Title says it all but, is macOS's UI still referred to as Aqua? I know Aqua was introduced way back when macOS was called Mac OSX so I was wondering if its called something else now that were at macOS 11?
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Is macOS's UI still called Aqua?
- Thread starter oooopossum
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Are you sure? Wikipedia article does say at the top "This article needs to be updated. Please update this article to reflect recent events or newly available information. (January 2021)"
Apple's documentation is pretty silent on the name Aqua. The only reference I can find in the Human Interface Guidelines lists the default system colours used in 'Aqua' and 'Dark'. https://developer.apple.com/design/human-interface-guidelines/macos/visual-design/color/
Suggests to me that Aqua if it has any meaning is only as Light Mode. I am happy to be shown some other current Apple references to Aqua.
It's still called Aqua. "Dark" is just referring to Aqua in dark mode (rather than writing out "Aqua Dark Mode").
I imagine the term slowly stopped being used because it became increasingly irrelevant. It was only relevant when there were two OSes in active use (9 and X) and you needed to distinguish between them.
Now that there is only one macOS there is only one interface so it doesn't need a name anymore.
It was mostly for marketing anyway.
Now that there is only one macOS there is only one interface so it doesn't need a name anymore.
It was mostly for marketing anyway.
I wish there was a setting in sys prefs under general that had two option: modern and aqua that would let you choose between a Big Sur GUI and a 10.2 GUI. My first Mac was a PowerBook g4 with Jaguar. I still smile when I see aqua and pinstripe screenshots.
Man, I would give anything to have a toggle that could switch back to Platinum. I really loved that UI, still do on my OS 9 machines.
