Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
uBar 3
- Thread starter dermeister
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
Just updated and very pleased! The one item that was fixed was accidentally thinking I was in Windows for a minute (I use Windows, Linux, and Mac at work) and typing after opening the uBar menu. Being able to type and have it select one of my favorites is great! Keep up the good work.
This could sound like a silly question - but how can I access uBar 4 settings? Purchased it, downloaded, replaced uBar 3 installation... once launched, it used same settings as u3, except for one - there is virtually no border in dock to click on, and hence no way to access preferences they way I did it in u3
Hi Adani, you can get there by clicking the uBar menu>uBar>Preferences. Or try right-clicking the very left/right side of the whole bar.
The thing is, I could not get to uBar menu at all - I had menu disabled back in version 3, so 4 just had the same settings. And there was no icon in top system bar as well. However, installing 3rd version and changing settings in it (disabling rimless mode), then launching 4rd did the trick. That's a bit hacky though 
What I immediately noticed in new version is that fonts used for application names in dock seem to lack any kind of anli-aliasing - in uBar3 they were nicer and a bit bolder. Also, when rimless mode is enabled not only there is virtually no border to click on to access settings (this might not be a problem for everyone), but what's really strange is that each window title in dock has white underline at the bottom. This is distracting when using dark theme and just because of that I had to disable rimless.
What I immediately noticed in new version is that fonts used for application names in dock seem to lack any kind of anli-aliasing - in uBar3 they were nicer and a bit bolder. Also, when rimless mode is enabled not only there is virtually no border to click on to access settings (this might not be a problem for everyone), but what's really strange is that each window title in dock has white underline at the bottom. This is distracting when using dark theme and just because of that I had to disable rimless.
Normally in uBar 4 when you disable the uBar menu, you should get a uBar menu as a menu extra in the macOS menu bar. This was specifically to handle the problem you mentioned.The thing is, I could not get to uBar menu at all - I had menu disabled back in version 3, so 4 just had the same settings. And there was no icon in top system bar as well. However, installing 3rd version and changing settings in it (disabling rimless mode), then launching 4rd did the trick. That's a bit hacky though
What I immediately noticed in new version is that fonts used for application names in dock seem to lack any kind of anli-aliasing - in uBar3 they were nicer and a bit bolder. Also, when rimless mode is enabled not only there is virtually no border to click on to access settings (this might not be a problem for everyone), but what's really strange is that each window title in dock has white underline at the bottom. This is distracting when using dark theme and just because of that I had to disable rimless.
Would you be able to email me a comparison of the anti-aliasing on your machine? As for the white underline, it uses the highlight color for that - you could set it to something more subdued like a grey.
Prior to uBar 3.2.6, uBar used sub-pixel anti-aliasing. In uBar 3.2.6, this was replaced by regular anti-aliasing in order to eliminate shearing/corruption of animation in uBar. Unfortunately, it is not possible have both sub-pixel anti-aliasing and properly fluid animation at the same time.
Sub-pixel rendering is especially important for non-retina displays. With a retina display, fonts should appear appropriately smooth.
Downloaded uBar 4.
Looked at the one feature - the ONE feature - I asked to be fixed. It's not fixed.
Deleted uBar 4. Not buying this app until you fix this one simple issue.
===
Simple Explanation:
For apps like Finder, uBar 4 gives you two options: "Include" and "Exclude." When included, uBar inserts at least one taskbar entry for Finder at all times - whether or not you have any Finder windows open. When excluded, uBar hides the entry for Finder *and all Finder windows*.
This is irritating and useless. The natural option is the one in between: uBar should present one entry for each Finder window - and no entries for Finder if there are no open windows. This is not a difficult concept, yet uBar cannot manage to provide this behavior.
===
Lengthy Explanation:
One of the most irritating features of both modern Windows and MacOS is mixing up the metaphor between running applications (those that are being executed) and views (active windows that present content).
