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Apple no longer cares about disabled people. Transparent UI, with controls sitting on top of arbitrary and changing content can NEVER be legible/discernible. A

Apple no longer cares about disabled people. Transparent UI, with controls sitting on top of arbitrary and changing content can NEVER be legible/discernible. Apple knows this, but fashion was more important than function and they decided, "who cares about disabled people, anyway." Microsoft learned this lesson back in the Vista era but Apple's charging ahead with this terrible set of changes that will literally disable millions of users, people who will need to visit the accessibility settings to reduce the transparency. It's a sad day when a company that has often lead in accessibility ships the least accessible OS in modern history. I guess it was a nice run having a Big Tech company to point to as a good example of doing various accessibility things well. Damn.

deleted 1y ago
[deleted]
commandersaki 1y ago
I've been submitting endless feedback about how Liquid Arse breaks dark mode during the beta. I keep seeing dark text on dark backgrounds all over the place in both Tahoe and iOS 26, for example: https://imgur.com/a/R3DTcSd https://imgur.com/a/R3DTcSd I've pretty much given up with submitting feedback though.
- brandon272 1y ago
  CarPlay has dark text on dark backgrounds in the latest version of iOS. And I’m talking about stock apps like Messages, not some obscure text buried somewhere deep in the operating system. Absolutely brutal.
layer8 1y ago
It might be more accurate to say that they are giving non-disabled people an experience akin to that of disabled people. ;)
burnt-resistor 1y ago
This is what happens when designers are treated as royalty and are told that their new "clothes" are "awesome" all the time. It's also a symptom of consumption addiction where there is demand/motivation for drastic, superficial changes that don't really offer any value except to those who are consumed by the need for constant change for change's sake. Apple used to care more about disabled people because of how the Accessibility APIs worked and were required for most apps.
- AlexandrB 1y ago
  It's also a lack of real competition. If a car company ships an ugly car, you can easily avoid buying it and go with a competitor. With tech products you're often locked into, at best, a duopoly. Worse, the products have become increasingly integrated such that it's impossible to pick and choose components from multiple vendors. If you want Apple's hardware you're stuck on their software. If you want access to some professional software, you're stuck on Windows. Etc, etc. This all means that bad ideas or user-hostile behavior are rarely punished in the market. The biggest competitor to Windows is older versions of Windows. The biggest competitor to macOS is older versions of macOS.
nomel 1y ago
> Apple no longer cares about disabled people. Did you enable the relevant accessibility options that are there for this purpose?
- _2d30 1y ago
  Why do that? If they did any investigation into the accessibility options whatsoever then they wouldn't be able to treat us to Kanye style analysis.
  - nomel 1y ago
    I'm sorry, but that's not a logical stance. If this were the method that anyone in the industry used (which absolutely nobody does) all interfaces would be high contrast 150pt font, no transparency, two color, because that's what my grandma needs.
    - _2d30 1y ago
      My post is agreeing with you. It's sarcasm. Please try to parse it again.
      - nomel 1y ago
        Text emojis were invented by the grey beards out of necessity, not cuteness. ;)
o11c 1y ago
Much the same on Linux with Wayland. I haven't touched Windows for over a decade, does it still have a decent story for disabilities? They've certainly regressed in other areas ...
basisword 1y ago
You can turn off the transparency in the accessibility settings. Sure products could be 100% accessible out of the box but unless you had some sort of limit on that it would likely make the experience worse for the majority of users. I can’t imagine Helvetica Neue Extra Light was particularly accessible as the system font a decade ago - but there were accessibility settings.
otterley 1y ago
> literally disable millions of users, people who will need to visit the accessibility settings to reduce the transparency. I'm confused. You're condemning them for not accommodating the disabled, yet admitting they provide an accommodation in the same sentence.
data-ottawa 1y ago
Changing toolbars to text-only is pretty bad. The button hotboxes are tiny Generally I think the toolbar settings needed more testing, they can be wonky (e.g. in Automator for text+icon it causes the traffic lights to misalign, in Safari toggling the sidebar on and off is janky).
fatata123 1y ago
[dead]
comprev 1y ago
Apple's accessibility features enabled my mother to enjoy what little independence she had due to a rare debilitating illness [Multiple System Atrophy]. She could read eBooks & emails, listen to audio books, view photos and call her family by herself (iPhone use extends to many uncles/aunties/cousins). Every few months I would help her recalibrate her iPad as it was a vital life line.
pndy 1y ago
It's unreadable even for normal people least to say for disabled folks. Tahoe is Apple's very own "Windows 8".

