Mastodawn

marceloexc 19h ago

@lucas Hopefully soon !

Re: screencapturekit, have you guys looked into this api? rm2000 uses sck but I'm planning to move to coreaudio taps as it seems to be more efficient and purpose-built from what I gathered from the demo xcodeproj: https://developer.apple.com/documentation/coreaudio/capturing-system-audio-with-core-audio-taps

Capturing system audio with Core Audio taps | Apple Developer Documentation

Use a Core Audio tap to capture outgoing audio from a process or group of processes.

Apple Developer Documentation

marceloexc 19h ago

Only the greatest minds from news dot ycombinator dot com

Crisis averted, NSDrawers do still exist and I shall be implementing them in RM2000 Tape Recorder
https://mastodon.social/@chockenberry/114750526856441138

@chockenberry this post is how I learned NSDrawer hasn't been removed yet.

And I shall be implementing it soon

Not that anyone cares *when* I did this, but I made this 15 days ago.

It doesn’t seem hard to me to do this.

As a person who used to make app icons at Apple, I don’t think the situation is that the designer doesn’t know, but rather the decision maker who is supposed to have taste doesn’t know. (If this person isn’t Alan Dye, then that’s even more embarrassing for him that he’s not the person making that call.)

Also, slightly purpler is better. More Mac, less Mail / Safari like I said before.

@zhenyi truth

testing out @lucas & co new Macrowave app, and while there are some harmless window bugs, its a whole lot of fun and i cant wait for more updates

spent around 5 minutes just clicking on buttons before realizing that the app has actual features, and I started broadcasting some quick audio from firefox. it seems like an awesome idea. i would totally want to become a dj and put on my ambient playlist

The interactivity in the UI has pretty much persuaded me to stop using bitmaps and make all future RM2000 Tape Recorder themes in 90% interactive swiftUI

Amazing stuff

Not that anyone cares *when* I did this, but I made this 15 days ago.

It doesn’t seem hard to me to do this.

Also, slightly purpler is better. More Mac, less Mail / Safari like I said before.

Like I don’t even understand why they went this route with the Dark version. Why... would you go about it this way? Keep the strongest point of contrast in the facial features. So on light mode, they’re the darkest color. On dark mode, they’re the lightest color.

I really, really do not like spending my time pointing this out. I could write a whole blog post but I don’t want to seem angry about it. I just think the right solutions are simpler than what they’re doing.

I just want to remark and say thanks for everyone who appreciates this.

This is not the first time I’ve spent my time addressing this icon during the beta phase of an OS release. Years ago, I mentioned the eyes weren’t centered, and people told me I was wrong and the eyes were “optically” centered, only for Apple to fix it in the next beta.

That being said—

I don’t really like working for free, especially when it benefits a three trillion dollar company. I don’t need a job from them. And I don’t claim to be the only person who cares about this. But I do resent a little bit that when I spend my time on these things that aren’t what I care most about, they get tons of attention. But when I post about things I just absolutely adore and want to spend all my time on, it gets considerably less attention.

The short of it is... if you followed me after this post, don’t be surprised when I don’t post about Apple design stuff for a while. I’ll probably post about some rad 千社札 I’ve been drawing the last couple days. If you like the 5 minute liquid glass surgery I did on Finder, maybe take a moment later to look at whatever art I end up posting later.

Duncan Horne 2d ago

@louie I really like that last sentence. It’s almost like they’re trying to think too clever about it.

@duncandesi9n Honestly, cleverness is the worst poison a designer can drink. It’s not the key to making a good thing. It’s just the key to making people notice. And sometimes the job is not to make people notice it so much.

Ryan the Design Lion 2d ago

@louie My design teacher in college would sometimes write “clever” on a design, and it was her most scathing, damning critique.

Ged Maheux 2d ago

@louie They are trying to be too clever. It’s as simple as that.

@gedeonm 100%. And you know this, but— https://pdx.social/@louie/114743823752891693

Louie Mantia, Jr. (@louie@pdx.social)

@duncandesi9n@mastodon.design Honestly, cleverness is the worst poison a designer can drink. It’s not the key to making a good thing. It’s just the key to making people notice. And sometimes the job is not to make people notice it so much.

pdx.social

Nova🐧✨2d ago

@louie they're so glassbrained that they seem to go "only lighting should change on dark glass and we can't do stained glass, only stacked glass panes/tubes" like come on if your material doesn't work change it a bit for the good of the design, stop glassholing yourselves :p

Christopher Snowhill 2d ago

@louie Cool. Now if only someone could tell me how to use *multiple* of these sorts of icons in an app, and also incorporate them with NSDockTile...

jack 2d ago

@louie love this so much! I wish Apple's was more like this tbh

rico becker 2d ago

@louie How can we get you back to Apple to save us from further disasters?

