I like the new take ... I like the old take. They both do the job. Life's too short to quibble over cosmetic details (unless that's your passion, ofc!).
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Developer's Visual Comparison of macOS Catalina and Big Sur Offers Closer Look at Apple's UI Redesign for Macs
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I installed it on VMware Fusion Pro. Was a pain in the ass to do and is a pain in the ass to run as it doesn't run smooth in the virtual machine.
Yeah, it’s fun to play with, shows how far we’ve come since 10.0. Apple was kinda thinking outside of the box before they made those into menu items. I’m sure menu items would have been easier than actual apps.
Is there an option (maybe buried in Accessibility?) to change the transparent menu bar back to solid white/black? Transparent looks annoying as Hell in all the images I've seen so far. Looks much harder to read/less usable?
Thanks.
I actually like the look of the new Finder window, but everything else will take a lot of getting used to.
Sigh. I miss it. I mean, the leather on the calendar was a bit much, but buttons/controls that actually looked like they were ... buttons/controls, rather than the direction the UI has gone since? sigh...
That is a very good comparison!
I'm starting to like the new UI more and more.
I'm starting to like the new UI more and more.
- Although the contrast mainly the buttonless shapes can be an issue.
- The biggest change is the pull-down sheet which I am so used to it.
- I wondered if DVD Player still exist in macOS 11?
- Surprised he didn't provide more screenshots of Apple Mail. Is he not a big fan of Apple Mail?
- This battery icon is just laughable. I hope they'll keep it this way to remind us they have a sense of humor.
Yes there is. Right now it turns the menu background white, which causes the unintended effect of making the white menu icons on the right of the menu bar impossible to see.
I haven’t been able to get System Preferences to download beta 2, so I don’t know if this issue has been addressed yet.
There is no such option, sorry.
On the bright side, it doesn't feel that bad (IMO)... ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ Perhaps you may get used to it.
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Yes, I can't complaint about that. It's actually surprisingly stable for a beta version. My main usage is for iOS development, which is quite heavy on the CPU / memory... I'm currently downloading the second beta, hopefully things keep stable like this (or get better).
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Not in the current version. I'm downloading the second beta, but I doubt they will allow for it. It actually looks good IMO but yeah different strokes for different folks.
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Any update on whether it is possible to grab and drag the proxy icon at the top of a window? I use this all the time and have done so for years...
It's early, but I can't say I'm a fan just yet. Icons and other little bits that are bound to change don't bother me. It's the lack of contrast, moving controls without a compelling reason, removing functionality... that stuff, and the implication that the whole mess is about to go full-on touch interface (which I am not on board with), have got me thinking about options for the first time in a long time.
Some of it is very exciting, much of it strikes me as short-attention-span theatrics without substance. Having been on Macs since 1988, I've gotten used to a lot of change. For some reason, this time feels a little different. Not sure why.
Some of it is very exciting, much of it strikes me as short-attention-span theatrics without substance. Having been on Macs since 1988, I've gotten used to a lot of change. For some reason, this time feels a little different. Not sure why.
I get that it looks more like iOS, and it's really not a huge deal, but it marks yet another drop in visual fidelity that I have always loved so much about MacOS. That was part of what gave it a premium feel that felt great and that Windows users envied. As always with Apple, sometimes I feel they run with philosophical changes that cheapen the platform. But it could've been worse...
That makes sense to me, as Apple is really pushing for "universal" apps with the new Apple Silicon (https://developer.apple.com/news/?id=ywv74y7m) and Catalyst (https://developer.apple.com/wwdc20/10143).
Things are very different nowadays indeed. As a developer and as a user, it feels like the right direction to me.
Shadows are never black. I have a bachelor of fine arts in graphic design and that's one of the first things I was taught.
The green smudge is probably the result of a realistic render where it picks up on colors transmitted from surfaces with low reflectivity but high saturation, such as catching light bouncing off the green part of the icon. But it could also be due to a semi-transparent message bubble with a refractive index similar to glass. I haven't looked at it closely.
This is a step back in usability:
• There’s still an unused space at the top of the sidebar, so it’s not full height as it may look at first. Just wasted space.
• Tiny iOS-like icons in the toolbar on the white background, without any borders - it takes more time to process icons and select a proper one.
• Window title moved into the toolbar and it takes a lot of space and it can’t be removed/shortened or moved to other place. If you just slightly resize the window, some of the default toolbar icons will be hidden into the “more” button.
• Window sheets are gone! Now any open/save dialog is a modal window again like 10 (15?) years ago.
• Notifications/widget center is also kind of a childish mess.
• All app icons are now square as on iOS.
• I didn’t like Ive’s flat obsession but this UI is flatter than flat and harder to read it.
Clearly they are moving to a more touch oriented UI and one way or another they’ll merge or unify it with iOS one day on the new ARM machines. But for keyboard and mouse users, real professionals and desktop Mac users, it’s a step back.
• There’s still an unused space at the top of the sidebar, so it’s not full height as it may look at first. Just wasted space.
• Tiny iOS-like icons in the toolbar on the white background, without any borders - it takes more time to process icons and select a proper one.
• Window title moved into the toolbar and it takes a lot of space and it can’t be removed/shortened or moved to other place. If you just slightly resize the window, some of the default toolbar icons will be hidden into the “more” button.
