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0 pointspants26mo ago0 comments

How has Apple still not addressed many basic UI issues, such as menu bar icons disappearing behind the notch with no way to see them?

0 comments

EarthLaunch6mo ago

I take it as a sign of typical increasing corporate dysfunction. Obvious problems, some even easy and uncontroversial, don't get fixed. Why?

The people who can fix them are not in control. The org must be very top-down. But Steve Jobs had a top down style, so what's the difference? Its: Using and caring about the product.

It's top down direction with the people at the top not using/caring about the product. Presumably they're concerned with other things like efficiency, stocks, clout.

jedberg6mo ago

Also if you had a majorly obvious bug, you could email steve@apple.com, which he would forward to a VP, who would be fired if it wasn't fixed ASAP. Knew a guy who lost his job that way, so it's not just a myth. Steve really was like that.

The wrath of Steve was a real thing that people feared.

AlexandrB6mo ago

On the one hand, this kind of thing seems like a mercurial, dictatorial management style. On the other hand, you do need a way to cut through the levels of hierarchy in a large company so that fixes like this don't always get bogged down in process and stakeholder meetings.

It seemed to work for Apple/Steve Jobs, but I'm not convinced it would work for everyone.

cosmic_cheese6mo ago

Menu extras were never intended to be treated like Windows tray items. For the earlier portion of OS X’s life, there wasn’t even a public API to create them and required a hack and a private API, and the current API is intended for ephemeral menu extras that disappear when their host app isn’t running. In short, the menubar isn’t designed for users to collect menu extras like Pokémon.

D13Fd6mo ago

But that’s exactly how it is used, and them disappearing behind the notch feels like a bug.

vintagedave6mo ago

Sure, but for twenty years that’s not how they’ve been used.

wrs6mo ago

In case you don't know, at least there's a setting to help:

    defaults -currentHost write -globalDomain NSStatusItemSpacing -int 8

nntwozz6mo ago

I have collected a long list of these types of settings over the years, for example disable font smoothing:

  defaults -currentHost write -g AppleFontSmoothing -int 0

It used to be a checkbox, now there's only this command.

Eventually that will be gone too, and none will be the wiser except the old who remember the good old days.

I'm starting to think these settings are left there by rogue engineers who fight against the oppression while staying under the radar. It's like a secret cabal that works to maintain sanity while the plebs are left to suffer at the mercy of their own ignorance.

throwaway2906mo ago

what is the purpose of disabling font smoothing?

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lloeki6mo ago

BetterDisplay has an option to "disable" the notch i.e push the menubar down, essentially making the screen the same as before there were a notch. Lose a little bit of real estate, but regain sanity.

There are some dedicated apps for that like Say No To Notch.

hombre_fatal6mo ago

And the apps that provide solutions for it, like Bartender, need screen reading permissions which I just can't bring myself to grant.

kstrauser6mo ago

If you really want to use such a thing, switch to Ice. It’s an open source thing similar to Bartender, before BT was bought by a shifty outfit. It still requires those permissions, but at least you can look at the code. I have a paid Bartender license. I liked it enough to pay for it, but don’t like the road it went down and stopped using it.

Tahoe lets you selectively remove app icons from the menu bar. I’m going to try that for a while and see if I can tolerate not using Ice anymore.

1 more reply

nozzlegear6mo ago

I think they kinda did? I'm not sure where to look for a link to this info, but I remember watching a YouTube video showing the ability to group and hide menu bar icons in Tahoe so they take up less space (and therefore encroach less toward the notch).

Maybe I'm misremembering the video though.

(edit) The linked page seems to hint at it:

> Personalized controls and menu bar. Your display feels even larger with the transparent menu bar. And you have more ways to customize the controls and layout in the menu bar and Control Center, even those from third parties

dsego6mo ago

Notice how on the menu bar, when you click File and then the dropdown appears, you can move the mouse arrow to the right (without clicking) over Edit and now the Edit menu shows up. But the same doesn't work on the status menu icons, if I click on the volume icon and move the mouse, nothing happens, the volume menu stays open, even if hover over the battery indicator. So many little things like this that never worked consistently.

iambateman6mo ago

I love my Mac and yes, this is easily the most absurd problem. It happens to me all the time and I can’t believe they haven’t fixed it.

Apple…if you’re listening…please fix this.

adregan6mo ago

They need to bring back the control strip!

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Control_Strip

Solves this exact issue.

DonHopkins6mo ago

It was great, but they had to quietly retire it when somebody pointed out it looked like a dick.

self_awareness6mo ago

Apparently it's not important.

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