The version in Big Sur is also in the upper right-hand corner, and you access it by clicking the slider icon next to the clock. This is a favorite in iOS, which allows you to swipe down from the upper right corner for easy access to airplane mode, volume, brightness, Wi-Fi, the flashlight and a bunch other buttons that you can customize.
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iOS imports: Control Center and Widgetsīig Sur also brings over two features from iOS that will make a lot of people happy, if they use both a Mac with an iPhone or iPad. My only problem when I do this is that I keep looking for the clock in the upper right-hand corner (even when I'm wearing a watch and could easily check that). In fact, if you auto-hide both the Dock and the Menu Bar, you can have a super clean desktop. The Menu Bar is more translucent, too, and it's easier than ever to make it auto-hide using the new Dock & Menu Bar section in Settings. The Finder is redesigned and is also more see-through with new, simpler (and flatter) icons. The dock is now more translucent and floats like the dock on the iPhone and iPad. And overall, there's a lot to like about the new look and feel. That's one of the main reasons why Apple finally decided to call this MacOS 11.
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Transparent beautyĪpple's software chief Craig Federighi has called Big Sur the biggest leap forward in design since MacOS 10 was launched almost 20 years ago. It's an eyesore, and every time you look at those icons, it takes away from what's otherwise a pleasant UI experience. The effect is like having the beautiful minimalist interior of the new Tesla Model Y and then dropping in floor mats that use green shag carpet. These new 3D icons stick out like a sore thumb, because they feel like dated design elements - especially when the rest of the new UI in Big Sur is so clean and crisp, as we'll discuss in a second.
In recent years, Apple - along with Google and Microsoft - has adopted more modern, flat design and that's generally easier on the eyes.
While the iOS versions use a clean, simple flat design, the Mac versions look like a throwback to the pre-2013 iPhone days when Apple used heavy-handed 3D icons that leaned into skeuomorphism, where icons look like the real-world counterpart of whatever they represent, such as a physical calendar or envelope. The problem is that in Big Sur, Apple went backwards with these icons by adding 3D shadows, which are especially apparent in the new icons for Messages and FaceTime on Mac. For example, the icons for Messages and Mail - which used to look completely different between the Mac and the iPhone or iPad - now use the same colors and shapes in their icons across the different operating systems. It brings them more in line with iOS, which isn't a bad thing. Big Sur does some weird stuff with its icons. Going all the way back to the launch of the Mac in 1984, icons have been one of the things that made the Mac the Mac. There's one nitpicky thing I noticed right away, and which I think plenty of you will notice too when you first try Big Sur. We'll talk about the most interesting new stuff in Big Sur in a minute, but first I want to talk about the most annoying thing to get it out of the way. In most cases, that's a good thing, because it brings consistency across the iPhone, iPad and Mac, and that makes a more user-friendly experience for most people. That's because Big Sur imports a bunch of stuff from iOS, from design elements to popular features. It's a nice touch because there are changes in Big Sur that are going to make some Mac veterans uncomfortable.
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If you're a traditional Mac user, you're going to like the return of the classic Mac startup sound - once made more famous in the movie Wall-E. But it also teams up with Apple's new M1 chip (the first in a line known as Apple silicon) to turn the page on a new chapter for the Mac. MacOS 11 Big Sur arrived last month, and it's got a few geeky features for long-time Mac users.