Do you like Liquid Glass on Mac?

[capamac]

Reposting from the wrong post:

Gnu/Linux and the BSDs are always an option :^)

Been hearing more and more good Linux news this year ... I think it's coz gaming support on Linux has improved so much. That's the big "gateway" to Linux use for many people.

Like with macOS, a lot of Windows 11 users are also unhappy with the way Microsoft is running things.

I had first tried NetBSD on my Mac IIci with like 36 megs of RAM and a 1GB SCSI HDD back around 1998, coz I heard this successor to Classic MacOS was on the way and would be based on this thing called "BSD." So I tried NetBSD and really liked it. About a year later I tried Linux for the first time; Redhat 6 if I recall correctly, on a 75mhz Pentium. Was also impressed with that.

The Zorin and Pear distros are designed to appeal to Mac/Win users.

It's pretty easy to try Linux out if you have an old PC or old Mac (ideally an Intel Mac, as I get the impression Linux on M-series cpus isn't as polished) laying around.

At work today, I was listening to a former Windows user speak about his complaints with Windows and his experience trying Linux:

 

[CasualFanboy]

I had first tried NetBSD on my Mac IIci with like 36 megs of RAM and a 1GB SCSI HDD back around 1998, coz I heard this successor to Classic MacOS was on the way and would be based on this thing called "BSD." So I tried NetBSD and really liked it. About a year later I tried Linux for the first time; Redhat 6 if I recall correctly, on a 75mhz Pentium. Was also impressed with that.

I've never tried NetBSD, but FreeBSD has made good strids the last few years. And OpenBSD has really good hardware support for Thinkpads, but honestly I have never found it to be a pleasant desktop system. FreeBSD is nice for desktop use, as long as the hardware is supported.

Linux has excellent hardware support now. I still like the BSD's more, but Linux is easy for anyone to use.

 

[Omega Mac]

So ironic. Windows Vista was what got me to switch from Windows to Macs many years ago. I had just ordered a hot rod Lenovo T61 and it shipped with Vista. I returned it after a couple of days and picked up my first MacBook.

Same here. Exactly the same. Made this point in one of theo other topics. Vista did a lot more for Mac Sales than maybe people give credit. It was either leopard or Snow Leopard I came in one with my first iMac but what a version to come in on, and Front Row was really cool on the iMac the minimal interface (with the remote control) and sudden change to theatre screen black and you were literally front row!

 

[Omega Mac]

Getting offended by a graphical user interface is a choice.

It is not. If it is broken and it does not work. Then a reaction is exactly that, a reaction.

 

[n-evo]

It is not. If it is broken and it does not work. Then a reaction is exactly that, a reaction.

Luckily many of us are in fact able to steer their reaction to things. I for one am not gonna let some interface quirks of a piece of software “offend” me.

 

[rehkram]

For those with issues to raise about the UI, may I suggest we take a "solutions based" approach? Assuming Liquid Glass isn't going to be going away any time soon, how could these problems be solved or at least mitigated?

From what I'm reading in this thread providing more control over some elements in System Settings could be the way to go. In other words, move on from the "six stages of grief", take the constructive approach and think about how it could be fixed.

Easy for me to say, all my stuff is still on the previous generation, Sequoia & iOS 18.7.3, and will be staying there for a while yet. I've postponed any plans to pick up a new Mac, iPhone and/or iPad for the foreseeable future.

 

[Omega Mac]

Luckily many of us are in fact able to steer their reaction to things. I for one am not gonna let some interface quirks of a piece of software “offend” me.

You must have a hard time comphrending things if you think people are genuinely personally offended by a corporate release. If they are that's their problem, and they can live with it how they choose, otherwise this is pure strawman nonsense in a topic like this.

So far most of the reactions have been very mature critical and professional reactions, some people are happy, some are really disappointed and have a kind of buyers remorse, some feel totally hoodwinked after updating and think Apple have betrayed the relationship with the user base within a long running multi-sage customer-corporate dynamic, and some have technically explained why it's crap visually and with words too.

I've read a few topics on the issue of Liquid glass and there is a cohort of posters who seem to think valid engagement is to waste time and space making the same points again and again (to no effect) akin to lecturing people on how to behave around a macOS release, how to think, that there is right way to... express yourself! - this is the user is doing it wrong, and is a classic pivot of projected something or other, yea even Jobs would have known the you're holding it wrong was BS but you barrel on, it's a classic tetchiness of someone who does not want ot take responsibility for an issue, they may have hoped to barrel through, which they did actually, but it was fixed iirc.

