I've always been obsessed with deep technical details, but lately, I’ve realized I actually give a damn about aesthetics. Now, let’s be clear: I am not a designer. But that’s the thing about visual design — everyone has a "feel" for it. You can tell when something is pleasing (or broken) without necessarily knowing the terminology.
I recently updated to the latest macOS (Tahoe), and honestly? I don't like it.
I already keep transparency effects turned off because I’m a dev and I like to actually see my windows, but even then, it's just not a good-looking OS anymore. I’m not a fan of the "round everything" trend, but that’s just personal preference.
However, there is one thing I think is objectively "wrong" with the new Liquid Glass aesthetic: the death of visual hierarchy.
The Chrome Way: Logical Union
Look at the tabs in Google Chrome:
The active tab header clearly connects to the rest of the UI. It’s one cohesive piece. A union. Your brain immediately understands: "This tab owns this content."
The Safari Way: Floating Pill Syndrome
Now, look at Safari:
It’s just a pill-shaped button with zero connection to the rest of the UI. It just floats there. Logically, it could belong to anything — or nothing. We’ve traded "clear relationship" for "ooh, shiny floating shape."
Finder and the Sidebar Identity Crisis
Another example of this hierarchy breakdown is the window controls in Finder.
We have a sidebar on the left for shortcuts. Sitting inside that sidebar are the traffic light buttons (Close, Minimize, Maximize).
Hierarchically, those buttons are "glued" to the sidebar panel. If we follow basic logic, clicking those buttons should close or minimize the panel, not the entire window.
I made a quick mockup of what it would look like if the buttons were actually placed on the window canvas itself:
I’m not saying my mockup is "prettier", but at least it's logical.
Why should we care?
When we break visual hierarchy in favor of "vibes" or "Liquid Glass" effects, we make the interface harder to parse subconsciously. But for us devs, the problem goes deeper than just aesthetics:
The "Glass" Tax: All those real-time blurs, transparency layers, and frosted glass effects aren't free. Your GPU is constantly working to recalculate those shadows and refractions every time a window moves.
Battery Drain: If you're working on a MacBook, every unnecessary GPU cycle is a hit to your battery life. I’d much rather have an extra 30 minutes of compile time than a pretty blur effect on my terminal background.
Cognitive Load: As a dev, I struggle enough with complex codebases; I don't want to expend extra brain power figuring out which "floating pill" belongs to which parent container.
Conclusion
Is Apple losing the plot on logic, or am I just a grumpy dev who misses sharp corners? To me, it feels like we’re sacrificing the "Functional" part of "Functional Design" to chase a trend that looks great in a marketing screenshot but fails in daily use.
Top comments (1)
Am I just getting old, or do you guys actually prefer the 'floating' look over connected tabs? My GPU and I are genuinely curious.