Tahoe's Terrible Icons

[Apple Knowledge Navigator]

Here is a nice drive icon from Apple's own website (MacBook product pages):

Ironically, looks more like a traditional Mac disk icon than what we now have.

 

[Detektiv-Pinky]

because (most) ppl are (reasonably) intelligent, and can learn new things? and learning new things is an incredible gift for our little brains...

You are right, learning new things is an incredible gift and should be cherished.

I am not so convinced that forcing people to re-learn a user-interface that they are already familiar with, falls under the same category. Anybody old enough to remember Microsoft introducing the ribbons in Office? There was many a secretary that silently wept. They knew the functionality was there - they just could not find and use it (and I mean Office on Windows, which also dropped the menu structure, unlike the Mac).

It seems that in the computing realm people cherish such stunts. Maybe because it gives power to the pimply intern, that groks things for the first time vs. the seasoned veteran that now has to relearn all the moves - again. It is fun for a while but eventually gets old...

 

[Detektiv-Pinky]

That ‘Loupe’ in Preview looks like a weird little jar with no context.

It looks like a salt shaker 🧂

 

[fisherking]

You are right, learning new things is an incredible gift and should be cherished.

I am not so convinced that forcing people to re-learn a user-interface that they are already familiar with, falls under the same category. Anybody old enough to remember Microsoft introducing the ribbons in Office? There was many a secretary that silently wept. They knew the functionality was there - they just could not find and use it (and I mean Office on Windows, which also dropped the menu structure, unlike the Mac).

It seems that in the computing realm people cherish such stunts. Maybe because it gives power to the pimply intern, that groks things for the first time vs. the seasoned veteran that now has to relearn all the moves - again. It is fun for a while but eventually gets old...

're-learn an interface'? 😳

is there anyone, coming from a mac OS from the last decade, who can't find their way around, read 'preview' next to the preview icon in the dock, use spotlight, search in the applications folder by name, or... do anything they did the day before upgrading to OS 26? 🙄

 

[CasualFanboy]

Of course iOS app support on macOS has proven to be a huge disappointment with most popular apps opting out.

Who would have thought this wouldn't happen? Phones and laptops just aren't used for the same things, nor should they be.

 

[DesignTime]

I don’t mind the icons. In reality there will always be a group of people who don’t like an icon or icon style. Believe it or not, there are people who hate all icons and wish text was used instead.

 

[indefinite]

Hit Command-space, type "disk" and there it is!

So easy!

 

[n-evo]

Yah that doesn’t happen here.

 

[fuchsdh]

The previous icons were not a work of art either. They have been quite horrible since OS X 10.10. The new ones are an improvement in many cases.

I know it's grading on a curve, but the choices made in 10.10 seem incredibly well thought out compared to this version, even if one can disagree with them. Instead of trying to make everything fit in a squircle they offered three different "recommended" layouts for consistency. They moved from photorealistic icons to more illustrative, but they understood that "just treat everything as glass" isn't a one-size fits all and that if you go too simple it loses meaning.

There's a lot I don't like about many of the icons from that period (I always thought the very harsh drop shadows looked amateurish, and some classic icons got badly thought out when they enforced more consistency between iOS and MacOS) but I don't know anyone who wouldn't take the old icons wholesale. There are some improvements across the icons, I'd say more than a few; but considering so many of the icons have been badly thought out for years it doesn't really feel like a step forward.)

 

[turbineseaplane]

I know it's grading on a curve, but the choices made in 10.10 seem incredibly well thought out compared to this version, even if one can disagree with them. Instead of trying to make everything fit in a squircle they offered three different "recommended" layouts for consistency. They moved from photorealistic icons to more illustrative, but they understood that "just treat everything as glass" isn't a one-size fits all and that if you go too simple it loses meaning.
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There's a lot I don't like about many of the icons from that period (I always thought the very harsh drop shadows looked amateurish, and some classic icons got badly thought out when they enforced more consistency between iOS and MacOS) but I don't know anyone who wouldn't take the old icons wholesale. There are some improvements across the icons, I'd say more than a few; but considering so many of the icons have been badly thought out for years it doesn't really feel like a step forward.)

Oh man, that top line of icons is just bloody gorgeous.
The detail, the color, the contrast .. even the "glassy" effects, and now blown up on a huge retina screen.

