Will I heard Tim took over and now is in charge of design, so we should see improvements…
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Do you like Liquid Glass on Mac?
- Thread starter Apple Knowledge Navigator
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"looked like a Fisher-Price toy: heavily rounded corners, mismatched colors, inconsistent details and very low information density. Obviously, the tool was designed mostly for kids or perhaps light users or elderly people." 
https://rakhim.exotext.com/benjamin-button-reviews-macos
https://rakhim.exotext.com/benjamin-button-reviews-macos
You’re wrong, because Alan Dye says so.
Official statemement:
“Liquid Glass combines the optical qualities of glass with a fluidity only Apple can achieve, as it transforms depending on your content or context. It lays the foundation for new experiences in the future and, ultimately, it makes even the simplest of interactions more fun and magical.”
Fun and magical.
Saying forum users don’t represent the majority is fair — but assuming the silent majority is automatically happy is just as speculative. 😉 At least here people take the time to give actual feedback.
Being around since 10.3 doesn’t make current criticism less valid. For you Tahoe may be ‘just the next macOS’, but for many of us the UI shift feels like more than a ‘start/stop’. Longevity doesn’t equal universal approval.
Do you believe in statistics? Because the poll here shows ~45% clearly against Tahoe, 25% meh, and only 30% in favor. That doesn’t look like ‘just the next macOS’ for a lot of people.
On MacRumors, the Tahoe launch thread already has more comments than Sequoia’s did last year, and the iOS 26 launch sparked nearly 5x more discussion than iOS 18. Reddit is just as split, with plenty of highly upvoted posts calling Tahoe and iOS 26 missteps. That level of pushback is unusual — and ignoring it doesn’t make it go away.
But of course, you are entitled to your opinion...
Design is about solving problems not creating them. This new GUI and UX cause more problems than they solve, therefore the design is broken and the criticism is justifiable.
That’s always what we wanted when we use the Finder, Settings app, dropdown menus. Fun and magical interactions that look like UI bugs and unreadable text clash.
Which is pretty logical and has been happing every time Apple introduced a major shift in interface design. People were split on the new Aqua look Mac OS X 10.3 Panther introduced too. I remember people kicking and screaming on forums they would never go beyond Mac OS X 10.2 Jaguar. When Mac OS X Leopard was introduced more or less the same happened. OS X Lion - which was the frist release to incorporate many of iOS' interface aspects - wasn’t without its fair share of controversies people responded heavily to. Then OS X Yosemite which followed iOS 7’s flat look.
Obviously releases like that spark more opinions and comments compared to an in-between release like macOS Sequoia. It’s not unusual at all. It’s also a good rule of thumb that people who are dissatisfied take more effort to vent their opinions than those who are actually happy or simply don’t care (with the one of the exceptions being fisherking here lol).
That said I honestly don’t understand why people are so inpatient and black-and-white these days and seem to think this is it (or at the very least act like it). macOS Tahoe and iOS 26 will continue to be refined over the coming year and I’m sure the next major releases in 2026 will spot their fair share of improvements. This is what has been happening continuously in the past. Hell, maybe Apple will even backtrack some changes. Unless you buy new hardware that ships with the new OS there’s probably no acute reason to upgrade today. macOS Sequoia and iOS 18 continue to work. Apps will continue to run on it for the foreseeable months, if not years. Just sit this one out if it’s not to your liking.
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Imo, GUIs should not get in the way of my using the computer. One of the major knocks on windows 8, was that it decided to be a touch first interface, even though the majority of computers installing windows would not be tablet but laptops/desktops. this presented significant usability issues.
While not on the same level of that debacle, I do think if an UI choice makes the user work harder, then its a poor design.
An example of poor design is the Apple changing the system settings. Prior to Ventura, the icons were all laid our horizontally and you could quickly and easily identify what you needed. Venture and beyond mimics iOS, but is harder to navigate and find things.
It's not your opinion. Precisely zero people on this planet are mad at you for liking LG. In fact, nobody gives a you know what.
It's your constant berating, it's your condescending routine of telling people that they are wrong for not liking what you like. You told them they are panicking, you told them they are not objective, you told them they are a mob and now you told them they are hysterical. And this list isn't even complete.
Add to that your laughing at members' posts voicing their discomfort with LG (by emoji-reaction).
You, Sir, are the very definition of a troll.
You aren't adding anything to the conversation, you're flamebaiting.
Grow up.
