5 ms·

I like Liquid Glass on the whole (I will state upfront I have no accessibility issues so I know I'm speaking from my little corner). Putting aside the fact tha

by ebbi 1y ago

I like Liquid Glass on the whole (I will state upfront I have no accessibility issues so I know I'm speaking from my little corner). Putting aside the fact that, yes, there are a few issues with the way Liquid Glass is implemented currently (nothing that can't be iterated on over the next few releases), I will say that some of the critics use really silly examples to prove their point. The messages screenshot would have looked a proper mess on iOS 18! Some of the text on text blur screenshots is showing text where it's not even in the zone of focus. It's merely showing blurred text where previously it would have been obscured by the UI. To me it shows that there is more to scroll for content as opposed to trying to read from that part of the screen. And on X I've seen many critics use screenshots where the animation is halfway complete to criticise the legibility (often seen screenshots of the Notification Centre being screenshotted when halfway down where the background isn't fully blurred). I think there's a lot to criticise on Liquid Glass. Some of these examples just doesn't feel like a fair critique of it.

rTX5CMRXIfFG 1y ago
I agree. I think that the criticisms on legibility are extremely biased. In my experience, the real issues with Liquid Glass are in terms of decreased usable space, less discoverability of actions that were previously top-level, and most importantly (and rather objectively), battery life. I started off thinking that the design was ugly (the reflections made it look kinda plastic) but came to like the fluidity after about a month. And I like the push away from custom fonts and colors, which software designers obsess way too much upon.
- ebbi 1y ago
  decreased usable space is definitely my biggest gripe, especially on Tahoe. I converted a 2019 5k iMac to work as an external display a few years ago, and the extra screen real estate was a massive QoL improvement. But with Tahoe, it feels like I'm back on a smaller res monitor with the window chrome taking up a lot more space (I live in Safari and it feels massively different on here, especially with the larger tab bar).
- int_19h 1y ago
  How is criticizing legibility of text-on-text "extremely biased"? This is basic UX. I still remember Win7 Aero fondly and I really wanted to like Liquid Glass. I had to turn it off as soon as I saw what happened to the notification drawer.
  - Spivak 1y ago
    Because I've been using it for months now and the text is perfectly legible. Some of the very early beta had too much transparency but they've drastically tightened it up and now it's not even noticeable. Safari was probably the most noticeable fix they applied—the URL/tab bar is near fully opaque now. They're way more aggressive on turning up the opacity on backgrounds with the same text color. The readability issues are being addressed and is a fixable issue rather than a condemnation of the whole design system. I still think it's a gimmick but it's firmly in the visual preference territory instead of measurably worse.
    - int_19h 1y ago
      The notification drawer is practically unreadable now right up until the point where it hides the screen when fully pulled out.

by ebbi 1y ago

rTX5CMRXIfFG 1y ago

I agree. I think that the criticisms on legibility are extremely biased. In my experience, the real issues with Liquid Glass are in terms of decreased usable space, less discoverability of actions that were previously top-level, and most importantly (and rather objectively), battery life. I started off thinking that the design was ugly (the reflections made it look kinda plastic) but came to like the fluidity after about a month. And I like the push away from custom fonts and colors, which software designers obsess way too much upon.

ebbi 1y ago
decreased usable space is definitely my biggest gripe, especially on Tahoe. I converted a 2019 5k iMac to work as an external display a few years ago, and the extra screen real estate was a massive QoL improvement. But with Tahoe, it feels like I'm back on a smaller res monitor with the window chrome taking up a lot more space (I live in Safari and it feels massively different on here, especially with the larger tab bar).
int_19h 1y ago
How is criticizing legibility of text-on-text "extremely biased"? This is basic UX. I still remember Win7 Aero fondly and I really wanted to like Liquid Glass. I had to turn it off as soon as I saw what happened to the notification drawer.
- Spivak 1y ago
  Because I've been using it for months now and the text is perfectly legible. Some of the very early beta had too much transparency but they've drastically tightened it up and now it's not even noticeable. Safari was probably the most noticeable fix they applied—the URL/tab bar is near fully opaque now. They're way more aggressive on turning up the opacity on backgrounds with the same text color. The readability issues are being addressed and is a fixable issue rather than a condemnation of the whole design system. I still think it's a gimmick but it's firmly in the visual preference territory instead of measurably worse.
  - int_19h 1y ago
    The notification drawer is practically unreadable now right up until the point where it hides the screen when fully pulled out.