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New MacBook Air Quietly Fixes This Decades-Long Design Oversight

So many smart asses. Apple’s whole design ethos is consistency and simplicity. Everyone in the world uses the crossed out speaker. Apple itself mostly uses the crossed out speaker, except for their laptop keyboards for some reason. It’s good to get them matching the rest of the world.

Do you criticize people praising the fact that USB-C can be plugged in either way instead of having to orient the plug right like USB-A? Of course not.

Now Apple just needs to fix this: my wife uses our MBP and cranks up the volume on her user account for playing music for her students. Then I log in to my account and it keeps her jacked up volume so I get a notification and it startles me as it is a random loud noise. They should tie volume setting to each user account.
 
huges84 said:
So many smart asses. Apple’s whole design ethos is consistency and simplicity. Everyone in the world uses the crossed out speaker. Apple itself mostly uses the crossed out speaker, except for their laptop keyboards for some reason. It’s good to get them matching the rest of the world.

Do you criticize people praising the fact that USB-C can be plugged in either way instead of having to orient the plug right like USB-A? Of course not.

Now Apple just needs to fix this: my wife uses our MBP and cranks up the volume on her user account for playing music for her students. Then I log in to my account and it keeps her jacked up volume so I get a notification and it startles me as it is a random loud noise. They should tie volume setting to each user account.
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you can set vol to low when login . follow these steps :https://www.dssw.co.uk/blog/2012-04-26-how-to-set-the-volume-when-logging-in/
 
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Never thought about the mute symbol, but now that I do, I actually prefer the old way. Viewed as a set, the three volume controls (three bar fan > one bar fan > no bar fan) are self consistent, and I prefer the clean look uncrossed out speaker.

Screenshot 2025-03-07 at 6.12.43 pm.png
 
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In providing this key feature, the enter key had to be sacrificed

Let’s go iApple
 
Jay-Jacob said:
Was never confused by it. Thought it was obvious what it means. 3 bars of sounds obviously means louder (volume up) and 1 bar of sounds obviously means quieter (volume down) and no sounds bar at all obviously means silent (mute).

Well at least for me it does.
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Fully agree. It's dead simple obvious what is meant. Besides, I don't even like the strikethrough, it looks messy.

What I would like for them to fix is:
set volume loud,
mute
turn volume up starts at loud, not going from zero to 1, 2 et cetera.

B&O has it configured like that, and I really miss it on my Macs.
 
Yeah? Let me know when they replace the useless annotation and focus buttons with the Keyboard Backlight Adjustment buttons they replaced a couple years ago.
 
Would not have noticed this! Good to see the correct symbol even though had never noticed in other Apple keyboards. Expecting all Macs to switch to this symbol/layout with their next update.
 
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huges84 said:
Thank you! Do you know if it works when we are both already logged in and In just switching between users?
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no idea. i just googled it. it looks like an old instruction but I'll bet theres a way to do it on modern macs with an apple script login script. Just ask chatgpt
 
i asked chat gpt : tldr; for switchign users, look at Keyboard Maestro. Otherwise a login script is easy enough without extra sofware


is there a way to set the apple mac system volume to 0 when logging in or switching users, as my wife like volume high, but i like it low and we use the same mac and she always leaves it high which startles me when i log in. I need apple native fix for this]
Unfortunately, macOS doesn't have a built-in feature to automatically adjust the system volume based on the user logging in or switching accounts. However, there are a couple of native workarounds you can try:
  1. Startup Items with AppleScript:
    • You can create an AppleScript to set the volume to 0 and add it to your login items. Here's how:
      • Open the Script Editor (search for it in Spotlight).
      • Enter the following script:
        applescript
        set volume 0

      • Save the script as an application.
      • Go to System Preferences > Users & Groups > Login Items.
      • Add the saved script to your login items.
    • This will automatically mute the volume when you log in.
  2. Manually Adjust Volume Before Logging Out:
    • As a habit, you could lower the volume to your preferred level before logging out or switching users. This way, the system retains the last-used volume setting for your account.

ok so that works when i login. Is there a trigger that works when i switch users ?




Unfortunately, macOS doesn't provide a native trigger specifically for adjusting the volume when switching users. The system doesn't differentiate between logging in and switching users in terms of automated actions like volume control.
However, you could explore third-party automation tools like Keyboard Maestro or BetterTouchTool, which allow you to create custom scripts or workflows that might detect user switching and adjust the volume accordingly. These tools aren't Apple-native, but they can offer a workaround.
If you're set on using only Apple-native solutions, the best option remains the AppleScript approach for login, as macOS doesn't natively support triggers for user switching. Let me know if you'd like help exploring third-party options!


ok suggest a clean third party tool



For a clean and reliable third-party automation tool on macOS, I recommend Keyboard Maestro. It's a powerful app that allows you to create custom workflows and automate almost anything on your Mac. You can set triggers, like user switching, to adjust settings such as volume, open specific apps, or perform other tasks automatically. It offers a free trial and a one-time purchase option, making it a popular choice for Mac users who need advanced automation.
 
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This has been a pet peeve of mine. I’ve mistakenly confused the mute and volume down buttons so many times!
 
I can no longer put my attention away from that speaker icon on my keyboard anymore. Cancelled my M4 Pro MBP order because of this article. Gotta wait for the M5 models I guess.
 
Honestly, I find the new icon to be less readable than the "two decades old" one, this because it's so small that with the bar across I can barely distinguish a speaker in it.
 
Actually, the speaker with no curved lines coming out of it would tell me there’s no sound coming out of the speaker.. so that means mute, in my opinion. The speaker with a line through it would tell me there’s either no speaker or something is wrong with the speaker. The keycap icon was fine in the first place.
 
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macjaffa said:
For a clean and reliable third-party automation tool on macOS, I recommend Keyboard Maestro. It's a powerful app that allows you to create custom workflows and automate almost anything on your Mac. You can set triggers, like user switching, to adjust settings such as volume, open specific apps, or perform other tasks automatically. It offers a free trial and a one-time purchase option, making it a popular choice for Mac users who need advanced automation.
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That sounds very promising and I’ve heard good things about Keyboard Maestro. I’ll give it a try. Thanks. I never think to use LLMs like a search engine
 
After a few months of being scared to even watch the nat'l/local news, reading thru these four pages has given me a much-needed series of deep belly-laughs. Thanks Folks!
 
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