Changing the wallpaper in the system settings in MacOS is laughable. The system settings window is set to a ridiculous narrow width but all the wallpapers require horizontal scrolling. LOL.
your own post is a perfect example of what you're accusing me of. and if you read thru the thread, there are some particular ppl who are quite consistently rude, abusive. look at how many laughing emojis ppl put on my own posts.
either way, i stand by what i believe. am sorry you can't understand that, here, on this forum, i have the same rights as you 🤷
https://www.lux.camera/physicality-the-new-age-of-ui/
For those who haven't seen this, the folks by the Halide camera app, specifically Sebastiaan de With, posted a wonderful article on their blog that imagined what Liquid Glass could have looked and felt like. The concept mainly applies to iOS26 but I think you can see how macOS could have been imagined. Granted they are just mockups and that's a far cry from a shippable product, but I think they were much more successful in balancing issues of legibility, clarity, and focus in creating a cleaner, more mature UI. The glass effects are a lot more subtle and have a more sophisticated inlaid frosted glass effect. The iconography and window radii are a bit rounder than iOS18 but certainly more so than macOS Sequoia, while avoiding the Fischer-Price effect seen in Tahoe. Retain the rounded corner effect in document windows where it makes sense. There are other ways to nest UI elements into the concentric corners with the cartoony effect. I would even be in favor of the sort of exploded window frame seen in visionOS on macOS, as long as those panes were optionally detachable. Tahoe's sidebar design seems to be begging for such an effect. The article also, if not primarily, walks through a nice history and analysis of iOS interface design.
While the article focuses on iOS, the philosophy could easily translate to macOS, but I think the key word is "subtlety":
"These effects can be rendered subtly and dynamically by the system. In comparison, it makes ‘regular’ static interfaces look and feel inert and devoid of life. Glass has distinct qualities that are wonderful in separating it from content. It can blur the material below it, as we already see in modern iOS controls. It can have distinct, dynamic specular highlights from its surroundings"
These were some of the concepts that got me excited for Liquid Glass before WWDC. I definitely on board with bringing more consistency and unity across all of the OSs, the ecosystem is, after all, one of the main selling points for me. Crucially the implementation of such a major redesign requires a deft hand and consideration for keeping the UI legible, functional, and familiar while creating a system that feels more alive, fluid, and adaptive without screaming "Look at me!". The flair/flare is literally toned down. I suppose the good news is that it's not impossible to imagine that Apple listen to feedback and tone down the current LG effect, while shoring up the window management system, and they could achieve something closer to de With's vision. I for one, could be on board with that, but given the seemingly frantic, frankly half-assed rollout of OS26, I'm concerned that Apple no longer has the courage or wisdom.
For those who haven't seen this, the folks by the Halide camera app, specifically Sebastiaan de With, posted a wonderful article on their blog that imagined what Liquid Glass could have looked and felt like. The concept mainly applies to iOS26 but I think you can see how macOS could have been imagined. Granted they are just mockups and that's a far cry from a shippable product, but I think they were much more successful in balancing issues of legibility, clarity, and focus in creating a cleaner, more mature UI. The glass effects are a lot more subtle and have a more sophisticated inlaid frosted glass effect. The iconography and window radii are a bit rounder than iOS18 but certainly more so than macOS Sequoia, while avoiding the Fischer-Price effect seen in Tahoe. Retain the rounded corner effect in document windows where it makes sense. There are other ways to nest UI elements into the concentric corners with the cartoony effect. I would even be in favor of the sort of exploded window frame seen in visionOS on macOS, as long as those panes were optionally detachable. Tahoe's sidebar design seems to be begging for such an effect. The article also, if not primarily, walks through a nice history and analysis of iOS interface design.
While the article focuses on iOS, the philosophy could easily translate to macOS, but I think the key word is "subtlety":
"These effects can be rendered subtly and dynamically by the system. In comparison, it makes ‘regular’ static interfaces look and feel inert and devoid of life. Glass has distinct qualities that are wonderful in separating it from content. It can blur the material below it, as we already see in modern iOS controls. It can have distinct, dynamic specular highlights from its surroundings"
These were some of the concepts that got me excited for Liquid Glass before WWDC. I definitely on board with bringing more consistency and unity across all of the OSs, the ecosystem is, after all, one of the main selling points for me. Crucially the implementation of such a major redesign requires a deft hand and consideration for keeping the UI legible, functional, and familiar while creating a system that feels more alive, fluid, and adaptive without screaming "Look at me!". The flair/flare is literally toned down. I suppose the good news is that it's not impossible to imagine that Apple listen to feedback and tone down the current LG effect, while shoring up the window management system, and they could achieve something closer to de With's vision. I for one, could be on board with that, but given the seemingly frantic, frankly half-assed rollout of OS26, I'm concerned that Apple no longer has the courage or wisdom.
This reminds me of a brief period in web design when frosted glass was all the hype. Much more approachable and legible than what the "designers" at Apple came up with. It has just enough opaqueness to deliver the required contrast for readability without sacrificing the glass look.
