[gnarlouse]

Yeah I'm hopeful that they spend the next software update atoning for their UI sins.

I remember being really excited for Liquid Glass, because it felt like a return to the good old days of Skeuomorphism, at least in some spirit. In reality, it was a botched delivery, I suspect for two reasons:

1. Trying to unify all of their design (in one year no less) against one style -- developed primarily on Apple Watch & the now defunct Vision Pro -- was a colossal undertaking.

2. There's so much goddamn software packed into each OS that you're going to inevitably be stuck with bloated menus. Imagine Apple releasing OS 27 this year and saying "we're stripping you down to the bare bones. It's going to feel like Snow Leopard, but we're going to give you customization menus to alter that experience." I would lose my mind with joy. I'd be so excited to be able to operate my fucking phone again.

[jorvi]

No, Liquid Glass was stunted from its conception. Any UI designer worth his salt could have pointed out the legibility issues immediately.

The fact that no one (in power) saw a problem with Liquid Glass shows that Jobs was right, that letting the MBAs take the power never works out. And he was wrong for appointing Cook. Remember that Jobs made MacBooks "expensive" (no more expensive or even cheaper than a Vaio or Portege) because he wanted to make great devices with a great UX and UI, which needed a certain level of investment. Jobs loved his users. Cook only loves his shareholders.

[gessha]

> software update atoning for their UI sins

But how would they do that without scrapping the whole version?

Their marketing for this year heavily relies on liquid glass but if they remove the shiny stuff, it’s not very pretty, it’s just functional. Functional is what people with work to do appreciate, marketing people will want the shiny back now that it was introduced.

[gnarlouse]

I really don't think the shininess is the issue at hand. It's interface clutter. My iPhone is so cluttered. It's packed full of software I'll never use. I wade through menu options I'll never use.

I like the look of Liquid Glass and I'm generally for it. It just needs to be organized better.

> just functional

This is ultimately what I disagree with. I think iOS/macOS have become entirely dysfunctional. Software is broken, webpages are broken simply because they're running from OS 26. Alarms and calendar events either run randomly or not at all. The system preferences menu is hardly navigable. I could go on. Maybe I'm just getting old and crusty, and yearn for the days when Steve Jobs was running the ship.

They just pack needless software in and do nothing to keep it organized/usable.

[euroderf]

Imagine using "Apple" and "featuritis" in the same sentence.

[ethbr1]

Make a Ballmer CEO...

[carlosjobim]

> But how would they do that without scrapping the whole version?

There is a way for them to fix this while saving face. You see, Liquid Glass™ was just the first of their incredible new Material Design paradigm. Now introducing Apple Stone™, Apple Paper™, Apple Linen™ and Apple Brushed Metal™. All just as realistic as Liquid Glass™.

[rescbr]

I’d be very happy if we returned to the Brushed Metal era, when they actually followed their own UI guidelines.

[Noaidi]

> Yeah I'm hopeful that they spend the next software update atoning for their UI sins.

I have heard Liquid Glass was in development for two years, so I see no hope of them spending all that money over again. Nevermind all the developers who have redesigned apps for IOS26.

They could just re-release IOS 18, but that would piss me off as a developer.

This is why I left the Apple Ecosystem last month, I see no hope.

[hombre_fatal]

They bailed on the touch strip, and that was built into the hardware and required every app developer to integrate with it.

The off-ramp for liquid glass is what they’ve already been doing: repeatedly nerf it until it’s just tinted glass again.