Apple Reveals 'Scale to Fit' Setting to Prevent a Mac App's Menu Bar Items From Being Hidden Under Notch

[newbmacuser2021]

What should the default size for the Timeline in Final Cut Pro be?

800 pixels tall?

Well, that varies when the display resolution changes.

So you say, 50% of the height?

Well 50% of the height is different on portrait mode vs landscape mode.

So 16:10 has become the default aspect ratio for that very reason.

And it’s why some games and apps in iOS can’t run in landscape mode, or vice-versa.

 

[madebybela]

it unironically looks better this way
though ideally it should just bump the menubar down below the notch

 

[newbmacuser2021]

I suppose if you wanted to replicate macOS on a monitor you should get a 16:10 monitor.

Running macOS on a 16:9 monitor always looks slightly off.

 

[orbital~debris]

In the Info window that opens, check off the "scale to fit below built-in camera" box

MacRumors, this is potentially quite a confusing way of wording this action, especially for readers who aren’t as familiar with these controls being called ‘checkboxes’ instead of ‘tick boxes’.

It would be more clear to say “enable” or “place a tick/check”, as “check off” sounds like you need to deactivate the setting.

 

[topdrawer]

16:10 is a standard aspect ratio because it’s what Apple has used for 10+ years.

When a dev designs an app, they usually use a percentage to scale views.

If you know the resolution aspect ratio is 16:10, you set your timeline to 40% of the screen height.

When you change aspect ratios, the GUI doesn’t look proper since it wasn’t designed for that aspect ratio.

This is fine if you resize windows since you cannot possibly determine the users preferred scale size.

That’s why Apple using 16:10 in full screen mode makes sense. An app has to be in full screen mode anyway to utilize 16:10.

that's not true. you can use external displays that have different aspect ratios and the apps scale fine. cinema 4d specifically doesn't need a fixed aspect ratio.

even within the display options you have different aspect ratios as options.

 

[robinp]

16:10 is a standard aspect ratio because it’s what Apple has used for 10+ years.

When a dev designs an app, they usually use a percentage to scale views.

If you know the resolution aspect ratio is 16:10, you set your timeline to 40% of the screen height.

When you change aspect ratios, the GUI doesn’t look proper since it wasn’t designed for that aspect ratio.

This is fine if you resize windows since you cannot possibly determine the users preferred scale size.

That’s why Apple using 16:10 in full screen mode makes sense. An app has to be in full screen mode anyway to utilize 16:10.

macOS works absolutely fine with displays with a variety of different aspect ratios.

If, as you suggest, you design something to be 40% of the height of the screen, it’s got to work with 13” MacBook Air as well as 32” Pro Display XDR. If it works for those, it’s going to be just fine being 50px or whatever shorter than the 14” or 16” MacBook Pro displays.

 

[newbmacuser2021]

macOS works absolutely fine with displays with a variety of different aspect ratios.

If, as you suggest, you design something to be 40% of the height of the screen, it’s got to work with 13” MacBook Air as well as 32” Pro Display XDR. If it works for those, it’s going to be just fine being 50px or whatever shorter than the 14” or 16” MacBook Pro displays.

That’s the argument! It’s slightly different.

To add to this, the Pro Display XDR is 16:9 for editing 4K video. Which is pixel perfect at 16:9. In theory…

 

[tpfang56]

I would rather apps use smaller text/less padding between items and go around the notch if needed, or perhaps an option to stay strictly on the left side but scroll horizontally. As someone had said before, the common menu bar items like file, edit, window, and help could be simplified into icons. All of these solutions sound way better than whatever this is.

Doing this seems like a last resort kind of thing. At least, I hope it is.

 

[n-evo]

I honestly don’t get why Apple goes through all this trouble adding checkboxes users have to search for and scale to fit settings, instead of just creating an elegant, automatic and system-wide method of how macOS deals with an excess of menu bar items. One that doesn’t involve us giving up the extra screen estate the new MacBook Pro’s provide. Just make the menu bar scrollable, use less white space if needed, add an overflow menu or a combination of these things.

Having us go digging around application folders looking for checkboxes in the Get Info window to enable some sort of legacy mode is everything but user-friendly. Come on.

 

[robinp]

What should the default size for the Timeline in Final Cut Pro be?

800 pixels tall?

Well, that varies when the display resolution changes.

So you say, 50% of the height?

Well 50% of the height is different on portrait mode vs landscape mode.

So 16:10 has become the default aspect ratio for that very reason.

And it’s why some games and apps in iOS can’t run in landscape mode, or vice-versa.

You almost got it here. Most UIs are designed to pixel sizes for elements like a final cut timeline.

That’s why people buy massive displays with huge resolutions because it means there is more space for content after you allow the 800px (to use your example) for the timeline.

If UIs scaled proportionally regardless of screen size, everything would look ridiculous on a 32” display or be illegible on a 13”.

