macOS 27: All The Little Things

[fisherking]

The user prefaced their point with "let's see" it's was an important detail to note when forming a reply.

yes, i read the whole thing; hence the use of words like "personally' and 'apparently".

 

[brsilb]

Mail messages still does not convert html messages to dark mode for us visually impaired people. Most mail apps do. Guess I have to continue to use MS Outlook.

 

[n-evo]

what you personally would like, and where apple is (and is probably headed) are apparently very-different things. no harm in nostalgia, but things move forward, and we go with it 🤷

And sometimes backwards as is the case with the sidebar per example so who knows where things might end up again. 🤷‍♂️ In any case I’m glad the changes are largely superficial and don’t fundamentally impact the way my Mac works.

 

[Apple Knowledge Navigator]

And sometimes backwards as is the case with the sidebar per example so who knows where things might end up again. 🤷‍♂️ In any case I’m glad the changes are largely superficial and don’t fundamentally impact the way my Mac works.

I don’t understand the original ‘moving forward’ comment, because this implies that changes are for the better. If this were the case, Apple wouldn’t have reversed several design choices.

I agree the sidebar has some superficiality, but what I would say is that the change was likely made because the original concept is at odds with Apple’s ‘less is more’ philosophy. They were adding design for absolutely no reason.

 

[thunderw]

I found a new command-line utility called meminfo in macOS 27, which displays real-time memory usage in TUI mode

 

[adamlbiscuit]

Is this icon new (shown when unlocking an encrypted drive)?

 

[Apple Knowledge Navigator]

Is this icon new (shown when unlocking an encrypted drive)?

View attachment 2647064

Yes. Looking good! I just wish they would show this level of detail across the board.

 

[redheeler]

Yeah 26 years ago and phased out in 2014. Imagine that. Let’s see if Liquid Glass lasts as long and actually evolves the same way instead of reverting back to the old and adding a new customization option here and there in the hopes that’ll fix things.

The Aqua progress bars and scrollbars were actually completely unchanged from 10.0 all the way through 10.6, only getting changed in 10.7 when the flat pancaking 🥞 of MacOS first started.

That's what I call getting it right the first time, something Apple seems to be having trouble with nowadays...

(Other UI elements did receive refinements, but it was never a reversion to an earlier state)

 

[n-evo]

The Aqua progress bars and scrollbars were actually completely unchanged from 10.0 all the way through 10.6, only getting changed in 10.7 when the flat pancaking 🥞 of MacOS first started.

That's what I call getting it right the first time, something Apple seems to be having trouble with nowadays...

(Other UI elements did receive refinements, but it was never a reversion to an earlier state)

In OS X Lion the progress bars got their first update but at least retained the ripple effect and animated stripes. Those disappeared with OS X Yosemite.

 

[zevrix]

The Aqua progress bars and scrollbars were actually completely unchanged from 10.0 all the way through 10.6, only getting changed in 10.7 when the flat pancaking 🥞 of MacOS first started.

That's what I call getting it right the first time, something Apple seems to be having trouble with nowadays...

Matter of taste. Those ultra-aquified progress and scroll bars was fun to watch for a bit when OS X was initially released. They (along with the new OS in general) were then happily forgotten for a few years until it became possible to actually use OS X in real-world production environments. After that, those UI elements again felt like fun for a few months.

By the time they were finally replaced in Lion, those bars already looked totally out of place, some bizarre relics from the early days of childish UI experiments. (Granted Apple never knows where to stop, these positive changes in Lion were accompanied by an array of new defects some of which then took years to fix, while others were never fixed.)

I do know that I'm expressing only my personal views.

 

[Brettka7]

Matter of taste. Those ultra-aquified progress and scroll bars was fun to watch for a bit when OS X was initially released. They (along with the new OS in general) were then happily forgotten for a few years until it became possible to actually use OS X in real-world production environments. After that, those UI elements again felt like fun for a few months.

