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Which Finder window do you prefer?

Which Finder window do you prefer?

  • Sequoia

  • Tahoe

Results are only viewable after voting.
nathansz

nathansz

macrumors 68030
Original poster
Jul 24, 2017
2,600
3,174
Sequoia:


Screenshot 2025-06-11 at 8.18.23 AM.png


Tahoe:

Screenshot 2025-06-11 at 8.38.57 AM.png



note: these are identical windows of the same size, with every option enabled.

this is one quarter of the screen as tiled by amethyst with 10 pixels of window padding, dock hidden, menubar enabled, 1728x1117
 
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I don't understand why buttons have to be float above the main content in Taheo. The floating buttons and heavy shadows beneath them are screaming to draw my attention all the time.
I sincerely hope Apple would change it in the future betas, at least soften the shadows of the buttons to make them not so pop-up in eyes.
 
SaMMyS said:
The floating buttons and heavy shadows beneath them are screaming to draw my attention all the time.
Click to expand...

Not too familiar but looking at some studies it seems there is discussion about UX controls being visible, discoverable, accessible for those with visual impairments, and so froth, with even seemingly some debates or critiques of the macOS/iOS flat simple design. We may be used to computers having used such for many years but not everyone is. Maybe someday it will change or be different yet I think it is one attempt to improve such. The look so far varies in different apps and this is just beta 1. It may very well improve and change in the coming months.
 
Last edited:
nathansz said:
Sequoia:


View attachment 2518956

Tahoe:

View attachment 2518959


note: these are identical windows of the same size, with every option enabled.

this is one quarter of the screen as tiled by amethyst with 10 pixels of window padding, dock hidden, menubar enabled, 1728x1117
Click to expand...
Is it normal for a visual overhaul to be such a "rough draft" in early beta?

I like where the second window is going, but it needs more space between the buttons on the top right - maybe "View" and "Group" moved a bit away. And it looks like there eneds to be more padding at the bottom of the row.
 
I've been using Macs since System 7.6.1 (Pizza Box Quadra, Apple Display powered by Sony Trinitron, After Dark Screensavers galore, and a 'Snood' game obsession, those were the days!), and this is the first macOS release where it feels like we are being punk'd. Tahoe makes Big Sur feel like it was evolutionary, iterative release.

Based on those horrific drop shadows behind those menu icons, shadow effects that look like they were made in Kai's Power Goo in 1997, it looks like I will be locked in Dark Mode (to hide them) until Apple gets their design mojo back. We've done the flat thing, it's awful, it's time to let it go. Don't rely on heavy shadows to create depth, give us actual, beautiful and modern looking icons throughout that have their own depth and shapes that represent the app or function properly.

Anyone else get a feeling of mild claustrophobic-anxiety when looking at clear glass overlays that also reveal literally everything underneath them creating a messy, double GUI effect, as well as those hellacious overly rounded corners which serve no purpose, and are a waste of space? I certainly do. So much for the goal of 'fading the OS into the background' as they've managed to achieve the exact opposite system-wide.

I am hoping that the final release is better, but I do not recall a time when Apple actually changed the look of an announced OS, other than tiny tweaks, from the keynote to the actual release day. However, like everything else, I am sure I will get used to it, and all this complaining will be a thing of the past. Here's hoping.
 
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fessura said:
The look so far varies in different apps and this is just beta 1.
Click to expand...
I agree, and I think the buttons/toolbar looks much worse in Finder/Settings than in Safari/Preview, as in Safari/Preview the windows are usually substantially bigger, shows much more content, while the buttons take less portion of space, plus you can scroll pages down and thus hide the title, blend the shadows in, then the buttons are not so pop-up. However in Finder/Settings the windows are smaller, and you can't/don't need to scroll down for the most of the time, so buttons sit in blank or sit beside the title, making them very conspicuous.
I don't think Apple will revert design, hope they can at least soften the shadows.
 
It's remarkably "incorrect" to have the stoplight icon cluster on a floating window.
That gives the understandable impression that the close button (red), for instance, would close the floating sidebar it's within, as opposed to the entire window.

This design is so bad -- on so many levels.
They have people doing this who are totally inept as actual interface designers.

2b5a79c24b65fd58.png
 
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nathansz said:
Sequoia:


View attachment 2518956

Tahoe:

View attachment 2518959


note: these are identical windows of the same size, with every option enabled.

this is one quarter of the screen as tiled by amethyst with 10 pixels of window padding, dock hidden, menubar enabled, 1728x1117
Click to expand...

Sequoia, and it's not close.

I honestly prefer even older ones, but in this comparison I would take Sequoia 10 times out of 10.
 
turbineseaplane said:
It's remarkably "incorrect" to have the stoplight icon cluster on a floating window.
That gives the understandable impression that the close button (red), for instance, would close the floating sidebar it's within, as opposed to the entire window.

This design is so bad -- on so many levels.
They have people doing this who are totally inept as actual interface designers.

2b5a79c24b65fd58.png
Click to expand...
Yeah, that's odd. Seems like theyh haven't fully thought this through.

And at this point, why not ditch the sidebar and reorganize the Collections layout itself? Add an animation that enlarges the thumbnails to "Pinned" size on hover.. add floating/frosted backgrounds for each row.. The right arrows and down arrows are confusing, too.
 
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They're "unifying" the UI across devices, but the iPadification of the Mac doesn't look like it works on large screens. Some of the apps have way too much white space, others end up too busy because they're showing more content. Some manage to do both!

Apple's always been like this, though. For every desktop app that gets "modernized" (the Phone and Games apps look good!), three neglected ones fall another visual generation behind.
 
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