In a long essay about OS X’s GUI, I wrote:
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Then I see it on my MacBook Pro and kinda stop caring about anyone else. Yosemite looks more or less fine on non-Retina displays, but I do think it’s a step backwards from the Lucida Grande of old for a whole heck of a lot of OS X customers.
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The MacBook Air and iMac are non-Retina, and Apple doesn’t sell a Retina-level external display for its Mac mini and Mac Pro customers. The question I keep returning to is this:Īfter all, the MacBook Pro line is the only Mac with a Retina display. Some information-dense screens, like this one from the System Information app, is a little hard on the eyes: On my 13-inch MacBook Air, OS X’s menus are readable, but on the Retina MacBook Pro, they are nice to read. His point remains true today - Helvetica Neue gives a level of clarity and precision on high-density displays that Lucida Grande never could. I.e., Helvetica looks better than Helvetica Neue on older iPhones, but Helvetica Neue looks better on the truly-print-caliber Retina Display. Why change only on the iPhone 4, though? I suspect it’s because Apple’s digital version of Helvetica is better hinted for on-screen rasterization than Apple’s Helvetica Neue, which makes it look slightly sturdier on the relatively crude pre-Retina Display iPhone screen. But Helvetica Neue, subtle though its differences are, is a nice improvement. Helvetica is a great typeface long-time DF readers know I’m a huge fan of it, and the choice to use it for the iPhone’s system font is one of my favorite decisions in Apple history. On older iPhone hardware, iOS 4 still uses Helvetica as the system font.Īesthetically, this change is a win. The change is specific to the iPhone 4 hardware (or more specifically, the Retina Display), not iOS 4. It’s a subtle change, but Apple has changed the system font for the iPhone 4, from Helvetica to Helvetica Neue. Here’s John Gruber in his iPhone 4 review from 2010: While the change is a bit jarring at first for long-time Mac users, it’s one with an eye toward the future. Helvetica Neue is tighter, with more uniform space between letters and a more consistent stroke. Here’s a GIF showing the differences between the two fonts: Since the very earliest builds, OS X’s GUI has been defined by the typeface Lucida Grande, which has graced the menus, labels and stock UIs shipping from Cupertino since 1999. It’s still OS X, but it’s been flattened out and made a little more translucent. Yosemite doesn’t have the large swaths of white with colorful, text-only buttons that iOS does. This blog post by Nick Keppol really breaks it down well. The Dock icons are a good example of the direction Yosemite takes as a whole good and bad (as we’ll see with Finder). For example, Dock icons retain some textures, but many have lost unneeded decoration. Apple has worked to make OS X more approachable over the years, and with Yosemite, that means making things simpler. While introducing OS X’s new UI, Federighi insisted that the company started with the concepts of clarity and utility.
While this new version of OS X is structurally the same as all of its predecessors, there’s not much left of that original Aqua look left.Īpple didn’t go all iOS 7 on OS X’s ass, though.
All of those things are awesome, but maybe its better to think of this article as follow-up to On the past, present and future of Apple’s Aqua user interface, which I published back in April. That said, Yosemite does come with major changes to iCloud data storage, not to mention Handoff, Continuity and Apps Extensions. Instead of a wide-ranging review, life (READ: starting Relay FM, having a baby, etc.) dictated I spend time on just the revamped UI. The annual verbiage about checking on system requirements, having a good backup and making sure your third-party apps work on the new operating system all apply this year.
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Like Mavericks before it, OS X Yosemite is available for free on the Mac App Store. OS X Yosemite is a big leap forward for OS X’s user interface and the way it interacts with iOS. His performance was electrifying, and throughout the week, he was seen taking selfies with developers, telling jokes and being the overall cool guy from Apple.īeyond the flashiness of the keynote, however, there was real substance. This past June, Craig Federighi introduced Yosemite. Every summer, Apple takes the wraps off a new version of OS X.