macOS Ventura Features Redesigned 'System Settings' App

[UMHurricanes34]

Pour one out for the icon designers who made all of the 3D System Preferences icons for the Big Sur redesign. I agree there are some drawbacks to this change, but I do think parity makes sense in this area across devices.

 

[Nermal]

System preferences is a cluttered mess and hasn't changed aside from its frame. This is far more intuitive and easier to find things.

It still looks like a mess to me; the left panel is not in alphabetical order and you still need to "hunt and peck" for the item you want, just like you had to with the old version. Every time I go in there it takes me 10-15 seconds to find the right icon, and I don't think this new one is going to change that.

Edit: As pointed out below, the current OS has an option to change the icons to alphabetical order. It's yet to be confirmed whether that option is also in the new one.

 

[visualseed]

While I think it is still a little rough, a redesign of the system settings interface was long overdue. Too much stuff was being buried under inappropriate categories simply to save real estate on the top level. Just having Wifi on the top level instead of under networks is an improvement.

 

[Houpla]

This is wrong, long lists are fine for iPhone and iPad in portrait mode, however previous System Prefs were designed specifically for Macs, for landscape mode.

 

[visualseed]

Design wise this is a step back. For a landscape display the current control panel displays all the icons to the sub windows. This new layout is more appropriate for a portrait display like an iPad or iPhone. In a landscape display you will have to scroll to see the entire menu. It is like in finder selecting to display icons vs the detail list.

I really wish these types of updated or new layouts would be introduced as an option. Let the market decide if the new layout is preferable. I hope this goes the way of last year’s safari layout update. I find it much harder to change a particular setting on my iPhone vs Mac.

The Monterey one is a fixed 640 x 480 window that can't be resized no matter how much vertical scrolling you have to do. Very little of the interface requires horizontal scrolling anyway as most of the sub-menus are vertically orientated lists. At least the new one allows you to resize the window which comes in handy for browsing for things like wallpapers or seeing all of the accessibility or security settings at once.

 

[ikramerica]

Making iPadOS more Mac-like apparently means making the Mac more iPad-like.

 

[darngooddesign]

And is it just me, or are they fazing out the dynamic desktop wallpapers in favor of simple dark/light options?

You mean the dynamic wallpapers which are above the dark/light and regular ones?

 

[SenorWhyMe]

apple is slowly making MacOS more comfortable for touch screen don't know when but I hope one day MacOS and iPadOS becomes one

 

[planteater]

apple is slowly making MacOS more comfortable for touch screen don't know when but I hope one day MacOS and iPadOS becomes one

That very thought scares me. The good thing is I'm confident you are wrong.

 

[TheDailyApple]

You mean the dynamic wallpapers which are above the dark/light and regular ones?

Yeah. They didn’t add one this year.

 

[csalm87]

Once again. MacOS looking more and more like IOS.

I bet any amount of money when they start using touch screen Macs that macOS and IOS will merge into one.

It's creating consistency across devices, and makes it easier for people on iOS to go to macOS for the first time and not feel completely lost. It's a really good idea, and I'm glad they're doing it.

I don't think they will merge macOS and iOS.

 

[rm5]

I am testing Ventura in a VM just to play around with it. I think this new "System Settings" is going to take a LONG TIME to get used to - it's weird!

 

[Mr. Dee]

Why not just name it 'Settings' to maintain consistency across iOS and macOS? Its obvious both are converging.

 

[boss.king]

Why would this new design be harder to use with a mouse? It appears we may now be able to now navigate with keystrokes (or a mouse), so that's a plus.

Because it gives you a cluttered list as opposed to a grid with separation between icons. I was mostly joking with my comment, but there’s a reason this is the design that has been on all their touch devices for years.

 

[boss.king]

Why not just name it 'Settings' to maintain consistency across iOS and macOS? Its obvious both are converging.

I assume the final version will be called Settings. The only reason to keep “System” would be for people who are used to typing S Y S T Enter in spotlight to quickly open system preferences.

 

[KoolAid-Drink]

I assume the final version will be called Settings. The only reason to keep “System” would be for people who are used to typing S Y S T Enter in spotlight to quickly open system preferences.

Or it could be that on iOS, it's easy to "assume" that the Setting app covers system apps/settings, as well as app settings. On the Mac, if someone saw "Settings", they might assume it's for all Mac apps (including third party). Titling it to "System Settings" makes it clear that it's for, well, system settings only.

 

[Madhatter32]

Looks terrible to me -- but I like the look of operating systems developed for computer that maximized the screen real estate and is intended for use with a mouse and keyboard. I am not convinced that touch is coming to the Mac sooner than later as this looks like the interface of an iPad or iPhone.

 

[jav6454]

It still looks like a mess to me; the left panel is not in alphabetical order and you still need to "hunt and peck" for the item you want, just like you had to with the old version. Every time I go in there it takes me 10-15 seconds to find the right icon, and I don't think this new one is going to change that.

Agreed. In a sense, this was just a reskin of the same menus.

 

[Nermal]

Or it could be that on iOS, it's easy to "assume" that the Setting app covers system apps/settings, as well as app settings. On the Mac, if someone saw "Settings", they might assume it's for all Mac apps (including third party). Titling it to "System Settings" makes it clear that it's for, well, system settings only.

Apparently the information that was previously in About This Mac, eg. the storage overview, is now in System Settings. Why? The amount of free space isn't a setting at all!

 

[redheeler]

Seeing this UI in more detail makes me like it less. Ripping UIs straight out of iOS with little to no modification worked when it was adding something new like Launchpad, but this isn’t adding anything new, just changing what worked before.

 

[KoolAid-Drink]

Apparently the information that was previously in About This Mac, eg. the storage overview, is now in System Settings. Why? The amount of free space isn't a setting at all!

That was probably to make it in parity with iOS.

 

[boss.king]

Or it could be that on iOS, it's easy to "assume" that the Setting app covers system apps/settings, as well as app settings. On the Mac, if someone saw "Settings", they might assume it's for all Mac apps (including third party). Titling it to "System Settings" makes it clear that it's for, well, system settings only.

That's a fair point.

 

[0924487]

Why it's yellow?

 

[Steve121178]

apple is slowly making MacOS more comfortable for touch screen don't know when but I hope one day MacOS and iPadOS becomes one

Well, you can see where it's all heading and what the "end goal" is. The question is, how many years will it take to get there?

I still think the future of the Mac desktop (for notebooks/tablets anyway) will resemble whatever iPadOS mutates into rather than where macOS goes.

 

[Slix]

Man, the amount of complaints here boggles my mind. Have any of you actually used System Preferences in recent macOS versions? Settings are all over the place.

If you're a new user or don't have System Preferences memorized like crazy, why don't you guess where the Dictation settings are? Or where you'd change the default web browser? Or where you'd find the setting for changing your Mac's display name?

It'll take some getting used to, but it's clear that the old design had to go at some point. The app didn't change design in more than 20 years essentially, and it was getting extremely cluttered. I'm here for the change.