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Comment by 0942v8653 | Hacker News Reader

Note: This is my personal opinion!

I recently had to use a computer with OS X Mavericks on it (10.9 I think). I was struck by how beautiful the interface was. I'm having trouble finding a good screenshot illustrating this, but compare

http://content.gcflearnfree.org/topics/243/2013_new_desktop....

http://download.softwsp.com/sites/12/2015/11/os-x-el-capitan...

Everything just looks better on Mavericks. The gradients may be over-the-top but they're at least consistent. Transparency on El Capitan is pointless and ugly. Maybe I like the system font a little better.

Firefox is also a really good example; it looked great on Mavericks but has not been able to fit in since.

Usually, I prefer simple UIs: i3, terminals, etc.. But the look they have done for Yosemite/El Capitan just doesn't work.

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One of those URLs you've posted results in a banned security error in Chrome, with the strong recommendation not to visit it due to malicious activity on that site.

Warning in Safari too.

The transparency is worse than pointless. It is so distracting and ugly, it makes using macOS awful. When scrolling though a webpage (on macOS & iOS) the flickering color of the titlebar always makes me think the display is starting to fail — then I remember it's the stupid transparency.

You can turn off transparency in the system preferences.

For sure. I have it turned off my Macs. Having it off makes for an even flatter and very plain Mac. I hate it, but not as much as transparency.

Firefox's problem is that it does the whole UI by itself. This basically makes it look out of place anywhere they haven't explicitly put effort into giving it a similar experience.

It looks out of place on El Capitan and on macOS Sierra it's downright disturbing. I don't want tab titles in Times New Roman (at least it reminds me of that).

> Times New Roman (at least it reminds me of that).

Really? The tab titles on my firefox are very clearly a sans-serif font, and don't look at all out of place.

Could be that that got fixed. I don't use Firefox on a daily basis so I tend to be a few builds behind on the beta channel.

No tab titles in TNR in FF here - sanserif (but can't tell a font by sight). No add-ons apart from NoScript and Flashblock.

Maybe they've fixed it but the address bar had an atrocious amount of glow. It is clearly out of place.

I agree with you on Mavericks vs El Capitan. My Mac is still on Mavericks and I intend to keep it like that as long as I can..

I find the UI in Mavericks overly fussy and cluttered. Horses for courses though, you like what you like.

Horses for courses indeed. Mavericks is the pinnacle of Aqua for me. Beautiful, great typography, great affordances, a little bit of character.

Certainly beautiful but the problem is: on the dock, the stuff between Safari and Photos are indistinguishable at first sight. If I used that, I'd have to hover on some of them to pick Pages, or Notes, or Contacts among them.

The transparency is pointless, though I much prefer the look of El Cap.

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