My oh my what we've lost here. 😞

 

[fisherking]

Oh man, that top line of icons is just bloody gorgeous.
The detail, the color, the contrast .. even the "glassy" effects, and now blown up on a huge retina screen.

My oh my what we've lost here. 😞

this all really is subjective; i much prefer the simpler icons on the bottow row...

 

[tennisproha]

As much as I love Liquid Glass as a concept, I have to agree it's most poorly implemented on macOS but as a whole the icons across all OSs are worse off. There are actually some icon concepts floating around that look more Liquid Glass than Apple's implementation. Hopefully they take this feedback seriously and come out with reworked guidelines and icons for iOS 27.

 

[jjrtiger]

I really couldn’t care less about an app icon design. My workflow doesn’t depend on that.

When all icons look the same, it takes extra time to launch an app. When they were all different shapes and colors, you didn’t have to second-glance the app you wanna launch.

Maybe this is my adhd. But that’s how the impact of uniform icons slows me down.

 

[TumbleDryer]

're-learn an interface'? 😳

is there anyone, coming from a mac OS from the last decade, who can't find their way around, read 'preview' next to the preview icon in the dock, use spotlight, search in the applications folder by name, or... do anything they did the day before upgrading to OS 26? 🙄

I find my self googling a hell of a lot more stuff to find out where this and that setting went and how to do stuff that was intuitive and simple in the past. iOS being the worst culprit by far.

On MacOS for example though, the system preference page used to be super clear and you just 'knew' where the setting that you needed was going to be. Now it could be under any of a multitude of locations and not always labeled clearly, or the function has changed for a not so very clear or beneficial reason.

I've been using Macs for thirty years, and (some people will roll their eyes at this) but GENUINELY since Steve Jobs died the whole experience has gone down hill. Coincidence maybe but with his dedication to perfection I'm thinking not. Those who haven't experienced the decline from genuine intuitive 'you just knew how it worked' to 'what the hell is this' won't understand.

Regarding relearning an interface - The thing I don't like the most is all these hidden menus (not limited to Apple). If you don't know about them you will lose half the function of your phone. If you don't sit and watch the launch events or read forums etc you will never know these menus exist. Its really poor design from a user perspective.

 

[TumbleDryer]

When all icons look the same, it takes extra time to launch an app. When they were all different shapes and colors, you didn’t have to second-glance the app you wanna launch.

Maybe this is my adhd. But that’s how the impact of uniform icons slows me down.

Sometimes I think people think 'oh it's only 1 second'. Not thinking that when you're working all year long wasting seconds just looking for an icon it all adds to significant wasted time. It also adds wear to your thought process which if you're at a critical creative point for example where you need to quickly get something down before you lose track the actual instance of stopping and searching for the icon causes the actual point of loss. This was the whole point of the 'Human Interface Guidelines' that Apple seemingly has thrown right out the window.

 

[CasualFanboy]

On MacOS for example though the system preference page used to be super clear and you just 'knew' where the setting that you needed was going to be. Now it could be under any of a multitude of locations and not always labeled clearly, or the function has changed for a not so very clear or beneficial reason.

Every time I have to use System Settings, I'm just amazed by the magnitude of regression from the classic Preferences. It was one of the nice things about mac, tbh. Not that I'm constantly in preferences, but it was one of the things Mac did really well.

 

[fisherking]

On MacOS for example though the system preference page used to be super clear and you just 'knew' where the setting that you needed was going to be. Now it could be under any of a multitude of locations and not always labeled clearly, or the function has changed for a not so very clear or beneficial reason.

as with the earlier system preferences, once you know where something is, it's always there.

plus, there's a 'search' window upper left of settings. so, not sure what the problem is... 🤷

 

[TumbleDryer]

as with the earlier system preferences, once you know where something is, it's always there.

plus, there's a 'search' window upper left of settings. so, not sure what the problem is... 🤷

Well that's the point isn't it? Its not 'always there' because Apple keep changing things around.

You're also missing my other point in that you never needed to have to search for something. The UI was intuitive and just by looking at it it was clear where things would be (even if its changed) because there was a clear hierarchy of elements and the layout intuitive. A lot of that has slowly disappeared with all the gimmick that have been added. The problem is you have to use search!