Anyway this kind of engagement is hen-pecking rubbish and has no place when striving for the best, that ways lies touchy feely shyte UI/UX and here we are.

My original reaction to one Apple video short (I think it was WWDC video of LG) was highly positive some months ago, and I thought to myself, well, maybe Apple have pulled this off and sent it to another designers type echoing same sentiment, both know that be historical monsters this way.

I'm running older OS's so I had not beta or touch time with any of this, however in recent weeks I started to look more in the feedback on MR because of the Alan Dye exit, that pulled me in to look at what was actually going on and understand why so many people were so happy he was gone and this led to the LG topics. Oh dear.

I'm reading and commenting as designer, and someone who has put an app in the app store with one of the most minimal functional interfaces, but I don't think we need to ware this stuff on our sleeves in every spot and preface comments, to make simple observation and post reactive feedback, anyone shoudl be able to do that freely and without a sense of being under the duress of a way to behave, other than be civil and clear and not onerous and especially without continual posts of "well its fine for me".

I am appalled what I am seeing, but I'm hoping ther eis an out and I hope they realise they can start with macOS asap, and pull back, wit fudging iOS and other OS derivatives.

I woudl like to test it all on new hardware, but that's a pretty penny right now across multiple devices, and while it's tiresome reading the topics with this kind of valueless post "well its fine for me", ad nauseam, make the point and move on.

I want to read the insights becasue I need to read them, I need to see the screenshots, feedback and so on, I want to see ALL the reactions so I have a better idea of what a wide variety of users experience is indicating, which is invaluable to me and valuable to the whole, and is a stand in for a 5 figure upgrade, and if Apple reads this topic even better.

More reactions please!

 

[n-evo]

You must have a hard time comphrending things if you think people are genuinely personally offended by a corporate release

So do you if you actually think I’m gonna read your rant beyond that point. And I sure hope not people actually are.

 

[Omega Mac]

Again, what if we're UX designers

But you're the wrong type of UX designer! 😂 😉

 

[n-evo]

Double post

 

[Omega Mac]

So do you if you actually think I’m gonna read your rant beyond that point.

Ok so you're hard of comprehending. Nothing we can do about that. Your choice.

 

[n-evo]

Ok so you're hard of comprehending. Nothing we can do about that. Your choice.

So are you apparently. No worries though.

 

[Omega Mac]

So are you apparently. No worries though.

I choose to read try and read all the post in the topic. It is time consuming. You proactively choose not to, so you forfeit replies and the above proves you have no comprehension of that forfeit either.

What it means is you are not engaging in good faith. That remains your choice, but your replies from that point on become invalid.

 

[Omega Mac]

Wait, people use Apple Mail? LOL

Erm... what's the best mac alternative in your opinion?

 

[Omega Mac]

I never liked rounded corners, but so far they didn't ever disturb me. In Tahoe and iPadOS 26 they have become so pronounced in some places that I find them distractingly ugly. They also waste space, which I don't appreciate.

As I look at the screenshot and snippet posted, the over rounded corner, the increased radius is casue the corners to become active, overly active.

They are encroaching. Whereas they should be neutral, stable and solid.

It conveys an overall sense of ill fitting.

 

[n-evo]

For those with issues to raise about the UI, may I suggest we take a "solutions based" approach? Assuming Liquid Glass isn't going to be going away any time soon, how could these problems be solved or at least mitigated?

From what I'm reading in this thread providing more control over some elements in System Settings could be the way to go. In other words, move on from the "six stages of grief", take the constructive approach and think about how it could be fixed.

Easy for me to say, all my stuff is still on the previous generation, Sequoia & iOS 18.7.3, and will be staying there for a while yet. I've postponed any plans to pick up a new Mac, iPhone and/or iPad for the foreseeable future.

Apple was always about simplicity so I’m uncertain adding even more settings to Liquid Glass will be the answer here. I also doubt it’ll be able to deliver the quality people expect from Apple. The current customization settings already show its really hard to do right and to have proper quality control over.

In any case I hope macOS 27 will be a major step forward in terms of polish and the current weird mix between old and new interface style apps will be phased out quickly.

 

[SilentSpecter]

In any case I hope macOS 27 will be a major step forward in terms of polish and the current weird mix between old and new interface style apps will be phased out quickly.

I do suspect that the shadows and the new layered structure are here to stay in the next iterations. Animations also. But, what I do believe they will phase out is the actually damn glass itself. Little by little they will come out with a kind of tinted version that will resemble the pre-iOS 26 era. I guess it is clear to them too that placing text on transparent elements was an awful idea. I dunno what will happen to those corner radiuses... but gosh, they really over done it in that department.

