3 ms·

To me it looks more like Windows Vista's "Aero" than OS X's "Aqua".

buildbot 1y ago
Yes, I immediately thought of Windows Aero too!!! I wasn’t able to enable it until I got a 9800GX2 a few years later, very cool at the time combined with the ability to have movies as your desktop background. It was a nice vibe.
SlowTao 1y ago
And I couldnt be happier to see it back. I have not been a fan of the flattening of UI design over the last 15 years.
- hn_throwaway_99 1y ago
  But the opposite of "flat" is not "transparent". This was posted in another HN thread about Liquid Glass: https://imgur.com/a/6ZTCStC https://imgur.com/a/6ZTCStC . I'm sure Apple will tweak the opacity before it goes live, but this looks horribly insane to me.
  - NoPicklez 1y ago
    Agreed, people have said perhaps its Apple's way of bringing VR vibes to the UI, showing layers of UI elements. But I'm not so sure if I want transparent.
    - footlose_3815 1y ago
      I'll just want the option to turn it off because it will use extra CPU cycles just existing. I remember the catastrophe of Windows Vista, and how you needed a capable GPU to handle the glass effect. Otherwise, one of your (Maybe two) CPU cores would have to process all that overhead.
    - dundarious 1y ago
      The explicitly mention this is (paraphrasing) "bringing elements from visionOS to all your devices" in the video in TFA.
  - mickdarling 1y ago
    bleary eyed, waking up while trying to find my reading glasses would make that interface essentially useless.
  - SlowTao 1y ago
    Yeah it definetly needs work. But I hope they do tone it down like Microsoft did with Aero glass effects between Vista and win 7. They are heading in a good direction, it just needs to be toned down. But like any new graphics technology the first year is the "WOW WE CAN DO X!!!!" then the more tame stuff comes along.
    - hn_throwaway_99 1y ago
      > They are heading in a good direction Why do you think they are headed in a good direction? There is literally nothing I like about the liquid glass effect from a usability perspective. The transparency/translucency is wholly negative in my opinion. The best analogy to me is physical buttons in cars vs. touch screens. The "headed in a good direction" there is to actually stop putting more shit into the touchscreen and have physical buttons for anything you'd touch while the car is in motion.
montagg 1y ago
It's the second coming of Frutger Aero[1] [1]: https://aesthetics.fandom.com/wiki/Frutiger_Aero https://aesthetics.fandom.com/wiki/Frutiger_Aero
lucasoshiro 1y ago
It also looks like KDE 4. Maybe this is consequence of the Frutiger Aero trend, and that users miss the time where user interfaces were designed to be cool instead of only useful
- Krssst 1y ago
  Current interfaces are not aimed at being optimally useful. Padding everywhere as of today means more time scrolling and wasted screen space. Animations everywhere means a lot of wasted time watching pixels moving instead of the computer/phone giving us control immediately after it did the thing we (maybe) asked for. Hiding scrollbars is a nightmare in general in desktop OSes but is the default (once lost half an hour setting up a proxy because the "save" button was hidden behind a scrollbar). Usability feels it has only been down since Windows 7. (on another hand, Windows has plenty of accessibility features that help a lot in restoring usability)

Yes, I immediately thought of Windows Aero too!!! I wasn’t able to enable it until I got a 9800GX2 a few years later, very cool at the time combined with the ability to have movies as your desktop background. It was a nice vibe.

SlowTao 1y ago

And I couldnt be happier to see it back. I have not been a fan of the flattening of UI design over the last 15 years.

hn_throwaway_99 1y ago
But the opposite of "flat" is not "transparent". This was posted in another HN thread about Liquid Glass: https://imgur.com/a/6ZTCStC https://imgur.com/a/6ZTCStC . I'm sure Apple will tweak the opacity before it goes live, but this looks horribly insane to me.
- NoPicklez 1y ago
  Agreed, people have said perhaps its Apple's way of bringing VR vibes to the UI, showing layers of UI elements. But I'm not so sure if I want transparent.
  - footlose_3815 1y ago
    I'll just want the option to turn it off because it will use extra CPU cycles just existing. I remember the catastrophe of Windows Vista, and how you needed a capable GPU to handle the glass effect. Otherwise, one of your (Maybe two) CPU cores would have to process all that overhead.
  - dundarious 1y ago
    The explicitly mention this is (paraphrasing) "bringing elements from visionOS to all your devices" in the video in TFA.
- mickdarling 1y ago
  bleary eyed, waking up while trying to find my reading glasses would make that interface essentially useless.
- SlowTao 1y ago
  Yeah it definetly needs work. But I hope they do tone it down like Microsoft did with Aero glass effects between Vista and win 7. They are heading in a good direction, it just needs to be toned down. But like any new graphics technology the first year is the "WOW WE CAN DO X!!!!" then the more tame stuff comes along.
  - hn_throwaway_99 1y ago
    > They are heading in a good direction Why do you think they are headed in a good direction? There is literally nothing I like about the liquid glass effect from a usability perspective. The transparency/translucency is wholly negative in my opinion. The best analogy to me is physical buttons in cars vs. touch screens. The "headed in a good direction" there is to actually stop putting more shit into the touchscreen and have physical buttons for anything you'd touch while the car is in motion.

montagg 1y ago

It's the second coming of Frutger Aero[1] [1]: https://aesthetics.fandom.com/wiki/Frutiger_Aero https://aesthetics.fandom.com/wiki/Frutiger_Aero

lucasoshiro 1y ago

It also looks like KDE 4. Maybe this is consequence of the Frutiger Aero trend, and that users miss the time where user interfaces were designed to be cool instead of only useful

Krssst 1y ago
Current interfaces are not aimed at being optimally useful. Padding everywhere as of today means more time scrolling and wasted screen space. Animations everywhere means a lot of wasted time watching pixels moving instead of the computer/phone giving us control immediately after it did the thing we (maybe) asked for. Hiding scrollbars is a nightmare in general in desktop OSes but is the default (once lost half an hour setting up a proxy because the "save" button was hidden behind a scrollbar). Usability feels it has only been down since Windows 7. (on another hand, Windows has plenty of accessibility features that help a lot in restoring usability)