YES! Contrast (or at least more contrast control) along with better color selection for data would be great. In the above pic, the color contrast makes the data/information very legible. (It only took a darker grey object for the white text to stand out)
examples of how dark/light modes and Reduced Transparency interact on macOS26:
examples of how dark/light modes and Reduced Transparency interact on macOS26:
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I'm sympathetic to this sentiment. I doubt anyone here wants to move on from Apple products. I'm sure most us commenting here are doing so because be feel like they need a course correct, which is reasonable but not guaranteed. I think it's probably like that they make enough changes to calm me down enough to eventually move back to OS26. There are a lot of welcome features not related to the GUI that I'd very much appreciate. But I have to admit that there hold on me a consumer has loosened and I'm probably more open to checking out other options. But, again, it's that sweet hardware and industrial design that keeps me wanting to maintain my grip. If only we had a GUI that matches its fir and finish. There's no denying it's been a rough year for Apple, so they really didn't need this kind of rollout. For a company that relies on the stickiness of its ecosystem and increasing reliance on services, I think it's time for some serious introspection based on customer feedback. Hopefully that's already going on. I believe they're are still capable of making amazing products, I'm just not convinced yet that they have to courage to do so.
Spent an hour doing this. No superficial effects, just a slight transparency to bring the information forward and the UI out of the way. I'd personally be super happy with something as simple as this. Timeless, clear and efficient. No drop shadows to fix legibility, it was designed with legibility in the first place.
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Definitely. Liquid Glass didn't exactly emerge out of nowhere. Apple and others have clearly headed in that direction for a while. I feel like the design team really missed the meaning of dynamism. As in music, it's the subtley and distinction of loud and quiet, of variation. Or to paraphrase Keith Richards, the notes that you don't play are as important as the notes that you do. This is the sort of sophistication of intent and consideration that is lacking in LG, as it is currently implemented. Everything doesn't have to be a capsule with concentric circles. I get that it's a neat rhyme, but without variation and judicious use it becomes the Fischer-Price nursery rhyme that we ended up with. There's also other ways to use those concentric corners without imposing those on the windowing system. They could have used the Dynamic Island from iOS as to reimagine the top menu bar to make it more responsive to context and perhaps have greater information density and utility. Every challenge is an opportunity. The current design just seems kind of lazy and juvnile. It's just begging to be seen like an obnoxious waiter with too much flair. That just design mesh with the Apple design ethos, at least it shouldn't be, if you want to match the fit and finish of the hardware. And perhaps most worrisome is how poorly implemented the subpar design was implemented and shipped. And for everything not macOS, too bad, you're stuck with it.
I use a macbook pro M3 Pro at work and macbook pro M1 at home. I have installed Tahoe on both. I Like Liquid Glass so far, no performance issues and the look and feel is refreshing imho. I'm an Alfred user so the new spotlight is also good news and it's starting to be useful for the first time.
I've read all the posts in this topic and I can understand that some do not like the new design but I'm more puzzled by the comments on how Tahoe is hindering their workflow, can you guys explain a bit what changed for you? Apart from launchpad being gone of course.
I've read all the posts in this topic and I can understand that some do not like the new design but I'm more puzzled by the comments on how Tahoe is hindering their workflow, can you guys explain a bit what changed for you? Apart from launchpad being gone of course.
For me it’s not so much it stopping me doing my work as much as the whole UI is distracting through its inconsistency. Items moving all over the place (click Safari Bookmark button for a laugh), illegibility, daft UX decisions (system preferences window for example), drop shadows coming and going to fix things on the fly and just plain ugliness.
When staring at it all day it’s subconsciously draining. It’s like reading a book where the leading (line height) is either too small or too great. All the information is still there to use but it’s mentally draining as the eye fights for position on the page. In short there are far too many needless graphical elements offering minimal information or in most cases none.
There's one thing I do like though...! I like how you can remove the Menubar background lol. Again though less is more!
The menubar thing is hit or miss, depending on your wallpaper and the things you have in the bar. I have lots of system monitoring stuff in there with small text, which becomes completely illegible due to lack of contrast. It works well with a dark wallpaper, though.
iStat Nano by any chance? lol I have loads of wallpapers set to rotate every 5 mins so while it is hit and miss and sometimes the 'fun and magical drop shadow' appears to fix things (sometimes it doesn't) its not too bad.
One thing I have just done though which has made a nice difference is I've just removed all the elements I don't or rarely use from the tool bars in various windows and apps. So while I now have less function because of crap form Im happier with the result. Maybe this is what Apple meant about getting the UI out of the way? They made it so bad that people would remove elements of it.
If only I could get rid of the hideous finder side bar weird floaty box thing.
Attachments
iStat Menu and loads of other stuff like PeakHour, TG Pro, TinyShield, DriveDx... all printing text and graphs into the menubar, not just icons.
There is supposed to be a drop shadow on lighter wallpapers?
This is brilliant. They’re such simple changes that make a huge difference.