Norbert Heger

@noheger@wien.rocks
87 Followers
129 Following
294 Posts

Menu item icons in macOS 26 reduce usability – should be optional

Please copy-paste the report as a new report in Feedback Assistant if you agree.

https://github.com/feedback-assistant/reports/issues/685

FB18692873: Menu item icons in macOS 26 reduce usability – should be optional · Issue #685 · feedback-assistant/reports

Submission Date 2025-07-08 Status Open Area Menu Bar Operating System Version macOS 26 Type Incorrect/Unexpected Behavior Description macOS 26 introduces icons for all menu items. This change adds ...

GitHub

I’ve got better things to do than write about Liquid Glass (again), and yet, here I am.

🔗 https://lmnt.me/blog/ive-got-better-things-to-do-than-this-and-yet.html

I’ve Got Better Things To Do Than This, and Yet

Technotes - Gibberish and Stuff

A few months ago, I posted this image on Mastodon, because the Apple documentation website sometimes feel… err, underwhelming. Many people have already pointed this out, so I won't repeat their...

After a week seeing the new #LiquidGlass now, what is your stance on the new designs?

Boosts for reach appreciated ✌️

Love it as it is
5.7%
Like it, if they tweak contrasts
47.2%
Don’t like it
37.7%
Don’t care about it
9.4%
Poll ended at .

Saw this on my kitchen counter today and thought „hmm, ‚Solid Porcelain‘ might be a cool design language, actually.“

Can do the same 3d effects, nice highlights / reflections, and easier to read on than the transparency of #LiquidGlass. Plus, stuff sticking out of the icon is always fun. #iOS #MacOS #WWDC25

Omg yes this, ffs 😩 via @mindaugasrudokas.com #wwdc25

Mockup time! What could be a reasonable "middle ground" between the Mac OS design that we have today and the radical Liquid Glass design we saw this week from #WWDC25?

Disclaimer: this does not attempt to solve all the issues of modern Mac OS design, such as cramped toolbars caused by full-height sidebars and combining the toolbar with the title bar. I feel like the Apple of today is too far gone to do anything about those.

Read on to see what I actually tried to address.

They needed a study to find that out?
https://orf.at/stories/3396532/
Something cool about _the new way_, is Apple are kind enough to include their SVGs in asset catalogs. You can reassemble icons in Icon Composer and re-colour them. *fixed*.
Liquid Glass feels like that earliest reveal of Aqua — flashy, and completely over the top and needing twelve months of refinement and public feedback to get the balance quite right. The problem is, Apple's yearly schedule doesn't allow for that kind of iteration before release; we have about a week or two to get our feedback in, but this plane's going to land in September regardless
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Something cool about _the new way_, is Apple are kind enough to include their SVGs in asset catalogs. You can reassemble icons in Icon Composer and re-colour them. *fixed*.
Also, the face on the default icon isn't centered. You're welcome.
@mattro how do I unsee this? 😭
@db thisisfine 🙂‍↔️
@mattro Because if it were, it would look off.

The .icon filetype is neat. In 7KB, i have these 3 variants ready to go.

- Better/correct blues on Default
- More neutral dark variant

Download it and take a look:
https://mattro.design/Finder.icon.zip

@mattro Looks so much better!
@mattro Send this to Apple somehow, please.
@mattro Please make sure you submit your #Finder icon to #Apple, I really don't like the updated one in #Tahoe
@mattro That’s actually really nice. I didn’t mind the new icon, but this is even better!