{"id":30349,"date":"2020-10-05T16:02:12","date_gmt":"2020-10-05T20:02:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mjtsai.com\/blog\/?p=30349"},"modified":"2021-07-26T15:19:07","modified_gmt":"2021-07-26T19:19:07","slug":"big-surs-hidden-document-proxy-icon","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mjtsai.com\/blog\/2020\/10\/05\/big-surs-hidden-document-proxy-icon\/","title":{"rendered":"Big Sur&rsquo;s Hidden Document Proxy Icon"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/marcoarment\/status\/1312486990403706880\">Marco Arment<\/a>:<\/p>\n<blockquote cite=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/marcoarment\/status\/1312486990403706880\"><p>The Big Sur auto-hidden document-proxy icon is so frustrating &mdash; it hides functionality behind an invisible mode, and introduces a delay for anyone trying to use it.<\/p>\n<p>How does this help usability?<\/p>\n<p>What problem does this solve?<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n<p>It looks cleaner in a static screenshot, and it saves a little space for another toolbar button now that the window title and toolbar are squeezed into the same row. But I miss seeing the proxy icon, too. I drag these every day (though rarely from Finder).<\/p>\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/gruber\/status\/1312565540557332480\">John Gruber<\/a>:<\/p>\n<blockquote cite=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/gruber\/status\/1312565540557332480\">\n<p>I would definitely argue that this change makes the whole thing harder to discover in the first place. One of the neat things about document\/folder proxy icons is that they&rsquo;re discoverable. All it takes is a moment of inspiration, &ldquo;Hey, I wonder if I can drag that icon...?&rdquo;<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/jsnell\/status\/1312498423526957056\">Jason Snell<\/a>:<\/p>\n<blockquote cite=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/jsnell\/status\/1312498423526957056\">\n<p>I&rsquo;m going to co-sign this. I use proxy icons all the time and Apple hiding them behind a delay and animation is infuriating.<\/p>\n<p>I don&rsquo;t mind the look of Big Sur but this is a regression in functionality.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/jckarter\/status\/1312497062718525440\">Joe Groff<\/a>:<\/p>\n<blockquote cite=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/jckarter\/status\/1312497062718525440\">\n<p>I don&rsquo;t know who needs to hear this, but<\/p>\n<pre>defaults write -g NSToolbarTitleViewRolloverDelay -float 0<\/pre>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/marcoarment\/status\/1312737815495667713\">Marco Arment<\/a>:<\/p>\n<blockquote cite=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/marcoarment\/status\/1312737815495667713\">\n<p>People keep sending me this, but it doesn&rsquo;t fix the problem &mdash;&nbsp;it just makes the delay shorter. (There&rsquo;s still an animation delay &mdash; it just starts on hover instead of shortly after.)<\/p>\n<p>It&rsquo;s still a needless mode with a needless delay to achieve only the shallowest visual appeal.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n<p>Previously:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/mjtsai.com\/blog\/2020\/10\/02\/macos-big-sur-changes-for-developers\/\">macOS Big Sur Changes for Developers<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/mjtsai.com\/blog\/2020\/06\/23\/macos-11-0-big-sur-announced\/\">macOS 11.0 Big Sur Announced<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n<p id=\"big-surs-hidden-document-proxy-icon-update-2020-10-07\">Update (2020-10-07): <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/danielpunkass\/status\/1313346445328736256\">Daniel Jalkut<\/a>:<\/p>\n<blockquote cite=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/danielpunkass\/status\/1313346445328736256\"><p>It&rsquo;s not about the Finder but about a long-standing affordance for working with the file representation of any document window. Cmd-clicking in the title is a related, priceless affordance.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/mattbirchler\/status\/1313603046849556482\">Matt Birchler<\/a>:<\/p>\n<blockquote cite=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/mattbirchler\/status\/1313603046849556482\">\n<p>Looks like you guys were more familiar with proxy icons than I expected! It&rsquo;s still a minority of a nerdy group, so I suspect it&rsquo;s lower among the general public, but still, not as niche as I assumed.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n<p id=\"big-surs-hidden-document-proxy-icon-update-2020-11-07\">Update (2020-11-07): <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/jnadeau\/status\/1324471191004872704\">Jeff Nadeau<\/a>:<\/p>\n<blockquote cite=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/jnadeau\/status\/1324471191004872704\">\n<p>Changed in macOS 11.0.1 &#x3B2;2:<\/p>\n<ul><li>You no longer need to wait on the reveal animation before starting a drag from the proxy icon.<\/li>\n<li>Holding the Shift key instantly reveals the proxy icon and expanded title, and it turns the entire title region into a draggable proxy.<\/li><\/ul>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n<p>Update (2021-05-21): <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/chucker\/status\/1395843084383043584\">chucker<\/a>:<\/p>\n<blockquote cite=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/chucker\/status\/1395843084383043584\">\n<p>Want old-style proxy icons and a bigger grabbable title bar back?<\/p>\n<pre>defaults write com.apple.finder NSWindowSupportsAutomaticInlineTitle -bool false<\/pre>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n<p>Previously:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/mjtsai.com\/blog\/2020\/10\/30\/more-big-sur-ui-refinements\/\">More Big Sur UI Refinements<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n<p id=\"big-surs-hidden-document-proxy-icon-update-2021-07-15\">Update (2021-07-15): <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/getaaron\/status\/1415432451200008195\">Aaron Brager<\/a>:<\/p>\n<blockquote cite=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/getaaron\/status\/1415432451200008195\">\n<p>The proxy icon can be re-enabled in macOS Monterey Beta 3 woooooo &#x1F389;<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/bwebster\/status\/1415529700730957825\">Brian Webster<\/a>:<\/p>\n<blockquote cite=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/bwebster\/status\/1415529700730957825\"><p>This is great to see, but a classic example of Apple shoving something in an accessibility option when it&rsquo;s really just the better design for <em>everyone<\/em>.