Why is the Siri Finder bar icon in color?

[rodknocker]

I really don't understand this.
All Apple Finder bar icons are in black and most all of the 3rd party apps Finder bar icons out there are also in black...

Why Apple is using such a color icon which completely doesn't fit to the rest of the other icons?

 

[DeltaMac]

Likely because that is the Siri icon, and it has a different function from any other icon.
The color, as with other visual elements, helps distinguish it from other circular icons, if such exist on your Mac.
And, there's no menu, or menubar extension that happens, distinctive from most other icons on your menubar.
And, I think Apple is simply trying to push Siri as a truly valuable assistant, different from any other application that you find in a native macOS system - at least, it is if you think it is an important, helpful addition to desktop Macs.
(I am not yet convinced of that )

 

[rodknocker]

Likely because that is the Siri icon, and it has a different function from any other icon.
The color, as with other visual elements, helps distinguish it from other circular icons, if such exist on your Mac.
And, there's no menu, or menubar extension that happens, distinctive from most other icons on your menubar.
And, I think Apple is simply trying to push Siri as a truly valuable assistant, different from any other application that you find in a native macOS system - at least, it is if you think it is an important, helpful addition to desktop Macs.
(I am not yet convinced of that )

Maybe, but i looks very very out of place.

 

[h9826790]

Not too bad in my case.

 

[rodknocker]

Not too bad in my case.
View attachment 650375

In your case, for sure.

Only have black finder bar icons here.

 

[blasto2236]

You could always turn off the Menu bar icon entirely, or bury it in the Bartender menu if you use that.

 

[redheeler]

Reminds me of when Spotlight first came out in MacOS X Tiger and it had a colored icon. Not sure why Apple decided to do this again with Siri in Sierra.

 

[flowrider]

And this is a big deal because?

Lou

 

[fischersd]

I really don't understand this.
All Apple Finder bar icons are in black and most all of the 3rd party apps Finder bar icons out there are also in black...

Why Apple is using such a color icon which completely doesn't fit to the rest of the other icons?

Damn you...I didn't think of that before - now I'm going to have to disable it. Heh. Thanks!

@flowrider - there'll be more than a few of us with obsessive natures here. That will only grow more irksome in time.
Kinda like the original Sony Trinitron monitors...when people pointed out the lines in the display. Barely perceptible, but they were there (and then you couldn't un-see them)

Heh...maybe I'll just have to change all of the other icons to colours.

 

[KALLT]

That’s Apple for you. Removing colour where it matters, adding it where it shouldn’t be. I like the monochrome look of the menu bar, because it prevents unnecessary distraction.

Once again, it also violates the Human Interface Guidelines: ‘Use a template image to represent a menu bar extra. In General system preferences, users can change the menu bar (and Dock) to a dark appearance. If you don’t use a template image to represent your menu bar extras, they might not look good in both menu bar appearances.’

 

[T'hain Esh Kelch]

Lets hope it is a sign that Apple will let colors back in macOS.

That being said, I really think that's a very bad icon. Its way too complicated for its size.

 

[Rivvvers]

That’s Apple for you. Removing colour where it matters, adding it where it shouldn’t be. I like the monochrome look of the menu bar, because it prevents unnecessary distraction.

Just like when they removed the colour icons from the finder sidebar., thank god for xtrafinder

 

[leman]

Yep, this seems like an oversight. It indeed violates the OS X HID and should be flagged as a bug.

 

[SlCKB0Y]

Yep, this seems like an oversight. It indeed violates the OS X HID and should be flagged as a bug.

What does it violate specifically?
https://developer.apple.com/library...s.html#//apple_ref/doc/uid/20000957-CH29-SW12

 

[leman]

What does it violate specifically?
https://developer.apple.com/library...s.html#//apple_ref/doc/uid/20000957-CH29-SW12

From the document you linked: "Use a template image to represent a menu bar extra". Also see KALLT's comment above

 

[robkat]

People worry about trivia too much.

 

[leman]

People worry about trivia too much.

And yet its these trivia that are responsible for making OS X an accident user-friendly OS. There are good reason why Apple recommends to use template images rather then normal images. There is nothing preventing Apple adding more UI themes in the future (in fact, 10.10 has laid out a very strong foundation for it). Template images can be adjusted by the OS to look great no matter the background texture. Normal images — not so much. E.g. if you use a greenish icon and Appel decides to include a new 'forest green' UI theme in 10.13, your icon will look horrible.

At the same time, for this particular case the argument can be made both ways I guess. The icon is legible and works well with both light and dark mode, plus, its colorscheme does not look too out of place in he menu bar. And because its Apple's own icon, there is nothing preventing them from changing it should a new theme come in 10.13+

 

[elemenohme]

...

 

[T'hain Esh Kelch]

It is rather odd that they came up with a new, unintelligible icon rather than using the microphone icon. The waveform thing is pretty meaningless, and the mic was instantly recognizable.

As for color, they probably did it to make it stand out as a new feature.

I think they made it to match the Dock icon.

 

[flowrider]

Still don't understand the hubbub. I have a few colored bar icons and one that changes color - The MailTab Pro icon. No distress here

Lou

 

[jhfenton]

Still don't understand the hubbub. I have a few colored bar icons and one that changes color - The MailTab Pro icon. No distress here

Lou

I have a few colored menu bar icons too: Viscosity VPN, MailTab Pro, CrashPlan, and iStat Menus. In some cases, I could choose B&W icons, but I like having obvious status colors on the mail and VPN in particular.

That said, the Siri menu bar item doesn't communicate status with color.