 

[newbmacuser2021]

You almost got it here. Most UIs are designed to pixel sizes for elements like a final cut timeline.

That’s why people buy massive displays with huge resolutions because it means there is more space for content after you allow the 800px (to use your example) for the timeline.

If UIs scaled proportionally regardless of screen size, everything would look ridiculous on a 32” display or be illegible on a 13”.

Welcome to iOS!

 

[Michael Scrip]

I can't tell... does this fix the problem?

Because it looks like they actually made it worse.

Has anyone said "Steve would never have done this" yet? Seems like it would fit here. Or something. I dunno... my brain hurts.

?

 

[newbmacuser2021]

If a UX designer gives you a mockup for an iPhone app, it doesn’t look right on an iPad.

So they give you another mockup for iPad.

But then it doesn’t look right on the iPad Mini.

So they give you another mockup for iPad Mini.

But then it doesn’t look right on macOS.

Follow?

 

[Wando64]

You can, of course, full screen the app to avoid the notch too.

If I remember correctly, I don’t think full screen changes the position of the menu bar.
It just gives it a black background and hides the menu items until the cursor is over them.
If a menu item is under notch it will still be there, full screen or not.

 

[Fomalhaut]

It boggles my mind that in 2021 Apple released computers which can hid critical information (i.e., menu bar items) by default. Is all this screwing around really worth it for a tiny percentage increase in the total screen area?

With all the stupid decisions made by the Mac team over the years, it is easy to see why their market share is so low. It really is sad.

At least it hasn't tanked like Windows

 

[newbmacuser2021]

that's not true. you can use external displays that have different aspect ratios and the apps scale fine. cinema 4d specifically doesn't need a fixed aspect ratio.

even within the display options you have different aspect ratios as options.

Yes. Cinema 4D scales because they keep putting everything into the Menu bar and refuse to change the GUI.

 

[newbmacuser2021]

The size of a button on iOS and watchOS, regardless of screen size, is supposed to be >= to the size of your finger print.

So you can’t use pixels for iOS because a 200x200 pixel button wouldn’t scale @3x retina.

So iOS uses the concept of points where an object is 200x200 points:

200x200 points

@1x retina = 200x200 pixels
@2x retina = 400x400 pixels
@3x retina = 600x600 pixels

Cinema 4D would not work on a 8.3” iPad because it uses pixels.

You wouldn’t be able to press the buttons.

So devs like Cinema 4D put everything into the Menu Bar for that reason. Because you can’t fit 100 buttons in a 13” screen.

 

[HiRez]

I mean cool I guess but back to a shrunken screen and huge bezels is not a great solution.

What I would recommend for starters is to make some common menus shrink down to icons when space gets tight (like how the Apple menu is an icon instead of “Apple”). Start with the app name menu, make it a mini icon of the app, that could save a lot of space with some longer-named apps. A condensed version of the menu font would also save space.

 

[GustavPicora]

While I don't mind the notch, Im actually waiting for a 16'' mpb, I do agree that this solution is terrible, I would have expected just the menu bar items that wont fit, would just be wrapped under a "more" or something like it.

 

[newbmacuser2021]

I don’t know if it was intentional or not but the notch is exposing design flaws in the Menu Bar.

macOS Retina is supposed to use points, not pixels. It runs at @2x retina.

Avoiding the use of points and opting for menu bar items is now no longer an option.

Or maybe it is with this new scale feature?

It’s not clear if Apple is trying to cause trouble or not.

It’s not unique to Cinema 4D, Adobe does the same thing on macOS.

 

[idktbh]

Just go to System Preferences > Display, click Scaled > More Space and voila... not so hard if you try it.

it impacts performance tho and it looks like ****

 

[idktbh]

why not just move the bar below by giving it a double height instead of losing screen space all the way around?

*🤪n0! iT wOulD rUinINg aPplE inDusTRial deSigN lAngUaGE*

 

[newbmacuser2021]

I’m not trying to knock Cinema 4D, it looks like amazing software.

But if you keep putting everything into the menu bar, we’ll never get a touch screen Mac.

It’s been 14+ years since iPhone came out in 2007.

 

[newbmacuser2021]

Also, if you port the Menu Bar to iPadOS, then each menu bar option has to be the size of your fingerprint:

Buttons | Apple Developer Documentation

A button initiates an instantaneous action.

developer.apple.com

Which would be 44 points, or 88 pixels tall on macOS Retina @2x.

88 pixels for each menu bar option is already bigger than the menu bar itself, in pixels.

So now you have the issue where the menu options exceed the vertical space of the iPad.

 

[bf2008]

Ubelievable! This must be the worst implementation Apple has ever done! Instead of scaling the whole screen it should just lower the menu bar and give you a 14in screen, getting rid of that 0.2in extra to the sides of the notch.