By the time they were finally replaced in Lion, those bars already looked totally out of place, some bizarre relics from the early days of childish UI experiments. (Granted Apple never knows where to stop, these positive changes in Lion were accompanied by an array of new defects some of which then took years to fix, while others were never fixed.)

I do know that I'm expressing only my personal views.

One thing that I’ve always liked and that have never felt dated to me are the app indicators we lost after OS X Mavericks. I wish Apple would bring fun little things like that back in a way that can mesh with Liquid Glass. It would be cool to see the indicators return in HDR at the lower edge of the newest glass dock.

Overall, I just hope all the OS 27 designs feel fully baked by RC. Design-wise, they’re still not there for me. Beta bugs are gonna bug, of course.

 

[fisherking]

View attachment 2647668

One thing that I’ve always liked and that have never felt dated to me are the app indicators we lost after OS X Mavericks. I wish Apple would bring fun little things like that back in a way that can mesh with Liquid Glass. It would be cool to see the indicators return in HDR at the lower edge of the newest glass dock.

Overall, I just hope all the OS 27 designs feel fully baked by RC. Design-wise, they’re still not there for me. Beta bugs are gonna bug, of course.

so subjective; the bottom looks so much better (to me....)

 

[zevrix]

One thing that I’ve always liked and that have never felt dated to me are the app indicators we lost after OS X Mavericks.

All of them are still here... what am I missing?

 

[Brettka7]

All of them are still here... what am I missing?

The design, not the presence. I was saying it would be cool if apple was able to utilize these new HDR displays to create an indicator similar to Mavericks instead of a small black dot like we have now.

 

[Omega Mac]

so subjective; the bottom looks so much better (to me....)

Not exactly.

Handy tip, focus on the centre of the overall image (essentially empty space in the image) try and let the whole image into your eyes instead of one specific element. See if you can pick up on anything.

Ya don't need to do this to notice but it helps if you can't notice, the bottom bar lower contrast style causes a lot issues, for example the messages icon melts into the background bar and the original finder dominates in the top compared to the one below. There are very technical reasons for this, they are easy to see. That's just one or two things. If we are comparing.

Standing on their own merits they may appeal better, but in a before and after composition, well we can see so much visual richness has been lost and not replaced with something of equivalence.

We wouldn't have "art school" if things were truly subjective.

 

[zevrix]

Handy tip, focus on the centre of the overall image (essentially empty space in the image) try and let the whole image into you eyes instead of one specific element. See if you can pick up on anything.

etc....

You appear to assign some particular importance to the "Dock at the bottom" case. My Dock, for example, is always on the left side (because I want to preserve the full height of the monitor). Users like me couldn't care less about the appearance of that bottom shelf.

 

[MacGizmo]

You seem to think quite highly of your opinion, while at the same time discounting other people's. I don't agree with anything you said. And by the way, what art is by definition, is subjective – and no art school in the entire world teaches that this way or that is the right way to produce art.

 

[adrianlondon]

You appear to assign some particular importance to the "Dock at the bottom" case. My Dock, for example, is always on the left side (because I want to preserve the full height of the monitor). Users like me couldn't care less about the appearance of that bottom shelf.

Hello, fellow dock-on-the-left gang member!

I can't recall many times that I looked at a web page or document and thought "If only my screen was shorter and a bit wider".

 

[Luftkopf]

I got into the habit of putting my dock on the right hand side on my 2012 11” MacBook Air. That had very little vertical space. If I worked exclusively on my 14” it might have stayed on the bottom, but with at least one screen hooked up for most of the time, side it is.

 

[MacGizmo]

@zevrix @adrianlondon @Luftkopf - You Flat Earthers Side Dockers are a strange bunch! 😜

In all seriousness, I actually liked that frosted glass 3D dock with the LED active app lights when viewed as a singular GUI element. But overall, I think it added unnecessary "bulk" to the OS, so I had some Dock customization app that made it almost completely flat and transparent.