deleted 1y ago

[deleted]

commandersaki 1y ago

I've been submitting endless feedback about how Liquid Arse breaks dark mode during the beta. I keep seeing dark text on dark backgrounds all over the place in both Tahoe and iOS 26, for example: https://imgur.com/a/R3DTcSd https://imgur.com/a/R3DTcSd I've pretty much given up with submitting feedback though.

brandon272 1y ago
CarPlay has dark text on dark backgrounds in the latest version of iOS. And I’m talking about stock apps like Messages, not some obscure text buried somewhere deep in the operating system. Absolutely brutal.

layer8 1y ago

It might be more accurate to say that they are giving non-disabled people an experience akin to that of disabled people. ;)

burnt-resistor 1y ago

This is what happens when designers are treated as royalty and are told that their new "clothes" are "awesome" all the time. It's also a symptom of consumption addiction where there is demand/motivation for drastic, superficial changes that don't really offer any value except to those who are consumed by the need for constant change for change's sake. Apple used to care more about disabled people because of how the Accessibility APIs worked and were required for most apps.

AlexandrB 1y ago
It's also a lack of real competition. If a car company ships an ugly car, you can easily avoid buying it and go with a competitor. With tech products you're often locked into, at best, a duopoly. Worse, the products have become increasingly integrated such that it's impossible to pick and choose components from multiple vendors. If you want Apple's hardware you're stuck on their software. If you want access to some professional software, you're stuck on Windows. Etc, etc. This all means that bad ideas or user-hostile behavior are rarely punished in the market. The biggest competitor to Windows is older versions of Windows. The biggest competitor to macOS is older versions of macOS.

nomel 1y ago

> Apple no longer cares about disabled people. Did you enable the relevant accessibility options that are there for this purpose?

_2d30 1y ago
Why do that? If they did any investigation into the accessibility options whatsoever then they wouldn't be able to treat us to Kanye style analysis.
- nomel 1y ago
  I'm sorry, but that's not a logical stance. If this were the method that anyone in the industry used (which absolutely nobody does) all interfaces would be high contrast 150pt font, no transparency, two color, because that's what my grandma needs.
  - _2d30 1y ago
    My post is agreeing with you. It's sarcasm. Please try to parse it again.
    - nomel 1y ago
      Text emojis were invented by the grey beards out of necessity, not cuteness. ;)

o11c 1y ago

Much the same on Linux with Wayland. I haven't touched Windows for over a decade, does it still have a decent story for disabilities? They've certainly regressed in other areas ...

basisword 1y ago

You can turn off the transparency in the accessibility settings. Sure products could be 100% accessible out of the box but unless you had some sort of limit on that it would likely make the experience worse for the majority of users. I can’t imagine Helvetica Neue Extra Light was particularly accessible as the system font a decade ago - but there were accessibility settings.

otterley 1y ago

> literally disable millions of users, people who will need to visit the accessibility settings to reduce the transparency. I'm confused. You're condemning them for not accommodating the disabled, yet admitting they provide an accommodation in the same sentence.

data-ottawa 1y ago

Changing toolbars to text-only is pretty bad. The button hotboxes are tiny Generally I think the toolbar settings needed more testing, they can be wonky (e.g. in Automator for text+icon it causes the traffic lights to misalign, in Safari toggling the sidebar on and off is janky).

fatata123 1y ago

[dead]

comprev 1y ago

Apple's accessibility features enabled my mother to enjoy what little independence she had due to a rare debilitating illness [Multiple System Atrophy]. She could read eBooks & emails, listen to audio books, view photos and call her family by herself (iPhone use extends to many uncles/aunties/cousins). Every few months I would help her recalibrate her iPad as it was a vital life line.

pndy 1y ago

It's unreadable even for normal people least to say for disabled folks. Tahoe is Apple's very own "Windows 8".