.
It sucks that they had to take away a feature from people who actually liked the effect. To me, that was one of the coolest GUI changes in Leopard, now I can hardly tell it's there and I have to look very hard or use a very high contrast background to see it... the softer effect was actually easier on my eyes... sorry but, it was a bad change in my opinion.
I agree, how hard would it have been for Apple to make another tick box below the one for the menu bar?
I'm surprised that so many people are not bothered by menu transparency. As seen in this screenshot, seeing the graphics (the install package and text) through the menu is very distracting to me. It's distinctly more difficult to read a menu with even that bit of visual confusion. While many find it aesthetically attractive, I find it an obvious and surprising GUI blunder by Apple. To me it seems a choice of graphical glitz to the detriment of fundamental usability.
https://forums.macrumors.com/posts/4946440/
There was something about Tiger -- use of lines? -- that disrupted the view of the graphics below more distinctly than in Leopard.
that makes us two liars saltyzoo, 'cause i've experienced the same issues.
it's not about the prettiness it's about the user experience.
it's not a matter of like it or not, it's a matter of function or not.
Good use of graphical effects improves usability.
Genie is attractive, but it also shows exactly where a window goes when minimized. Remove it, and a window just disappears, with the connection to its dock-location lost.
Expose (application) is an attractive transition revealing your various windows, making clear you're in a special selection mode, and also making a visual connection to the layout of the applications on your desktop as you make a selection.
Expose (desktop) gives you immediate access to the desktop and the small edges of the windows around the screen border indicates that they're moved out of the way, ready to come back, and not simply removed or minimzed.
Dashboard could be revealed by simply appearing. But the fade in suggests that it resides above and beyond the desktop in a spatial sense and is called in when used. It reinforces the intended paradigm for Dashboard widgets.
The graphical flair adds to the ease of use.
Contrast to the squishy moving Dock feature. That's an attractive feature -- great for store demos -- that hinders usability. I consider the transparent menus to be in this category. Pretty, but ultimately detrimental.
Exactly. That's why I want my translucent menus back. The translucency was part of my user experience with Leopard, and it made the whole screen much more "seamless" to me, just like the translucent menu bar makes the whole screen seem much more cohesive. Now the opacity of the menus clash with the translucency of the menu bar, and that distracts me literally every time I have to use the drop-down menu. I find it very distracting, but I don't want to change my menu bar back to opaque just to match, because that would take away from the cohesiveness of the screen. So you're saying by distracting me each time I open the menu and bothering me by the lack of continuity is improving usability?
Yes, yes it does. That's why I want my translucent menus back. See above. The menus felt a lot more seamless in 10.5.1 and that, for me, made them easier to use compared to now.
[quote[Contrast to the squishy moving Dock feature. That's an attractive feature -- great for store demos -- that hinders usability. I consider the transparent menus to be in this category. Pretty, but ultimately detrimental.[/QUOTE]
Personally, I have no idea what you mean. I turned off those features in the Dock at first, because they used to bother me when I first got my Mac. But then I realized they could be quite useful and turned it back on. When I have a lot of items in my dock, it helps me figure out which one I'm going to click, and find it faster. I take it that's not your experience. But that's why we have the option to turn it on or off. Personally, it aids my usability and experience, so I use it. Translucent menus would be less distracting for me, so wouldn't that improve my usability? Whether you like it or not, there ARE those of us who weren't bothered by them and never had an issue with readability. That's a FACT. See, I can use capitalized words to make my point, too.
I don't even see why it matters to you whether the option is there or not. You don't see anyone arguing they should take away the option of the translucent menu bar so everyone is stuck with the same one--whether it's the version they like or not--again, do you?
Sorry, but thinking something looks cool does not improve usability. LOL
And no, translucent menus being less distracting for you is no more a function of OS usability than Godzilla walking down your street would be. That's your problem, not an GUI functionality issue. Having difficulting reading the words on the menu because they are bleeding into the background text on the application window on the other hand is a functionality issue.
Not true. There are people who said they think the .1 menus were more readable. AND the new ones are a little too bright for my taste, making them LESS readable.
Sorry, but an aspect of the new menus being distracting to me is a GUI issue. And I never once said something looking cool improves usability. I said an aesthetically pleasing GUI improves my user experience, and a pleasant user experience is why I came to Macs in the first place. It's not only easier to do things, it's more enjoying to DO them. Aesthetics is a fundamental part of Apple's products, and has a great impact on usability, even if you don't want to admit it. Ease of use has a great impact as well, obviously, which is your point, but I'm not contesting that. I'm saying--and so are others--that many of us had ZERO trouble with the usability of translucent menus. Your entire argument centers on usability, so if so many of us had no usability issues with it before, why are you saying it was a good idea to change it for everyone when they could have simply given the option for those who had a problem with it to change it like they did with the menu bar. Explain to me how it's any different and maybe you'll have a point. And don't say "because some backgrounds worked fine with the translucent menu bar, for which cases there was no usability issues, so there was no reason to get rid of it entirely." (Someone else said this.) That's no reason not to give the option of translucent menus, because for many of us there were no usability issues, so there was no reason to get rid of it entirely.
swingerofbirch
macrumors 68040
I would just like some consistency between the menu bar and the menus. Is there a reason they can't be the same color and opacity? Personally I prefer the look of the menu bar over the look of the menus and wish they would make the menus the same color/opacity of the menu bar.
Right now they look disjointed--I would even say the menus look close to Mac OS 7!
Right now they look disjointed--I would even say the menus look close to Mac OS 7!