It's probably an unpopular opinion, but I prefer the Tahoe Dock with it's simplicity and (more or less) structure that the icons all being the same size and shape bring.

I suppose I feel the same about Liquid Glass in general. I love the way the individual pieces look, but overall I much prefer as little of it as possible in every-day use. I removed the floating sidebar, and I would remove the stupid bubbles around toolbar buttons if I could. I love the transparency of Liquid Glass, but in actual use I have Tahoe set to "Tinted" – and when GG ships, I'll use the new transparency slider to set it to the frosted setting that nearly removes transparency completely.

 

[fisherking]

Not exactly.

Handy tip, focus on the centre of the overall image (essentially empty space in the image) try and let the whole image into your eyes instead of one specific element. See if you can pick up on anything.

Ya don't need to do this to notice but it helps if you can't notice, the bottom bar lower contrast style causes a lot issues, for example the messages icon melts into the background bar and the original finder dominates in the top compared to the one below. There are very technical reasons for this, they are easy to see. That's just one or two things. If we are comparing.

Standing on their own merits they may appeal better, but in a before and after composition, well we can see so much visual richness has been lost and not replaced with something of equivalence.

We wouldn't have "art school" if things were truly subjective.

are you suggesting that your opinions & observations represent facts? hmmmm 🙄

 

[Luftkopf]

@zevrix @adrianlondon @Luftkopf - You Flat Earthers Side Dockers are a strange bunch! 😜

In all seriousness, I actually liked that frosted glass 3D dock with the LED active app lights when viewed as a singular GUI element. But overall, I think it added unnecessary "bulk" to the OS, so I had some Dock customization app that made it almost completely flat and transparent.

It's probably an unpopular opinion, but I prefer the Tahoe Dock with it's simplicity and (more or less) structure that the icons all being the same size and shape bring.

I suppose I feel the same about Liquid Glass in general. I love the way the individual pieces look, but overall I much prefer as little of it as possible in every-day use. I removed the floating sidebar, and I would remove the stupid bubbles around toolbar buttons if I could. I love the transparency of Liquid Glass, but in actual use I have Tahoe set to "Tinted" – and when GG ships, I'll use the new transparency slider to set it to the frosted setting that nearly removes transparency completely.

Being strange is fun!

I’m running the beta, and I’ve got the slider ask the way to the left, but with the changes I hardly even notice it any more. I need to find some time (Hah! Like my six-month old will allow that!) to play with the slider and see what actually changes.

 

[Omega Mac]

You appear to assign some particular importance to the "Dock at the bottom" case. My Dock, for example, is always on the left side (because I want to preserve the full height of the monitor). Users like me couldn't care less about the appearance of that bottom shelf.

Do you do context?

 

[MacGizmo]

(Hah! Like my six-month old will allow that!)

Off topic, but congratulations. Enjoy the baby while you can... as I'm sure you've been told by everyone you know already, but time really does fly when it comes to kids. And in my experience, it was much easier when they were babies, toddlers, etc. Once they get to be 10-12 years old, it becomes a much larger time investment for you. Not to mention that's when you start to worry every time they leave the house.

 

[Omega Mac]

You seem to think quite highly of your opinion,

We know at least you think that.

while at the same time discounting other people's.

No, not exactly.

I don't agree with anything you said.

Correction "I wrote".

And by the way, what art is by definition, is subjective

If you want to pay a million dollars for bad art, by all means, spend a million dollars on bad art. It's your million dollars to do with as you please.

– and no art school in the entire world teaches that this way or that is the right way to produce art.

They teach skills, techniques, stuff like a circle is a circle, a square is a square, a sphere is a sphere, a cone is a cone, shading, line work, structure, composition, figurative styles, illustrative styles, graphics etc. etc. These things are implied, but when it comes million dollar bad art, that's a different skillset entirely, I don' think they teach that, I think that's a different industry.

It's similar to how there is probably good coding, bad coding and maybe incredibly beautiful would you look at that optimised by the gods coding, but I'm just kinda guessing here in a transpositional way.