Loving Liquid Glass—but macOS needs to catch up

[dmccloud]

Realistically, you’re talking about what comes as default on the most-used distro.

I can’t remember the exact percentage, but the overwhelming majority of users don’t change any default setting they don’t have to.

Given that every major distro has multiple variants with different GUI/Windowing systems, that "most-used" version could easily be using a GUI that is only installed on a small fraction of the overall Linux userbase. The "one size fits most" label applies less to Linux than any other OS because of how much flexibility there is in the OS at the core levels.

 

[Astrohunter]

yes, looks great as long as you don't open any windows

You are just opening them wrong!

 

[rin67630]

I’ve never loved it personally. But to each their own

What are your griefs, precisely?

 

[nathansz]

What are your griefs, precisely?

Lack of automatic tiling

 

[rin67630]

Lack of automatic tiling

???
Just at the opposite. It tiles extremely smart, I'd love to get that on macOS.

 

[JackAHyde]

After seeing more screenshots of the liquid glass updates, I got so tempted until just this morning. I finally pulled the trigger to see it in person for both my iPad Pro and M1 MacBook.

As somebody who instantly missed skeuomorphic UIs back in circa 2012 when Windows 8 first hit the market, I hated how the industry instantly started to trend towards flatter and flatter UIs. Honestly, in my opinion, the only thing that looked half decent with a flat UI back then was Windows Phone 8, but it made zero sense to use that on the desktop. Then Windows 10 looked bland because so many of those flat design elements were scattered throughout. My first OS X version was a few years later with Mavericks, and that still had the skeuomorphic UI, so you can imagine how disappointed I was when Yosemite came along shortly after to flatten the OS X UI.

This was worth the wait and I'm really hoping Apple makes this the overall trend again across the industry as a whole. I love the glass effects so much more than I thought I would. I sorely missed when UIs had that physical depth to them.

Also, continuing some of the conversation on the last page, I, too, am a stickler for window managers on Linux. I used Awesome before moving on to Hyprland and keep wishing I could get an automatic tiling experience this seamless and smooth on macOS right now, although the previously-mentioned Amethyst is a good enough solution for most of my needs. I would strongly recommend Amethyst to any Linux power users who like tiling windows and want to feel a tad more at home on macOS.

 

[chrickers]

This was worth the wait and I'm really hoping Apple makes this the overall trend again across the industry as a whole. I love the glass effects so much more than I thought I would. I sorely missed when UIs had that physical depth to them.

I really hope they don't. I hate everything about liquid glass. It looks cheap and super distracting.

 

[iBookmaster]

I really hope they don't. I hate everything about liquid glass. It looks cheap and super distracting.

Yes, Mac OS 10.3 Panther looked much better. Apple always feels like they have to make some kind of UI change. They shouldn't if it doesn't look better. 10.3 Aqua was the bomb from way back in 2003!

 

[bbates123]

Such a polarizing topic! I guess people don't like change very much. For me it's definitely my favorite update to MacOS in the 15+ years I've been using it. There's nothing I don't like about this update and now that they took care of my runaway coredspeechd process it's close to perfection! Loving iOS too.

 

[nickdalzell1]

I wish those change haters were more vocal when iOS 7 and OS X Yosemite were in beta so we'd never have that flat crap thrust down our throats for the last 12 years.

 

[nathansz]

Such a polarizing topic! I guess people don't like change very much. For me it's definitely my favorite update to MacOS in the 15+ years I've been using it. There's nothing I don't like about this update and now that they took care of my runaway coredspeechd process it's close to perfection! Loving iOS too.

Polarizing indeed

It definitely seems to be love/hate

About 80/20 for the hate camp

Im definitely in the hate camp but I guess it’s all a matter of taste and how you use a computer

 

[Astrohunter]

It’s not really that bad on Mac OS, only thing that annoyed me are crappy looking icons, and finder changing colour based on wallpaper.

iOS is terrible though, never thought I will say it but I am not going to upgrade for another year or more probably. 😂

 

[nathansz]

It’s not really that bad on Mac OS, only thing that annoyed me are crappy looking icons, and finder changing colour based on wallpaper.

iOS is terrible though, never thought I will say it but I am not going to upgrade for another year or more probably. 😂

That’s funny. It doesn’t bother me nearly as much on iOS

It’s in macOS that I find it more annoying

 

[chabig]

I installed the beta in a VM to mess around with it. In the VM, I can't log into iCloud, so I can't access or use the Feedback app. But if I could, I would send this screenshot it. It's a Safari window with two tabs open to Apple.com. I find it very difficult to tell which tab is active. I think the difference is too subtle. What do you think?