 

[nebojsak]

That used to be the case, back in the OSX days, Pre-Panther, we could theme the OS, but then at the release of Panther, (give or take a version), Steve Jobs and company largely shutdown and prevented the burgeoning theming market.

If SJ had been dead back then, he would’ve been turning in his grave, or something to that effect.

 

[fisherking]

Well that's the point isn't it? Its not 'always there' because Apple keep changing things around.

You're also missing my other point in that you never needed to have to search for something. The UI was intuitive and just by looking at it it was clear where things would be (even if its changed) because there was a clear hierarchy of elements and the layout intuitive. A lot of that has slowly disappeared with all the gimmick that have been added. The problem is you have to use search!

there's so much more in system settings than there used to be in preferences. and the newer design seems a lot less gimmicky than the previous one.

but i don't get this at all: "The problem is you have to use search!" why would that be a problem? seems a reasonable, logical way to find something...

 

[TumbleDryer]

there's so much more in system settings than there used to be in preferences. and the newer design seems a lot less gimmicky than the previous one.

but i don't get this at all: "The problem is you have to use search!" why would that be a problem? seems a reasonable, logical way to find something...

Well again, as you always seem to do, you've missed the point even though I've tried to make it clearer by saying 'The point is...'

You use search when you can't find something. If you can't find something, that's a problem.

Previously everything was available on one screen (no scrolling required) and it was clearly laid out. Now it's confined to a narrow window (for no obvious reason and a great chunk of it taken up by the list on the left) that requires vertical AND horizontal scrolling to access everything and even then its not clear where the setting you want is going to be.

Let me ask you this... if you don't know the exact setting you need what do you search for?

If the interface is laid out intuitively you would know which area to click and drill down in if necessary. If we should 'just use search' why have a systems page in the first place?

 

[fisherking]

Well again, as you always seem to do, you've missed the point even though I've tried to make it clearer by saying 'The point is...'

You use search when you can't find something. If you can't find something, that's a problem.

Previously everything was available on one screen (no scrolling required) and it was clearly laid out. Now it's confined to a narrow window (for no obvious reason and a great chunk of it taken up by the list on the left) that requires vertical AND horizontal scrolling to access everything and even then its not clear where the setting you want is going to be.

Let me ask you this... if you don't know the exact setting you need what do you search for?

If the interface is laid out intuitively you would know which area to click and drill down in if necessary. If we should 'just use search' why have a systems page in the first place?

hmm, i (mostly) don't feel like i 'missed the point', i think i am merely responding to it. and sorry you're having a hard time with settings personally, if i search for something, i tend to know what i'm searching for. and again, once you know where something is, it will always be there (until apple changes it up again 🙄🤣)

the idea that preferences was laid out intuitively is, to me anyway, pretty funny. how many times have i watched someone hunt & peck for printers, or time machine...

anyway, it is as it is, am sure you'll get used to it.

 

[Lounge vibes 05]

there's so much more in system settings than there used to be in preferences. and the newer design seems a lot less gimmicky than the previous one.

but i don't get this at all: "The problem is you have to use search!" why would that be a problem? seems a reasonable, logical way to find something...

I so much prefer the new system settings.
With the old system preferences if anyone happened to use any of Apple’s accessibility settings There was a good chance that the entire app would break.
Also in the old preferences, there was a massive difference between the settings on every other Apple platform and the Mac.
On every other Apple platform, “General” held things like “Software Update”, “Date & Time” and “Storage”.
Meanwhile, in system preferences on the Mac, general was… Appearance settings? Huh?
It was just completely inconsistent and bizarre.
At least with the new system settings, there’s a pretty good chance that if a setting is located somewhere on the iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch, Vision Pro and Apple TV, it will be in the exact same place on the Mac as well. Something that could have never been said about the previous system preferences.

 

[Brilliant-Safe1663]

that is crazy! can you remove the glass effect?

 

[Lounge vibes 05]

Well that's the point isn't it? Its not 'always there' because Apple keep changing things around.

But that has always been the case, between the introduction of the modern system preferences in OS X 10.0 Chita and its final version in macOS Monterey, the system preferences application received a re-organization on average every other operating system revision.
It was literally a running gag in John Syracuse‘s OS X reviews, the bi-yearly system preferences scramble.