Why is Big Sur so ugly?

[fisherking]

A, those changes they made are just transfers from iOS. No new work was done there. B, tell me what are the facts? At least according to you. We all discuss here our theories, that's why we're here. I stated why I think flat will stay for good. C, everyone here is civil and actually contributing to the topic and you always come here with your condescending tone to knock down someone who don't agree with you and ruins the conversation. Chill out man.

you can believe whatever you want, i fully support that. but the mac os has gone thru many (often subtle) design changes, and nothing indicates that that would not continue. you say no new work was done, the GUI is just 'transfers from IOS'. so, some work was done? anyway, i will chill out, you should too...

 

[nickdalzell1]

if flat is here forever, I guess I'll keep using my old Samsungs with their skeuo nature-styled UI until they cease functioning, I suppose. Currently, there's nothing I feel enticed to buy. Everything's too big, and has a boring UI design.

 

[ErikGrim]

if flat is here forever, I guess I'll keep using my old Samsungs with their skeuo nature-styled UI until they cease functioning, I suppose. Currently, there's nothing I feel enticed to buy. Everything's too big, and has a boring UI design.

I mean, I prefer how things work as opposed to how they look, but to each their own

 

[nickdalzell1]

I can't tolerate a UI that's so hard to look at (see: retina searing whitespace) that I often would use Siri or Google Assistant to avoid looking at it. Also, before anyone says 'well get used to it that's how things are now' well sorry, I can't get used to something I hate, on a device I own. I simply don't buy or use devices that make the experience feel more like work than a device I enjoy using. Phones are an extension of yourself, and I hate flat design.

The interfaces I love/miss are/were fun to use, made me want to interact and touch the icons, buttons, etc. These days, that satisfaction can only be had via an iPhone 3GS or a Samsung Galaxy SIII.

Either way, they work. Work fine, in fact.

Is anyone getting vibes of the old 'Yosemite is terrible' thread like I have?

 

[nanoant]

I can't tolerate a UI that's so hard to look at (see: retina searing whitespace) that I often would use Siri or Google Assistant to avoid looking at it. Also, before anyone says 'well get used to it that's how things are now' well sorry, I can't get used to something I hate, on a device I own.

Couldn't agree more. What bothers me more is that all kids (i.e. Big Sur YT reviewers) that are so impressed by Big Sur design use Dark Mode by default. Why no one wants to use Light Mode anymore? Maybe because it is just pretty in the screenshots but practically useless?

My problem here is I prefer working Light Mode, and on Catalina the interface has still some amount of contrast. But on Big Sur everything is white on white. It is hard to tell which window is active or not, where the toolbar ends and content starts. Sure the window buttons (aka traffic lights) have no color in inactive window, but this is almost the last clue left to distinguish window state. Everything requires enormous amount of eyeballing to recognize what is what. The whole thing reminds me OSX 10.0 Cheetah Aqua style window and menu bar pin-striped backgrounds that were maybe looking nice at that time but their readability sucked.

It makes me sad that these days new appearance drives "OS innovation" and is an argument to call new release pompously a "macOS 11". If you are looking for technical and functional improvements or bug fixes you need to read between the lines, because this isn't something that Apple announces these days. Also because that aren't many, i.e. looking at https://www.apple.com/macos/big-sur-preview/. At least I can hardly name any new great technical innovation Big Sur is bringing on the table.

I still miss all the Aperture features that were never ported to Photos. I miss CUDA and NVIDIA GPU support that was removed from macOS because of silly corporate animosity.

 

[fisherking]

Couldn't agree more. What bothers me more is that all kids (i.e. Big Sur YT reviewers) that are so impressed by Big Sur design use Dark Mode by default. Why no one wants to use Light Mode anymore? Maybe because it is just pretty in the screenshots but practically useless?

My problem here is I prefer working Light Mode, and on Catalina the interface has still some amount of contrast. But on Big Sur everything is white on white. It is hard to tell which window is active or not, where the toolbar ends and content starts. Sure the window buttons (aka traffic lights) have no color in inactive window, but this is almost the last clue left to distinguish window state. Everything requires enormous amount of eyeballing to recognize what is what. The whole thing reminds me OSX 10.0 Cheetah Aqua style window and menu bar pin-striped backgrounds that were maybe looking nice at that time but their readability sucked.