 

[dmccloud]

It's pretty easy to tell which tab is active, it's the tab without the black line underneath it. That being said, I'm having an issue in Beta 2 where the entire Safari window changes color based on the website being viewed, even when switching between tabs. See the examples below:

 

[chabig]

I’ll keep experimenting. You are right that it’s the tab without the black line. That seems a weird way to distinguish the active tab. Usually, underlines are used to draw attention to, not away from, a word or object. I’d like to see a little more color contrast.

 

[chrickers]

I wish those change haters were more vocal when iOS 7 and OS X Yosemite were in beta so we'd never have that flat crap thrust down our throats for the last 12 years.

Why should they? The current design is miles better than the crap that comes with Tahoe. Aqua was beautiful. They could have brought that back, as far as I'm concerned, with a little polish, of course.

 

[stevemiller]

I installed the beta in a VM to mess around with it. In the VM, I can't log into iCloud, so I can't access or use the Feedback app. But if I could, I would send this screenshot it. It's a Safari window with two tabs open to Apple.com. I find it very difficult to tell which tab is active. I think the difference is too subtle. What do you think?

View attachment 2523030

geez that underline literally looks like a graphical glitch. and on a dark website it seems like that would be barely perceptible at all.

i honestly do not understand this design.

 

[verniesgarden]

geez that underline literally looks like a graphical glitch. and on a dark website it seems like that would be barely perceptible at all.

i honestly do not understand this design.

so many bubbles. feels like a first year amateur ui designer

 

[nickdalzell1]

Why should they? The current design is miles better than the crap that comes with Tahoe. Aqua was beautiful. They could have brought that back, as far as I'm concerned, with a little polish, of course.

The whole Liquid Glass reminds me a lot of Aqua, and I'm hoping it starts the trending back to it. I'm sick of flat.

Now there's one thing I'd like improved upon on Mac OS. I am sick of the whiteout in 'light mode'. I LOVE dark mode but I want a light mode where the app background can be more tinted to fit in with your wallpaper choice. Such as my desktop wallpaper being the Sequoia Sunrise, why not have the apps tinted green or something so the windows (for Finder, Safari to name two) don't clash with it and instead blend in a bit more, but lose the transparency. It'd work wonders for my eyes (I'm extremely photosensitive). I do like how the dock icons theme dark in dark mode though, that's a nice touch.

 

[iBookmaster]

The whole Liquid Glass reminds me a lot of Aqua, and I'm hoping it starts the trending back to it. I'm sick of flat.

Now there's one thing I'd like improved upon on Mac OS. I am sick of the whiteout in 'light mode'. I LOVE dark mode but I want a light mode where the app background can be more tinted to fit in with your wallpaper choice. Such as my desktop wallpaper being the Sequoia Sunrise, why not have the apps tinted green or something so the windows (for Finder, Safari to name two) don't clash with it and instead blend in a bit more, but lose the transparency. It'd work wonders for my eyes (I'm extremely photosensitive). I do like how the dock icons theme dark in dark mode though, that's a nice touch.

Sure would be nice if Apple would give us a good quantity of choices of how we would like our Mac to look. If I had my choice of what I've seen between now and the past, it would be something similar to Mac OS 10.3 Aqua.

 

[nathansz]

Sure would be nice if Apple would give us a good quantity of choices of how we would like our Mac to look. If I had my choice of what I've seen between now and the past, it would be something similar to Mac OS 10.3 Aqua.

Apple has never done this. Don’t see why they would start now

 

[nathansz]

The whole Liquid Glass reminds me a lot of Aqua, and I'm hoping it starts the trending back to it. I'm sick of flat.

It’s entirely different than what you probably think of as “aqua” (aqua is just the name of the macOS user interface, in sequoia it’s still aqua, that has never changed) in that the previous glossy bubbly look didn’t steal so much screen real estate to make its point

 

[iBookmaster]

Apple has never done this. Don’t see why they would start now

That's why it would be nice!

 

[CasualFanboy]

That’s funny. It doesn’t bother me nearly as much on iOS

It’s in macOS that I find it more annoying

I don't use an iphone anymore, but with any phone the UI details are far less consequential than on a desktop. Phone "apps" (I have grown to hate this term) are always more scaled back in functionality, which is fine since they are also limited in screen space, no keyboard or mouse, etc. On those devices certain things make sense that just don't translate to the desktop/laptop interface.

I have never been able to understand why so many people are either ok with, or in some cases enthusiastic about, UI convergence. It makes no sense and offers no benefits, only drawbacks.

This is not meant to be cruel, but merely an objective fact. People who are so dull as to be confused by the difference between a desktop and phone UI are probably not using both, and they definitely shouldn't be using both. It's hard to imagine they earn a high income, which is the only thing Apple marketing really cares about. Why should they be catered to as the primary audience?

It's more likely that the average Apple employee is more mentally dull than they previously were, which is what leads to these types of decisions.