Free the Icons • Hacker News Board

Re: Free the Icons

#211

Post by mghackerlady » Tue, Jun 30, 2026, 2:23 PM UTC

fg137 wrote: post #153

al_borland wrote: post #23

While 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…

VisionOS, at least as it stands today, will be dead before you know it. If you don't understand what I mean, look up the rumor about the future of Vision Pro. What a waste of resource to invent the whole Tahoe "design language" only for nothing.

the Vision Pro is the modern day pippin. An ambitious idea that could have done well if not for the terrible execution

Re: Free the Icons

#212

Post by SpyCoder77 » Tue, Jun 30, 2026, 2:27 PM UTC

dpark wrote: post #42

SpyCoder77 wrote: post #31

I honestly disagree with the author when they say that the Golden Gate icons are better than Tahoes. There are more lines, which is literally removing the point of LIQUID glass. It is supposed to be BLURRY, like LIQUID. I get that it is more readable, but are icons meant to be read? There is no text in them, other than Apple TV which is very distinctive. It seems like they just boosted the sharpness of the icons and…

The real question isn’t whether LIQUID should be BLURRY but whether intentionally choosing a BLURRY user interface design is STUPID. Apple spent millions convincing everyone they needed Retina displays and then churned out an update that made them all blurry.

I agree Liquid Glass is bad a lot of the time (some parts have grown on me)

Re: Free the Icons

#213

Post by al_borland » Tue, Jun 30, 2026, 2:28 PM UTC

jaffa2 wrote: post #168

matsemann wrote: post #142

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah, for a decade now it's been a UX disaster. It "works", because so many people are used to it, but look at a new user trying to navigate iOS, it's bonkers. Swiping from random directions achieves different things (and how would you even know you can?). The home button has like 11 different functions depending on how you press it and when.

1. Ive been using apple iphone since 2010 and i jave an iphone air right now. I still dont know how/why/when i seem to accidentally call the AI thing where the side of my acreen go all all funny. Ive never done it intentionally and i dont know how but every so often i trigger it. 2. Can apple ‘regress’ the camera app so the it is easy to use. The interface is a disaster of mixed inputs and over loaded widgets. Theres…

1. This is generally from holding in the lock button (the upper button on the right side). Maybe you're accidentally holding it in while gripping the phone. Some people tend to rest their thumb there and might start holding it on accident.

4. The top vs bottom search boxes drive me nuts. I still instinctively reach for the top of the screen for search, so going to the bottom is weird. The move to the bottom is also a symptom of the phones being too large, so they have to move all the UI users interact with down to the bottom. Not being 100% consistent with it makes it hard to retrain my habits around it.

Re: Free the Icons

#214

Post by mghackerlady » Tue, Jun 30, 2026, 2:30 PM UTC

Gigachad wrote: post #130

mrweasel wrote: post #123

There's so little joy and happiness left in computing. Reverting to the older style of icons, plus perhaps a few UI tweaks, certainly help bring a bit of whimsical back into the macOS platform. That's something many of us would love.

Liquid Glass was a good step in the right direction imo. A choice to make visual entertainment and beauty a priority over pure function. I feel like what computers really lost was sounds, we used to have so many joyful sounds and background music on computers while now they are all silent. I think it’s a tragedy the Nintendo switch broke the long history of music in the menus and apps.

People started hating when their computers made sound around the time smartphones became big. This is because companies can not be trusted with the ability to make attention grabbing sounds. Sounds should be used to mean something important is happening. It just so happens what Zuck' thinks is important isn't really important

Re: Free the Icons

#215

Post by mghackerlady » Tue, Jun 30, 2026, 2:32 PM UTC

schappim wrote: post #5

altern8 wrote: post #3

Tahoe was such a huge mess, but I'm hopeful that the new CEO will turn things around and bring things back to normal. If they do, I'll consider upgrading both OS and laptop, but right now I'm holding on to Sequoia

It really was Mac OS X's Vista moment. Edit: It'll always be Mac OS X to me, not macOS.

OS X? Surely you mean Rhapsody

Re: Free the Icons

#216

Post by al_borland » Tue, Jun 30, 2026, 2:34 PM UTC

xdertz wrote: post #174

KPGv2 wrote: post #157

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Swiping from random directions achieves different things (and how would you even know you can?) Cultural context, the same way you'd know tapping on an icon opens an app.

Tapping something is discoverable and a basic human instinct. How the hell do you discover "swipe up from the bottom edge and then slightly right" to open the app switcher?

You don't have to do the slightly right thing, it's just a bit more fluid. If you swipe up and wait a split second before letting go, it also works. There is haptic feedback once the mode triggers. It's fast, but requires intention vs a fluid swipe.

Re: Free the Icons

#217

Post by xbar » Tue, Jun 30, 2026, 2:36 PM UTC

I am sad that I will not have both Rosetta 2 and a tolerable UI for the remainder of my life.

Re: Free the Icons

#218

Post by al_borland » Tue, Jun 30, 2026, 2:37 PM UTC

dsego wrote: post #118

wpm wrote: post #102

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

I heard this was a thing with AirPods when they first came out.

I was recently at the airport and also saw several pairs of fake AirPod Max headphones. They looked fine from a distance, but up close it was really obvious and they looked bad.

Re: Free the Icons

#219

Post by legacynl » Tue, Jun 30, 2026, 2:42 PM UTC

I don't know if it's a real screenshot at the bottom of OP (the blue on black icons), but that' hilarious if it is.

Re: Free the Icons

#220

Post by al_borland » Tue, Jun 30, 2026, 2:47 PM UTC

shresthjain wrote: post #198

Don't know if this is what you want to do or not, but you can actually change app icons for Applications however you like if you have the alternate that you want it to be. I'll tell you how Applications Folder (in Finder) -> Right-click on the target app -> Get Info -> Drag-and-drop the intended icon file to the top-left corner where the original icon is present. Ik it's just a way to customise and not something offi…

Interesting... I had used this trick many times in the past, but assumed that with Tahoe it would put the icon in the little squircle jail it puts other default icons in if they don't conform to the new standards. Those end up looking really bad. I just tried it with a non-conforming icon and it seems to work.

Time to go icon hunting.