• Window sheets are gone! Now any open/save dialog is a modal window again like 10 (15?) years ago.
• Notifications/widget center is also kind of a childish mess.
• All app icons are now square as on iOS.
• I didn’t like Ive’s flat obsession but this UI is flatter than flat and harder to read it.
Clearly they are moving to a more touch oriented UI and one way or another they’ll merge or unify it with iOS one day on the new ARM machines. But for keyboard and mouse users, real professionals and desktop Mac users, it’s a step back.
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I agree. I hate how operational systems been "dumbed" down over the years.
Thanks!
It's annoying to me (messes with my OCD couldn't begin to say why?), but have many customers 50yo and older, who find many UI elements/features Apple has adopted in recent years extremely hard to read? One of the first things many of my older customers ask is how to make the menu bar easier to read, can't imagine the complaints with this new transparent version?
smh
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Thanks.
Maybe the solution is to give in and get used to the translucency...
For many of my older customers, it's not a matter of "getting used to". It's being able to comfortably read/use the UI at all.
Not that they find Windows 10 much better, of course?
This is a basic accessibility issue? Disappointing that making the default UI readable for many older (long-time Mac) users is something requiring a deep dive into an Accessibility CP?
Shrug?
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Brilliant - thanks! How do you get the proxy folder icon to appear? Is it a right-click?
You can use the icon as if it were the real folder. Very useful for moving, copying (hold down Option whilst dragging), or making an alias (hold Option+Command whilst dragging) of the file/folder that you have open.
Or, even more useful: When you are in the save dialogue of another app, and want to make the save location the same place as a Finder window that you have open, simply drag the proxy icon of the open folder into the "Save" window of the app: Hey Presto!, the filepath changes! NO need to navigate complex file hierarchy to find the right place to save!
Finally, right-clicking on the proxy icon shows you the parent folder hierarchy, and you can even navigate down the list and launch a Finder window of any of the relevant parent folders!
For the proxy folder icon to appear, we only need to hover over the folder's title and that's it!
Wow I didn't know about any of it at all. Really useful indeed! Thanks! 👍🏻
I guess hovering is OK...it slightly less intuitive than an icon already being there. Does the other functionality I described still work? I hope so!
As an OS X user since 10.1 on, Catalina was the first time I never updated at least my Mac Pro's to the latest OS. I updated my MacBook Pro to Big Sur for development. It's been a struggle.
Modifying 10.15 Catalina's system by splitting the boot volume into two - System and Data - simply created more hurdles for third party development. Now Apple has extended SIP with SSV. I always disabled SIP and Gatekeeper but I know what I'm doing and am very careful running my systems. Security is essential, especially for the average user, yet these changes seem more hurdles than improvements as you can still disable them and some have already found "backdoors". I can't help but feel there are better ways to implement security improvements.
I hate the UI. I adjusted to Apple's move away from Aqua with less colorful and flatter UI elements, found work arounds over the years, changed app icons (Apple's icons since 10.7 have been an eyesore and changing them out is simple), etc. Yet Big Sur's iPadOS UI is terrible. There is no contrast and depth. Using Finder is painful. Skeuomorphism had its place - for the most part I'm glad Apple ditched it in iOS and in some parts of OS X. Yet this new UI direction is horrendous for daily work. Dimming my displays and changing the UI to dark mode help, but overall I am very disappointed in Apple's decision to unify their UI's with the worst interface designs. I'm all for a seamless experience especially as macOS/iOS/iPadOS applications move towards a simple and easy cross platform system - great for developers and consumers. Yet I simply wish Apple didn't decide on these UI elements and found the balance between form and function that made Apple systems unique.
Modifying 10.15 Catalina's system by splitting the boot volume into two - System and Data - simply created more hurdles for third party development. Now Apple has extended SIP with SSV. I always disabled SIP and Gatekeeper but I know what I'm doing and am very careful running my systems. Security is essential, especially for the average user, yet these changes seem more hurdles than improvements as you can still disable them and some have already found "backdoors". I can't help but feel there are better ways to implement security improvements.
I hate the UI. I adjusted to Apple's move away from Aqua with less colorful and flatter UI elements, found work arounds over the years, changed app icons (Apple's icons since 10.7 have been an eyesore and changing them out is simple), etc. Yet Big Sur's iPadOS UI is terrible. There is no contrast and depth. Using Finder is painful. Skeuomorphism had its place - for the most part I'm glad Apple ditched it in iOS and in some parts of OS X. Yet this new UI direction is horrendous for daily work. Dimming my displays and changing the UI to dark mode help, but overall I am very disappointed in Apple's decision to unify their UI's with the worst interface designs. I'm all for a seamless experience especially as macOS/iOS/iPadOS applications move towards a simple and easy cross platform system - great for developers and consumers. Yet I simply wish Apple didn't decide on these UI elements and found the balance between form and function that made Apple systems unique.
I've used Path Finder and not Apple's Finder for years. They can do whatever they want with it; I don't miss it.
Not saying it’s perfect but I do prefer this look with gradients and buttons to all the white sheets with scribbles we have now. Mainly because you instantly know what you’re looking at as opposed to the split second of interpreting my brain has to do when I‘m looking at a minimalist interface before I actually see it.
Whether it looks outdated or in vogue is pretty far down my list of priorities.