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n<p id=\"big-surs-hidden-document-proxy-icon-update-2021-07-26\">Update (2021-07-26): <a href=\"https:\/\/daringfireball.net\/2021\/07\/document_proxy_icons_macos_11_and_12\">John Gruber<\/a> (<a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/daringfireball\/status\/1417302999253225507\">tweet<\/a>):<\/p>\n<blockquote cite=\"https:\/\/daringfireball.net\/2021\/07\/document_proxy_icons_macos_11_and_12\"><p>Does removing proxy icons from document window title bars reduce &ldquo;clutter&rdquo;? I can only assume that&rsquo;s what Apple&rsquo;s HI team was thinking. But I&rsquo;d argue strenuously that proxy icons aren&rsquo;t needless clutter&#x2009;&mdash;&#x2009;they&rsquo;re <a href=\"https:\/\/hints.macworld.com\/article.php?story=2010031117415674\">useful<\/a>, and showing them by default made them discoverable. Keeping them visible reminds you that they&rsquo;re there. There&rsquo;s a one-to-one relationship between a document icon in the Finder and the open application window for that document; showing the document icon in the window title bar reinforced that concept. <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/chucker\/status\/1395843084383043584\">This hidden Finder preference for MacOS 11 Big Sur<\/a> delights me, because in addition to showing proxy icons, it also restores grabbable title bars in MacOS 11.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/steven_aquino\/status\/1417335214561316865\">Steven Aquino<\/a>:<\/p>\n<blockquote cite=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/steven_aquino\/status\/1417335214561316865\"><p>Worth adding to this \n@gruber\n piece proxy icons are a useful de-facto accessibility feature (not the discrete Accessibility features John mentions) insofar as the more visual feedback, the better. Not insignificant for cognitive load.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/lapcatsoftware\/status\/1417306530219806720\">Jeff Johnson<\/a>:<\/p>\n<blockquote cite=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/lapcatsoftware\/status\/1417306530219806720\"><p>&ldquo;Minimalist&rdquo; design is supposedly for non-experts, but ironically it forces everyone to become experts, because hiding most useful controls means that users need to already know and memorize how everything works before they use it.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/daringfireball.net\/linked\/2021\/07\/20\/apple-developer-docs-proxy-icons\">John Gruber<\/a>:<\/p>\n<blockquote cite=\"https:\/\/daringfireball.net\/linked\/2021\/07\/20\/apple-developer-docs-proxy-icons\">\n<p>Zack Katz found this archived version of Apple&rsquo;s developer docs on the feature for Mac OS 8.5[&#8230;] What a joyful little feature this was (and could be again).<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n<p>Previously:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/mjtsai.com\/blog\/2021\/07\/15\/safari-15-changes-in-beta-3\/\">Safari 15 Changes in Beta 3<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/mjtsai.com\/blog\/2021\/06\/17\/safari-15\/\">Safari 15<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Marco Arment: The Big Sur auto-hidden document-proxy icon is so frustrating &mdash; it hides functionality behind an invisible mode, and introduces a delay for anyone trying to use it. How does this help usability? What problem does this solve? It looks cleaner in a static screenshot, and it saves a little space for another toolbar [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"apple_news_api_created_at":"2020-10-05T20:02:15Z","apple_news_api_id":"2bed2682-d24b-4183-99d1-72e453c42146","apple_news_api_modified_at":"2021-07-26T19:19:12Z","apple_news_api_revision":"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAABg==","apple_news_api_share_url":"https:\/\/apple.news\/AK-0mgtJLQYOZ0XLkU8QhRg","apple_news_coverimage":0,"apple_news_coverimage_caption":"","apple_news_is_hidden":false,"apple_news_is_paid":false,"apple_news_is_preview":false,"apple_news_is_sponsored":false,"apple_news_maturity_rating":"","apple_news_metadata":"\"\"","apple_news_pullquote":"","apple_news_pullquote_position":"","apple_news_slug":"","apple_news_sections":"\"\"","apple_news_suppress_video_url":false,"apple_news_use_image_component":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[77,649,30,1891,2077,1227],"class_list":["post-30349","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-technology","tag-design","tag-esoteric-preferences","tag-mac","tag-macos-11-0","tag-macos-12","tag-top-posts"],"apple_news_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mjtsai.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30349","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mjtsai.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mjtsai.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mjtsai.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mjtsai.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=30349"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/mjtsai.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30349\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":33228,"href":"https:\/\/mjtsai.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30349\/revisions\/33228"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mjtsai.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=30349"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mjtsai.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=30349"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mjtsai.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=30349"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}