{"id":24275,"date":"2019-02-12T16:16:58","date_gmt":"2019-02-12T21:16:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mjtsai.com\/blog\/?p=24275"},"modified":"2019-03-26T14:51:22","modified_gmt":"2019-03-26T18:51:22","slug":"transparency-in-macos-10-14","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mjtsai.com\/blog\/2019\/02\/12\/transparency-in-macos-10-14\/","title":{"rendered":"Transparency in macOS 10.14"},"content":{"rendered":"

Dr. Drang<\/a>:<\/p>\n

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Why should the Dock appear as if it’s transparent? It’s not as if there’s anything interesting behind the Dock. That space can’t be used for icons, and I wouldn’t put any there even if it could be. So there’s no value is seeing through the Dock, but there is value in distinguishing the icons in the Dock from those that may be next to it on the Desktop. The distinction between the icons in the Dock and those on the Desktop is unnecessarily reduced by the excessive transparency of the Mojave Dock.<\/p>\n

[…]<\/p>\n

This is ludicrous. This menu isn’t directly in front of the Desktop, it’s in front of the browser window (which is white because I was on Google’s home page when I took the screenshot). There is no reason for it to look like you’re seeing through it to the Desktop. That it looks that way screws up the sense of layering, especially since it still has that shadow around its border.<\/p>\n

This absurd fake transparency isn’t confined to Safari. The little popup boxes that appear in Maps have the same muted Desktop coloring even though their conceptual position is floating on top of the map, not on top of the Desktop.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

“Reduce transparency” is less effective than before. I usually run with “Increase contrast,” which further reduces the transparency and makes text more readable. But it also exposes a variety of bugs with standard controls and with built-in apps (e.g. the top of the main table view in Mail and the Show Desktop pop-up menu in the Mission Control preferences).<\/p>\n\n

Nick Heer<\/a>:<\/p>\n

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For what it’s worth, I don’t necessarily share Drang’s complaints with transparency more generally on the Mac; I think it’s more decorative than helpful, but it’s fine. But I keep the “Reduce Transparency” setting switched on mostly because I prefer a solid background for the menu bar. The resulting layering and compositing doesn’t make any spatial sense and, especially with a saturated desktop picture, is often jarring.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n

Previously:<\/p>\n