Design is a cost center now at Apple. Must be reduced and minmaxed.
Free the Icons
111–120 of 270 posts
Re: Free the Icons
#112Maybe it's just me, but I never really liked the detailed older mac icons, like the examples at the bottom of the page. I've always enjoyed more minimalist, simple user interfaces. And I can understand what Apple are trying to do by standardising their icons on the squircle (even if the execution is a bit iffy sometimes, the big grey border doesn't look great). Though, judging by everyone else's writings, I'm probably in the minority
Re: Free the Icons
#113Tangential related, but i find Icons should have a animated tooltip- when hovered over prolonged, they should tell what the program should do in a cyclical svg-animation.
Re: Free the Icons
#114As an aside, Rogue Amoeba are one of an ecosystem of great and greatly passionate indie software houses for the Mac.
All of them create excellent software with polished UIs, provide excellent support and never forget to have fun. This seems to be unique to the Mac, at least at this scale.
Re: Free the Icons
#115While I wholeheartedly agree, I suspect the required backgrounds are to create a uniform format between system, where VisionOS requires round icons for more reliable eye tracking. It seems like every OS got a little harder to use in order to better vibe with VisionOS, the least popular platform they have. While I applaud the commitment to building a new platform, I don’t like that’s is coming at the expense of the ot…
I understand this logic, but at some point it makes sense to design the system for the millions of people on macs rather than make compromises for the sake of dozens of Vision Pro users.
Re: Free the Icons
#116Any linux kid with a slightest experience with desktop ricing would tell them that uniformly customized icons are a nightmare for visual recognition. Why didn't they run some internal tests, it's so obvious
Re: Free the Icons
#117Earlier quoted context omitted.
> Giving equal visual weight to each icon is an improvement. Equal visual weight is another way of saying less differentiated. > "Shape" hasn't disappeared as a distinct visual cue, as the area within the squircle is made of, well... different shapes. Shape refers to a boundary outline, not interior patterning. A square with polkadots is still shaped like a square. > A smaller icon is harder to click, because clickin…
Some differentiation between elements must be sacrificed in order to build shared UX patterns between them. I think we can definitely go too far in either direction. An example of a nice compromise would be the macOS menu bar. Most status icons are monotone, which allows the ones with meaningful color differentiation to shine through without being drowned in the noise or increasing user fatigue.
> user fatigue
Citation needed. What is user fatigue? Can it be empirically measured? Fatigued by what? Too much color? Lack of shape? Too much contrast? Lack of contrast?
When is the last time you were "fatigued" by icons?
Without hard facts the expression is just a wishy-washy way to promote a personal taste.
Re: Free the Icons
#118Earlier quoted context omitted.
it's market changed it started as a computer for professionals now its for people who want to look cool. so form is much more important than function, it's literally what you buy
Haha yeah! Mac users just buy them to look cool while they write their whatever in the coffee shop! This is definitely not a preposterous and outdated observation/joke!
Wasn't there a trend where kids were just wearing dead apple watches as accessories? It's just a status symbol, like gold bracelets.
Re: Free the Icons
#119Earlier quoted context omitted.
it's market changed it started as a computer for professionals now its for people who want to look cool. so form is much more important than function, it's literally what you buy
Haha yeah! Mac users just buy them to look cool while they write their whatever in the coffee shop! This is definitely not a preposterous and outdated observation/joke!
Sounds like it hit a nerve to be honest
Re: Free the Icons
#120Earlier quoted context omitted.
it's market changed it started as a computer for professionals now its for people who want to look cool. so form is much more important than function, it's literally what you buy
I challenge you to find a laptop that can do what my macbook air m1 with 8gb of ram does at the $899 it was through the education store. No fan, awesome battery life, good trackpad and keyboard, the ability to not get hot while using it. I'm a senior platform engineer who at the time I bought it was a senior software developer, who can still use it for my daily tasks despite it having 8gb of ram. Until very recently…
Are there any laptops where the cooling is handled by the screen backside?