It makes me sad that these days new appearance drives "OS innovation" and is an argument to call new release pompously a "macOS 11". If you are looking for technical and functional improvements or bug fixes you need to read between the lines, because this isn't something that Apple announces these days. Also because that aren't many, i.e. looking at https://www.apple.com/macos/big-sur-preview/. At least I can hardly name any new great technical innovation Big Sur is bringing on the table.

I still miss all the Aperture features that were never ported to Photos. I miss CUDA and NVIDIA GPU support that was removed from macOS because of silly corporate animosity.

not a kid, and i've been using dark mode since it was first introduced... and perfectly fine with it on big sur (it has improved over the betas). personally, i like the clean aesthetic.

apple, in it's infinite wisdom, continues to give us few choices few customization options, with anything (including ios, sigh). so it goes.

 

[dotck]

New is not always better. Big Sur feels like a step backwards as it focuses on design changes instead of working on performance and stability improvements.

 

[nickdalzell1]

Night Shift/Dark mode is admission of a UI design fail. It's treating the symptom instead of the problem

We didn't need night shift or dark mode back with Skeuo, mainly because it didn't hurt our eyes. Our eyes are intended to perceive a 3D world, not a 2D cartoon 24/7. Skeuo more connected us to our world and digital worlds, it converged them. Flat UI just disconnects us further from it.

 

[fisherking]

Night Shift/Dark mode is admission of a UI design fail. It's treating the symptom instead of the problem

We didn't need night shift or dark mode back with Skeuo, mainly because it didn't hurt our eyes. Our eyes are intended to perceive a 3D world, not a 2D cartoon 24/7. Skeuo more connected us to our world and digital worlds, it converged them. Flat UI just disconnects us further from it.

so you say. not sure i see how it's a UI design fail, but i get that you think that. and as far as a '3D world'... watch tv or movies ever? look at pictures in a book? images on your phone? we spend much of our lives immersed in a 2D world... and we're fine.

as you've pointed out (endlessly), you don't like a flat GUI. some of us find that better, calmer, more logical than a fake 3D image.

either way, apple is in control here, and they do what they choose to do (possibly, because they like it). and we adapt... until the next OS, and the next design ideas. ad infinitum.

 

[ArPe]

I’m almost 50 and spend longer in front of a monitor than is healthy. Mostly because of work and then some entertainment on top.

A few years ago I started to experience eye strain, weaker focus and constant headaches. I was prescribed glasses shortly after that, but I hated them. I’m the only adult among all my relatives who has never needed glasses. I’ve also never needed tooth fillings but that’s off topic 😝

The first thing I did was to buy a much larger display to work with so that I would strain less. Shortly after that Mojave came out with dark mode and was a blessing. I had already set my apps to have dark UI but having it system wide helped a lot.

Big Sur improves the dark mode by going ever so slightly darker.

I still haven’t worn the glasses I was prescribed 3 years ago. Maybe I’ll need them in the future when nothing helps, but all can advise now is that users should always take remedial action with the computers they use and how they use them.

 

[fisherking]

I’m almost 50 and spend longer in front of a monitor than is healthy. Mostly because of work and then some entertainment on top.

A few years ago I started to experience eye strain, weaker focus and constant headaches. I was prescribed glasses shortly after that, but I hated them. I’m the only adult among all my relatives who has never needed glasses. I’ve also never needed tooth fillings but that’s off topic 😝

The first thing I did was to buy a much larger display to work with so that I would strain less. Shortly after that Mojave came out with dark mode and was a blessing. I had already set my apps to have dark UI but having it system wide helped a lot.

Big Sur improves the dark mode by going ever so slightly darker.

I still haven’t worn the glasses I was prescribed 3 years ago. Maybe I’ll need them in the future when nothing helps, but all can advise now is that users should always take remedial action with the computers they use and how they use them.

fwiw, if you were prescribed glasses, but don't wear them, you're straining your eyes, and it will likely get worse. if you need glasses, wear glasses. dark mode isn't a corrective for compromised vision...

