A curated directory of 700 Mac menu bar apps
macmenubar.com
macmenubar.com
You can write "apps" in any language. The output of your program is used to construct the menu bar app, so if your program outputs this:
Hello
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Open HN | href=https://news.ycombinator.com/
If you don't use Hammerspoon, you should check it out. :)
One of the more impressive things I've seen is stack line [0] a visualization tool that works with tiling window manager, yabai.
The first GMail app App for Gmail is poorly reviewed and the second Aura doesn't seem to exist. The link to another one Mailtab is broken and I can't find it.
But oh boy, that site is a small treasure :)
Sigh.
Now that you mention it, in concept it seems appropriate for widgets I want ready access to but don't need to see all the time. But...
* there aren't that many things that fall into that category. I want to see at least my CPU graph, memory usage, network status (bandwidth, default route: wired vs wireless vs missing), datetime without any clicks.
* it doesn't seem as customizable as I'd want, e.g. I don't need a "Now Playing" thing that shows Apple Music. I never use Apple Music.
* isn't it redundant with the widgets that pop up when I click the date? I think that's the notification center, though I don't know why there are widgets like calendar and news in there.
* third-party stuff doesn't seem to use it. I suspect they can't or haven't bothered because of issues similar to those above, but I haven't looked into it.
Incidentally the "now playing" section of Control Center does work with apps other than Apple Music, including Spotify and all major web browsers, just like the media keys.
Mine is showing media controls for a Streamable video buried many tabs deep in another browser window that isn't even active. Not too helpful.
I don’t think so. It’s a niche feature; it’s not a tent pole thing that would make users “ooh and ah” when watching a WWDC keynote or something that users would upgrade their version of macOS to get.
Even if Apple did something, it would be pretty basic and not have many of Bartender’s features.
I don't need to see the Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, or the Audio icons.
For those looking for a simpler, yet functioning and free alternative, try Hidden Bar - https://superbits.co/hidden/
I split a family license with a friend to save some $$.
Works on Apple Silicon with no issues. I used to pay for iStat Menus but Stats is totally fine for my needs, so I do not use iStat Menus anymore.
For me iStat Menus is looking much better than Exelban Stats.
As far as I understand stats is reporting more stuff to it's servers than iStat Menu is doing (or saying it does)
For Exelban Stats it's: https://github.com/exelban/stats/issues/714
RIP my first favourite mac software.
I don’t remember it scaling, but I do remember setting mine to cubic for network speed.
Wonder if it’s possible to get menu meters up to modern working order
Probably because I only started reading HN about 2020 or so. Never would have found out otherwise!
I'm using this on my M1 Mac.
I've been using this at work hundreds of times every day for years now. I'd love anyone to try it out.
[1] https://developer.apple.com/design/human-interface-guideline...
As a "pro" i don't need a freaking menu bar, i access stuff via hotkeys or look them up. I need that extra space for doing actual pro work, but now i have a big fat line of dead pixels at the top of my screen if i don't wan't permanent menus creating visual noise.
If i could somehow use the space for tabs, or for some other actually useful elements..
Also why does it even have to be this wide in the first place?
I'd prefer the screen and in my opinion it's strictly an improvement over a bezel with no downsides.
If you don't want a camera above the screen then you can go for something like a 2018 Dell XPS, but I think the consumer market has spoken and voted for cameras above screens.
Right now icons disappears under the notch on the right side, and you need 3. party software to customise the right side, and even then there's problems with icons "disappearing" under the notch, along with the mouse. Why do i have to look at 10+ menus on the left side of the notch forever now after upgrading my macbook, that constantly changes with every app im in - i never use them and they just create visual noise?
KDE on Linux is the exception here, but its global menubar is half useless thanks to all of the hamburger menu afflicted Linux apps, as well as apps that don't surface their menu items to dbus.
It would be useful if the site offered a more compact view and an option for more items per page or "infinite scrolling" (the loading of more results after scrolling past a threshold). Within experiences like these where browsing is the primary mechanism of discovery, it's a positive UX feature to decrease the need for repeatedly clicking/tapping/etc. in order to continue to browse.
[0] touch bar - I think it's a screen in F-row on macbook keyboards, whereas menu bar is a bar at the top of the desktop that shows current application menus on the left and clock, battery, etc. on the right.