*stares at the Xcode icon*

If they just have to decide between three great variants their taste doesn't matter.

@ricobeck The issue is direction, not execution.

It’s not that I’m not there, or that another designer isn’t there. It’s that the company put people in directorial roles who don’t have good taste. I have no doubt there are many designers at Apple who could pull off the right thing if given good direction or if they had more power to challenge those without good taste.

@louie Why do you hate Alan Dye that much?
Honest question .

@the_alsatian I’ve learned to trust my instincts when people say “honest question.”

@louie That’s fair.
I will therefore not ask for an answer to this question, I was just interested in reasoning behind your comment.

@the_alsatian I wrote a *lot* the other day. If you haven’t read, maybe it will answer your question. https://lmnt.me/blog/rose-gold-tinted-liquid-glasses.html

Rose-Gold-Tinted Liquid Glasses

@louie Thanks for sharing, will have a read.

Nit 2d ago

@louie @the_alsatian ooof, fell down the rabbit hole on your blog from that link. So much good stuff.

Ben Munson 1d ago

@louie this was very good and I agree with it.

MisterMoo 1d ago

@louie Same when a question comes prepended with "just curious."

Martin the paranoid android 2d ago

@the_alsatian @louie Why would ANYONE not?

@DonSqueak @louie Thanks, but not interested in bait.
It was just a question out of interest.

Martin the paranoid android 2d ago

@the_alsatian Not bait. I seriously don’t understand why a) there is no louder critique and outcry regarding what Dye did to UX design in the last years, and b) how he wasn’t fired yet.

So, I am also honestly interested in what redeeming qualities you see that made you ask that question.

I am deeply deeply worried that Dye destroys what the HIG team built, irreparably.

Jade 2d ago

@louie Not trying to be a jerk, but I wonder if Apple ever considered eliminating that icon. Probably more than 95 percent of Apple devices that have a file system use a folder icon named Files now, so it seems like a needless friction point for new Mac users coming from iPhones or iPads.

@OldManJade I’m 100% positive this has been considered and it was ruled out due to incredible, long-standing brand recognition. You got the Apple logo in the top left, but getting rid of the Mac logo as the Finder icon would be just a bad move all around.

Drew Pickard 2d ago

@OldManJade @louie
When Apple removed color from the Sidebar the speed at which I find the folder I am looking for massively dropped and has never recovered.
Color and form is a huge part of how I navigate screens. I am STILL angry about that change.

@drewpickard Sorry about that. That was partly my fault. Steve asked for us to remove the icons altogether in the iTunes sidebar and I made single-color shaded icons as an effort to retain icons at all. He approved those, and later the whole system followed suit.

Drew Pickard 1d ago

@louie
This is interesting because I always assumed the driver of this trajctory toward a white void was Jony!
Still hurts tho. 😭

@drewpickard We had those grayish-blue sidebar icons for a while before they were ultimately replaced by SF Symbols. I think Steve had thought the source list was starting to look messy. Perhaps the better solution would have been to tidy it up rather than remove visual cues, but— a fight for an alternate timeline I suppose.

Drew Pickard 1d ago

@louie an important detail I forgot: the colored icons I used were all custom (a lot of icon factory of course). I got by with the various “hacks” for a few years but then those eventually were abandoned.
Thanks for the backstory. It is still wild to me how much in the details he was.

jack 2d ago

@louie “In fact, the rounded square icons that became the hallmark visual design characteristic of iPhone and iPhoneOS originated as a way to differentiate proper OS X apps from Dashboard widgets. And to be fair, at the time, a lot of iPhone apps felt like they were little widgets themselves. Even though the platform was forked from OS X, the little screen and low resolution encouraged smaller apps on iPhone.”

Omg I almost forgot about Dashboard widget icons!

Adam Schoales 2d ago

@louie I know this is obviously not the point of this post but curious what design app that is. Its lovely!

dxzdb 2d ago

@adamschoales @louie That's the new “Icon Composer” app shipped by Apple as part of Xcode26(beta). It says “Version 1.0” in the About so maybe they don't consider it Beta.

Nova🐧✨2d ago

@louie you have resurrected my boy!!!

seriously though who do I gotta poke at apple with a protest movement to fix this???