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osx_user

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Dec 20, 2020
27
16
Hi!

Change and details in macOS Monterey design

I think that since macOS Big Sur the design has evolved well. It seems to me that the windows and other elements have a good evolved design but there is something in the menu bar that seems wrong to me from a design logic point of view. Next I will explain why:

1 - The Dock has a shadow which makes our brain interpret that the Dock is floating above the desktop background. This is fine and logical. However, the menu bar now has no shadow. For our brain it means that the menu bar is resting on top of the desktop background. Why? Has no sense. The menu bar must also float on the desktop background and not rest on the wallpaper. Therefore the menu bar must have a shadow.

2 - The elements of the menu bar such as the names of the menus or the icons when the background is dark are colored white and take on a shadow. Why? This makes no sense. The shaded elements within the menu bar give the feeling that they are floating when they are part of the composition of the menu bar. It must be just the other way around like Catalina. Items within the menu bar have to be unshaded to make them appear to be part of the menu bar. The menu bar should have a shadow and float like the Dock, menus and windows do.

4 - I agree that some selectors have to have a spacing. Such as the selectors in the Finder sidebar. There is plenty of space and that spacing allows you to see a separate selector clearly. However, in the selectors of the menus of the menu bar and the contextual menus this spacing does not do more than waste a necessary space. That is why the menu selectors must reach the horizontal edges.

5 - Selectors of the menu bar. Just as the Finder sidebar selectors must have that spacing to give the feeling of individual selectors. In the menu bar there is no space to have a space in the side boxes and the curve of the selector together with the upper and lower edges collide with the edges of the menu bar. That is why its curved edge is meaningless and gives the feeling of deformation. That is why it is necessary to return to Catalina's square style in the selectors of the menu bar.

In summary:
Shaded menu bar like Catalina
Menu bar items without shadow when dark background is set
Square menu bar selectors
Menu bar selectors without horizontal spacing
Menus from the menu bar with top edges without curved corners to give the feeling of being hooked to the menu bar.

This I have translated with the Google translator so it may not be translated correctly. Please observe the screenshots that I leave below so that you can see in a more intuitive way what I explain in the previous paragraphs.

Please tell me what you think of this design:


MenuBattery.png

MenuContextual.png
MenuFinder.png
MenuWifi.png
gn
 

gilby101

macrumors 68030
Mar 17, 2010
2,509
1,354
Tasmania
Give Apple feedback on the design elements you feel strongly about. Now is the time to do it - early in the beta cycle. 10 months ago, Apple reduced the ridiculous (in my view) spacing of icons in the menu bar following feedback for the early Catalina betas.
 
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osx_user

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Dec 20, 2020
27
16
Give Apple feedback on the design elements you feel strongly about. Now is the time to do it - early in the beta cycle. 10 months ago, Apple reduced the ridiculous (in my view) spacing of icons in the menu bar following feedback for the early Catalina betas.
You're right. I just sent it to Apple. In fact I have sent you the link to this thread so that you can observe the images.

I think that since Big Sur, the menu bar has not evolved correctly.
In fact I also think that the dark theme should check the borders of the windows because they are too wide. In the white theme, the borders are hardly appreciated. But on the dark theme, the edges are too wide.

This is all my opinion. So I ask people to build a constructive discussion on this.

Thanks for your intervention
 
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