3 ms·

I was really happy when they added the pictures! Dyslexia, the icons are 100% faster for me, I don't use those menus often enough to know what is in there word

by neom 7mo ago

I was really happy when they added the pictures! Dyslexia, the icons are 100% faster for me, I don't use those menus often enough to know what is in there word wise, but I can read the icons super fast.

cosmotic 7mo ago
How can you read the icons if they mean different things in different apps?
- LeoPanthera 7mo ago
  Can you provide some examples of this? In my experience, they're quite consistent.
  - OJFord 7mo ago
    https://tonsky.me/blog/tahoe-icons/ https://tonsky.me/blog/tahoe-icons/ (second section on consistency)
    - thenthenthen 7mo ago
      The later examples are pretty wild, 3 different ‘minimize’ icons? Why? Different teams?
    - inatreecrown2 7mo ago
      This guy is doing free design work/critique for Apple
    - hirvi74 7mo ago
      A lot of those icon examples are being rather disingenuous. Some of the icon symbol changes amongst the various apps are justified because the actions being represented are different despite using the same English word. Take the "New" icon example. Adding a new reminder is not the same thing conceptually as creating a new note.
  - Crestwave 7mo ago
    Here's an in-depth analysis (also linked in the OP): https://tonsky.me/blog/tahoe-icons/ https://tonsky.me/blog/tahoe-icons/
    - neom 7mo ago
      A lot of the examples in here, I can't find? Like, I looked around for the new smart folder with the cog icon, where is it on my mac? Same with save as check, where is that? Also I'm pretty sure (although I can't find it) the save as with the up arrow is save as out to something? The ones I do find, all make perfect sense and work pretty well for me, they're not totally perfect but I'd never thought about them much before this post and I use them almost exclusively. Look at all his new for example, see new finder window? Look at the box around it, then open your window menu at the top of your screen, see how minimize has the same box around it? If you go though those icons set, most of them have: primary, secondary and sometimes tertiary visual clues. I dunno, I read that blog post and it doesn't really jive with me. I'm sure they could stand to clean it up a bit, I don't know I'm not a designer, but I'm certainly glad they are there!!! ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
      - arm 7mo ago
        New Smart Folder with a cogwheel icon is in the File menu of Notes.app, while New Smart Folder with a folder+cogwheel icon is in the File menu of Finder.app.
        neom 7mo ago
        Thanks! I don't use the notes app, cog is not the best icon for that but I suppose it's differentiated from the file system version, if I read them both the same I might be confused, but not sure why they selected cog!!!
      - garbagewoman 7mo ago
        Yeah should be an accessibility setting for the few users who need it
    - smohare 7mo ago
Gagarin1917 7mo ago
It shouldn’t even be just you and others with dyslexia either. Processing images is always faster than processing text for everyone.
- steve_adams_86 7mo ago
  I would argue this is only true when the image is apt. In Tahoe I don't think this is always true. The lack of consistency in layout and presence of icons is also visually difficult to process. The signal to noise ratio of the icon gutter is very poor. I like it in theory but the execution seems more harmful than helpful so far. If I'm wrong and it's helping some people, that's great.
- layer8 7mo ago
  It depends on the images. Processing a dozen of very similar-looking small gray blobs isn’t fast. Recognizing the text labels is faster for many people. The text labels also have visual structure within a menu by their different lengths that the icons don’t.
nopakos 7mo ago
So it should be an accessibility setting. I don't mind if the default is on or off.
- neom 7mo ago
  Yeah I agree, this would be ideal, I actually thought this post was pretty funny because I couldn't imagine anyone wanting them off, and I suppose some people think it's funny I like them. :)
troupo 7mo ago
In article we discuss has a link to this article: https://blog.jim-nielsen.com/2025/icons-in-menus/ https://blog.jim-nielsen.com/2025/icons-in-menus/ Which has a good paragraph with an example: --- start quote --- Get a bunch of people in a room, show them menus where the textual labels are gone, and see who can get the most right. --- end quote --- Icons won't help you when they are inconsistent, or don't mean anything. It's impossible to find a suitable visual metaphor for every possible action of every possible app and cram it into a tiny monochrome icon.
wolvoleo 7mo ago
The problem isn't just the icons but the inconsistency. This link mentioned in the source article illustrates it well: https://tonsky.me/blog/tahoe-icons/ https://tonsky.me/blog/tahoe-icons/ For a company that used to pride itself on its clean and consistent UI, this is really shoddy work. It feels like Microsoft now, every app designed by a different team and nobody coordinating together. And this would have been a really minor job to coordinate properly. It probably would have saved time in fact having predefined icons for common functions. Now theres been 8 designers working on a different icon for the same function. It seems just complete disinterest in consistency. "Just do whatever" is not the apple way.

by neom 7mo ago

cosmotic 7mo ago

How can you read the icons if they mean different things in different apps?