 

[capamac]

Apple's strength had long been its good design. But with 26, it lost that advantage. Thus, for me, there's no point in continuing to use macOS, so I'm making plans for BSD/Linux in the future unless things change.

I've worked professional as a designer, built more than 1,000 newspaper pages in InDesign, worked in a print shop. I have a decent grasp of design. Apple does not, apparently.

My theory is the problem is related to the cutting of art and music classes in schools has created a society that has trouble understanding or appreciating design. So they don't see a problem with 26. Coz they're artistically and design blind.

 

[svenmany]

As I look at the screenshot and snippet posted, the over rounded corner, the increased radius is casue the corners to become active, overly active.

They are encroaching. Whereas they should be neutral, stable and solid.

It conveys an overall sense of ill fitting.

I am disappointed in the increase in radius of the rounding. I remember years ago being disturbed by the amount of rounding that Windows did and noticing how much better the macOS was. Now it seems to be reversed. If I'm not mistaken, Windows has decreased the radius of the corners in their current version from before.

Most of the apps I use have not adopted this change. The amount of curvature is all over the board (even within Apple applications), but Safari and Preview are extreme outliers for the apps I use and waste more screen space than I like. Numbers and Pages use the old rounding and seem just about perfect.

 

[n-evo]

I do suspect that the shadows and the new layered structure are here to stay in the next iterations. Animations also. But, what I do believe they will phase out is the actually damn glass itself. Little by little they will come out with a kind of tinted version that will resemble the pre-iOS 26 era. I guess it is clear to them too that placing text on transparent elements was an awful idea. I dunno what will happen to those corner radiuses... but gosh, they really over done it in that department.

In the end I hope Liquid Glass will move into the direction of Aqua. Where the glassy effect will be added to the smaller interface elements like confirmation buttons, checkboxes, switches, progress bars, etc. which are now still flat instead of the larger interface elements like entire bars and HUDs.

(Yes, I realize that’s a complete 180 from how things are now lol)

 

[svenmany]

Apple's strength had long been it's good design. But with 26, it lost that advantage. Thus, for me, there's no point in continuing to use macOS, so I'm making plans for BSD/Linux in the future unless things change.

I've worked professional as a designer, built more than 1,000 newspaper pages in InDesign, worked in a print shop. I have a decent grasp of design. Apple does not, apparently.

My theory is the problem is related to the cutting of art and music classes in schools has created a society that has trouble understanding or appreciating design. So they don't see a problem with 26. Coz they're artistically and design blind.

I do wonder about the cause of this. Is it the people who aren't trained or is it the organization that focuses their training on different priorities?

To date, my only extensive exposure to BSD is FreeBSD on my OPNsense firewall; I have no exposure to BSD as a general desktop environment. With Linux I have a thousand choices and have used a bunch over the years. What would you choose for a BSD desktop environment?

 

[kkclstuff]

For those with issues to raise about the UI, may I suggest we take a "solutions based" approach? Assuming Liquid Glass isn't going to be going away any time soon, how could these problems be solved or at least mitigated?

From what I'm reading in this thread providing more control over some elements in System Settings could be the way to go. In other words, move on from the "six stages of grief", take the constructive approach and think about how it could be fixed.

Easy for me to say, all my stuff is still on the previous generation, Sequoia & iOS 18.7.3, and will be staying there for a while yet. I've postponed any plans to pick up a new Mac, iPhone and/or iPad for the foreseeable future.

Well, YES. More/better setting options are exactly what we need. BUT the end user has no control in creating that solution. we can only 'send feedback' (which is like whispering into the wind).

Whats more disappointing in your comment is that fact that (in my case) I have a visual impairment and can't just "move on" from it. For me my Mac isnt entertainment, it's a tool for my work. I need it. And many are "taking the constructive approach" —trying many different options to work toward a solution. The lack of solutions isnt on the end-user, its on  software team.

 

[Ursadorable]

It's amusing watching the YES vote continue to drop even further.

 

[Apple Knowledge Navigator]

It's amusing watching the YES vote continue to drop even further.

More people saying “Meh” too, though in hindsight I would have worded that as “Indifferent”.

 

[capamac]

What would you choose for a BSD desktop environment?

I've not decided yet; been experimenting. BSD has the same choices as Linux afaik, Gnome and KDE and all the various window managers and bars and panels. I last used Ubuntu as a daily driver 2007-2011, back when I had no Macs at the time. (Had Macs before and after that period, however) using the Gnome 2 desktop environment which I found acceptable.