 

[ArPe]

fwiw, if you were prescribed glasses, but don't wear them, you're straining your eyes, and it will likely get worse. if you need glasses, wear glasses. dark mode isn't a corrective for compromised vision...

In theory yes but nothing has happened yet. The initial period of weakening sight, when it isn’t genetic, is down to eye strain and bad practice. Genetically I’m a slow ager, not one wrinkle, same body I had 25 years ago. Just a little greyer and balder but that’s fixable 😂😂😂

 

[fisherking]

In theory yes but nothing has happened yet. The initial period of weakening sight, when it isn’t genetic, is down to eye strain and bad practice. Genetically I’m a slow ager, not one wrinkle, same body I had 25 years ago. Just a little greyer and balder but that’s fixable 😂😂😂

if you say so.

if my eye doctor told me i should wear glasses, i would do it... not wait until it's a more-serious problem. but you're an adult! and can do as you like 👍

 

[ArPe]

if you say so.

if my eye doctor told me i should wear glasses, i would do it... not wait until it's a more-serious problem. but you're an adult! and can do as you like 👍

I know I know. They are in the drawer when I’m ready.

 

[R1t6yM]

What are some UI elements that are still not fixed

 

[dburkhanaev]

I use my iPad as a Macbook replacement and have never thought the interface was “ugly“. This is the same kind of reaction Apple received when they created the iPhone X with the notch. Shortly afterwards loads of Apple competitors started copying the notch on their phones!

Just give it time to become accustomed to the new look.

The notch is horrible. I’d love to see it disappear. It doesn’t seem like Apple has the tech to open up the whole screen for the user. An odd sized notch is not stylish. It’s a hassle you learn to live with but wish you didn’t have to.

 

[dburkhanaev]

My only issue is that the sidebars on the menus just slide around with no stability.

 

[Lukeit]

To you all guys that have installed and tried Big Sur, I was wondering if some degree of customisation is still there, I mean if it is still possible to change icons (i.e. with Liteicon) or even that slight piece of freedom of choice is gone?
Many thanks!

 

[Mr Todhunter]

To you all guys that have installed and tried Big Sur, I was wondering if some degree of customisation is still there, I mean if it is still possible to change icons (i.e. with Liteicon) or even that slight piece of freedom of choice is gone?
Many thanks!

NO you cannot change system icons. Liteicon is out. Also you cannot delete ANY of the preinstalled crap like the useless Books app.

 

[Royksöpp]

I've warmed up to everything but the dock. The shape is odd and the app icons are still hideous. I can't think of one icon that is worse than the other. They are all equally awful with the one exception being Misson Conrol. It's the absolute worst of the lot. It looks like a sticker on Playskool's Baby's First Computer.

What even is this???

 

[Lukeit]

NO you cannot change system icons. Liteicon is out. Also you cannot delete ANY of the preinstalled crap like the useless Books app.

NO!!! That's awful! ... and how about single folders' icon? That would be too much!

 

[aibo82]

It’s ugly...we have the M1 running Fischer price software... I think it’s change for the sake of change it’s not an improvement. if we was all on big sur now and Mavericks where the new release I’d say yeah great!

 

[fisherking]

It’s ugly...we have the M1 running Fischer price software... I think it’s change for the sake of change it’s not an improvement. if we was all on big sur now and Mavericks where the new release I’d say yeah great!

& yet a lot of people like the look. & apple hardly seems like a company that would change the look 'for the sake of change'. but it's ok if you personally don't like it; everyone is entitled to their opinion...

 

[oldsuttree]

My only beef with the UI is the text size. I don't know what it is but it feels very off especially in the Menu bar and context menus. And sometimes I think a window is inactive when it is active.

 

[shadyman]

Sorry for being kinda off-topic, but I have a question regarding Big Sur: Right now I'm downloading the InstallerAssistant file and my question is, can I install it by just clicking on the file or do I need other apps to install the update? I've never downloaded an update in that way, so I just wanted to make sure.