LeoPanthera 7mo ago
Can you provide some examples of this? In my experience, they're quite consistent.
- OJFord 7mo ago
  https://tonsky.me/blog/tahoe-icons/ https://tonsky.me/blog/tahoe-icons/ (second section on consistency)
  - thenthenthen 7mo ago
    The later examples are pretty wild, 3 different ‘minimize’ icons? Why? Different teams?
  - inatreecrown2 7mo ago
    This guy is doing free design work/critique for Apple
  - hirvi74 7mo ago
    A lot of those icon examples are being rather disingenuous. Some of the icon symbol changes amongst the various apps are justified because the actions being represented are different despite using the same English word. Take the "New" icon example. Adding a new reminder is not the same thing conceptually as creating a new note.
- Crestwave 7mo ago
  Here's an in-depth analysis (also linked in the OP): https://tonsky.me/blog/tahoe-icons/ https://tonsky.me/blog/tahoe-icons/
  - neom 7mo ago
    A lot of the examples in here, I can't find? Like, I looked around for the new smart folder with the cog icon, where is it on my mac? Same with save as check, where is that? Also I'm pretty sure (although I can't find it) the save as with the up arrow is save as out to something? The ones I do find, all make perfect sense and work pretty well for me, they're not totally perfect but I'd never thought about them much before this post and I use them almost exclusively. Look at all his new for example, see new finder window? Look at the box around it, then open your window menu at the top of your screen, see how minimize has the same box around it? If you go though those icons set, most of them have: primary, secondary and sometimes tertiary visual clues. I dunno, I read that blog post and it doesn't really jive with me. I'm sure they could stand to clean it up a bit, I don't know I'm not a designer, but I'm certainly glad they are there!!! ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
    - arm 7mo ago
      New Smart Folder with a cogwheel icon is in the File menu of Notes.app, while New Smart Folder with a folder+cogwheel icon is in the File menu of Finder.app.
      - neom 7mo ago
        Thanks! I don't use the notes app, cog is not the best icon for that but I suppose it's differentiated from the file system version, if I read them both the same I might be confused, but not sure why they selected cog!!!
    - garbagewoman 7mo ago
      Yeah should be an accessibility setting for the few users who need it
  - smohare 7mo ago

Gagarin1917 7mo ago

It shouldn’t even be just you and others with dyslexia either. Processing images is always faster than processing text for everyone.

steve_adams_86 7mo ago
I would argue this is only true when the image is apt. In Tahoe I don't think this is always true. The lack of consistency in layout and presence of icons is also visually difficult to process. The signal to noise ratio of the icon gutter is very poor. I like it in theory but the execution seems more harmful than helpful so far. If I'm wrong and it's helping some people, that's great.
layer8 7mo ago
It depends on the images. Processing a dozen of very similar-looking small gray blobs isn’t fast. Recognizing the text labels is faster for many people. The text labels also have visual structure within a menu by their different lengths that the icons don’t.

nopakos 7mo ago

So it should be an accessibility setting. I don't mind if the default is on or off.

neom 7mo ago
Yeah I agree, this would be ideal, I actually thought this post was pretty funny because I couldn't imagine anyone wanting them off, and I suppose some people think it's funny I like them. :)

troupo 7mo ago

In article we discuss has a link to this article: https://blog.jim-nielsen.com/2025/icons-in-menus/ https://blog.jim-nielsen.com/2025/icons-in-menus/ Which has a good paragraph with an example: --- start quote --- Get a bunch of people in a room, show them menus where the textual labels are gone, and see who can get the most right. --- end quote --- Icons won't help you when they are inconsistent, or don't mean anything. It's impossible to find a suitable visual metaphor for every possible action of every possible app and cram it into a tiny monochrome icon.

wolvoleo 7mo ago

The problem isn't just the icons but the inconsistency. This link mentioned in the source article illustrates it well: https://tonsky.me/blog/tahoe-icons/ https://tonsky.me/blog/tahoe-icons/ For a company that used to pride itself on its clean and consistent UI, this is really shoddy work. It feels like Microsoft now, every app designed by a different team and nobody coordinating together. And this would have been a really minor job to coordinate properly. It probably would have saved time in fact having predefined icons for common functions. Now theres been 8 designers working on a different icon for the same function. It seems just complete disinterest in consistency. "Just do whatever" is not the apple way.