{"id":30086,"date":"2020-09-11T15:37:53","date_gmt":"2020-09-11T19:37:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mjtsai.com\/blog\/?p=30086"},"modified":"2025-10-16T09:38:51","modified_gmt":"2025-10-16T13:38:51","slug":"big-surs-transparent-menu-bar","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mjtsai.com\/blog\/2020\/09\/11\/big-surs-transparent-menu-bar\/","title":{"rendered":"Big Sur’s Transparent Menu Bar"},"content":{"rendered":"

Tyler Hall<\/a>:<\/p>\n

Here, let’s go back to Jobs on stage at WWDC 2007. (I had third row seats that year<\/a>.)<\/p>

He justifies the translucent menu bar by saying that most users choose their own digital photo instead of the default wallpaper. The updated design adapts to that photo and, I assume, makes your desktop feel more immersive.<\/p>

Regardless of the reasons for the change, Apple did<\/em> eventually add a system preference to turn off the translucency. And at some point, even that preference went away in favor of an opaque bar again.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

But it’s back in Big Sur.<\/p>\n\n

I’ve been following along with screenshots and design critiques of the new OS since it was revealed. I really was (still am) excited to explore all of the UI nooks and crannies. But in less than a day of using it, I’ve lost track of how many times my eyes have had trouble settling on menu items because, well, I can’t see them.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n

So he made an app<\/a> to make the menu bar opaque.<\/p>\n\n

Tyler Hall<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\n

Also, I don’t know why I keep harping on menus lately (other than them being a primary means of using macOS), but every time I see this I think “Huh, why are all those items disabled?” before I remember all over again they’ve just grayed out the shortcut keys.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n

Frank Reiff<\/a>:<\/p>\n

macOS 11 Big Sur does many things right and after a bit of getting used to, the visual style really grows on you. The transparent menu bar, however, is a bit of a legibility nightmare and something I could not live with. So I developed Boring Old Menu Bar<\/a> to bring the “perfectly fine” macOS Catalina menu bar to macOS 11 Big Sur.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n

Previously:<\/p>\n