3 ms·
I find the old icons were easier to distinguish between each other than today's saturated and color-filled icons. Of course today we have way more icons / apps
by athenot 10y ago
I find the old icons were easier to distinguish between each other than today's saturated and color-filled icons. Of course today we have way more icons / apps than there was on the old mac, but today's icons all have very similar shapes. Switch your screen to grayscale (in Accessibility settings) and many of the modern app icons in the Dock all look very similar.
- mikestew 10y agoI'm of the opinion that there was a time, very early and ever-so-briefly, when icons were useful in distinguishing on thing from another. But now we have so many of them, all demanding our attention, and looking quite similar to one another. App icons on macOS maybe not so much, but for sure toolbar icons. IIRC, there are even usability studies out there that back me up on this, though I'm too lazy and apathetic on the topic to go look them up. Point being, useless as icons might be these days, "we've always done it this way" and either no one dare go against the grain or no one has a better idea.
- notalaser 10y agoI use fewer applications than I used a few years ago (a lot of them got "eaten" by the web browser or by emacs), and still have difficulties telling them apart with "modern" icon themes. This isn't because there are so many applications (they're fewer!) but because the icons are all flat, non-descript and brightly-colored. Virtually all of them consist of a single geometrical shape or a capital letter on a contrasting-color background. I know this is supposed to be "honest" and "clean" and to present "the essence" of that application. It sounds great on paper or in a book on design, but it's absolutely terrible on a computer screen.