The classic Windows taskbar is primarily focused on views. If you're looking at one document, you have one taskbar entry. If you're looking at two documents, you have two taskbar entries. If you're looking at a task pane, like the panel to create a new document, then you have one taskbar entry for that panel. And if none of that is true - then Word isn't running and you don't have any taskbar entries for it.
That simple logic began to get muddy with Windows Vista. First, by default, Vista presents one taskbar entry per application (and either groups or collapses all views into that one entry). Second, Vista introduced "pinning," where the taskbar has entries for applications *that aren't running at all* jammed in between the taskbar entries for the views of running apps.
Of course, the MacOS dock takes a different approach: it's really just a launcher (with very basic status and notification functionality dded). it won't show you entries for views *at all*.
What I want is simple: the classic Windows taskbar functionality.
uBar should have an option to display one entry per view - and zero entries per running applications, apart from the entries for their views. That's it.
uBar 3 fails in this regard. Since Finder is always running, uBar 3 insisted on including an entry for Finder at all times - whether or not it has any views open. If you open at least one Finder window, uBar 3 inserts one entry per view; and when you close all of the views, you get back your one entry for Finder as a running application
uBar 4 also fails in this regard. It performs exactly the same as uBar 3, with the additional option of "excluding" any application you want. If you select Finder as an "excluded" application, it hides the Finder entry... *and all entries for all Finder views*.
Look: it's simple. An application that has with no views should not have a taskbar entry. The End.
Please fix this. Thank you.
Looked at the one feature - the ONE feature - I asked to be fixed. It's not fixed.
Deleted uBar 4. Not buying this app until you fix this one simple issue.
===
Simple Explanation:
For apps like Finder, uBar 4 gives you two options: "Include" and "Exclude." When included, uBar inserts at least one taskbar entry for Finder at all times - whether or not you have any Finder windows open. When excluded, uBar hides the entry for Finder *and all Finder windows*.
This is irritating and useless. The natural option is the one in between: uBar should present one entry for each Finder window - and no entries for Finder if there are no open windows. This is not a difficult concept, yet uBar cannot manage to provide this behavior.
===
Lengthy Explanation:
One of the most irritating features of both modern Windows and MacOS is mixing up the metaphor between running applications (those that are being executed) and views (active windows that present content).
The classic Windows taskbar is primarily focused on views. If you're looking at one document, you have one taskbar entry. If you're looking at two documents, you have two taskbar entries. If you're looking at a task pane, like the panel to create a new document, then you have one taskbar entry for that panel. And if none of that is true - then Word isn't running and you don't have any taskbar entries for it.
That simple logic began to get muddy with Windows Vista. First, by default, Vista presents one taskbar entry per application (and either groups or collapses all views into that one entry). Second, Vista introduced "pinning," where the taskbar has entries for applications *that aren't running at all* jammed in between the taskbar entries for the views of running apps.
Of course, the MacOS dock takes a different approach: it's really just a launcher (with very basic status and notification functionality dded). it won't show you entries for views *at all*.
What I want is simple: the classic Windows taskbar functionality.
uBar should have an option to display one entry per view - and zero entries per running applications, apart from the entries for their views. That's it.
uBar 3 fails in this regard. Since Finder is always running, uBar 3 insisted on including an entry for Finder at all times - whether or not it has any views open. If you open at least one Finder window, uBar 3 inserts one entry per view; and when you close all of the views, you get back your one entry for Finder as a running application
uBar 4 also fails in this regard. It performs exactly the same as uBar 3, with the additional option of "excluding" any application you want. If you select Finder as an "excluded" application, it hides the Finder entry... *and all entries for all Finder views*.
Look: it's simple. An application that has with no views should not have a taskbar entry. The End.
Please fix this. Thank you.
An option to hide apps with zero windows open is on the todo list, but was dependent on under-the-hood work that was done for the uB4 Active Favorites features. So this feature request will actually come quite quickly now that that work it depends on is done. A lot of people have requested this actually. Sorry for the lack of updates on what was going on.
[doublepost=1505756883][/doublepost]Release Notes for 3.2.7
- New: macOS 10.13 High Sierra compatibility
Last edited: