Louie Mantia, Jr.Jun 28

You know, I could write a whole blog post about this—and I might—but I think we need to start addressing the very likely possibility that the *entire thesis* that “UI should get out of the way” and “apps should focus on content” is wrong.

Apps aren’t just for looking at photos or videos. They’re for navigating through these things, organizing them, editing them. The tools to do those things should not get out of the way. They should be clearly defined and separate from the content.

Show threadLouie Mantia, Jr.Jun 28
The problem is not the introduction of glass as an element of the visual design language. If used as the Dock background alone, it would be totally fine! But because someone said “UI should get out of the way” and no one challenged it—instead of content literally being the focus, Apple has to intentionally put content *out of focus* (blurring) to make the glass elements visible. They have to put a gradient behind the glass so you can see it. That should’ve been the “oh, it doesn’t work” moment.
Show threadLouie Mantia, Jr.Jun 28

But here we are with a new visual design language that somehow manages to compromise on both the content area *and* the UI.

I’m *living* on macOS Tahoe and I’m here to tell you that the apps that are a pleasure to use are the ones that haven’t adopted Liquid Glass (in essence... all the third-party apps.)

This should be a blog post. But I need to collect my thoughts and write it all better. So consider this a beta version. lol

Show threadJohn GruberJun 28
@louie I have never once gotten the impression that anyone on Alan Dye’s UI team uses serious pro tool apps. They love making beautiful looking things, not solving difficult UI problems with clever solutions. And I suspect when confronted with difficult UI problems, they say “Shut up with that nerd stuff.”
Show threadCraig HockenberryJun 28
@gruber @louie I’m not even sure they’ve used a Mac for a full day’s work.
Show threadMindaugas RudokasJun 28

@chockenberry @gruber @louie Wait, what are you implying here? They do the UI design directly in Keynote? :)

Who is Mica for then?

Show threadJonathan Hendry

@mrudokas @chockenberry @gruber @louie

The underlings who implement the bad ideas?

Jun 28 at 6:59pmWeb
Show threadMindaugas RudokasJun 28

@jonhendry @chockenberry @gruber @louie Looking at the Icon Composer and how it was presented during the WWDC, I kind of don’t know what to think.

I know it’s v1, but it’s like doing the handoff to yourself, over, and over, and over again – more or less.

If that is the understanding of the proper tooling and development convenience, then it’s really fucked up – the bicycle for your mind ideology may be gone. But how? There are smart people inside, guaranteed!

Show threadMindaugas RudokasJun 28

@jonhendry @chockenberry @gruber @louie

Best course of action after beta period? What would be the modern version of pitch forks and torches in this situation?

1. Lawsuit based on demanding accessibility rights.

2. Infiltrate Apple, teach good taste.

3. Show how it is done from outside. (No leverage to apply force.)

4. Infiltrate Apple, steal the macOS source code, release as torrents, die in jail.

5. Hack Apple, steal the macOS source code, release as torrents, live anonymous.

...

Show threadMindaugas RudokasJun 28

@jonhendry @chockenberry @gruber @louie

6. Bring back the modding, the skinning, the Winamp/beOS era through OS patches without having source code, use other UI frameworks, build new ones.

7. Build fucking web apps.

8. Write angry blogposts and tweets, if you can see where to click to send those.

9. Do nothing. Wait for RC. Die in despair.

10. All move to EU, pass laws from there.

...

Show threadMindaugas RudokasJun 28

@jonhendry @chockenberry @gruber @louie

11. Mass-downgrade. (Global user base will not follow, can’t make apps as business without new versions of toolchains).

12. Pitch forks and torches.