Design language

1P_Ben Right you are! Apologies, that one's on me- I missed that part of the menu and didn't check before writing. Thanks!

roustem I apologize, I can't figure out how to quote posts on here. So, in order:

1. Safari 15 Tabs: Yes, those look basically exactly like the sheet-picker UI in Numbers on Big Sur. I expect that style of "Tab" will replace most instances of the older design in a future macOS release.

2. The Home App on Mac is garbage. Absolute, total garbage. The entire first generation of Catalyst apps were pretty bad. However, the second generation (Messages, Maps, Podcasts) look and feel like proper Mac apps.

3. Linux: I'm not talking about the core technologies. I am upset with the UI. I use the Mac because apps with proper Mac UIs are better than apps without proper Mac UIs, even in some cases where the app without the proper Mac UI has better tech under the hood.

But I notice that you ignored my question. I listed a handful of glaring violations of Mac UI expectations. Are these going to get fixed?

Is this really the UX-breaking problem though?

Yes.

I posted this in a different message (probably on a different thread), but there are at least three places where the modals have broken my ability to use features in 1Password 8.

1. Preferences. This is an obvious and easy one, but when I was doing initial setup, I wanted to look at the settings and what was in 1Password. The bonkers decision to make this an in-window modal meant that I could not do so—which is different than pretty much every other macOS app, unless it’s Catalyst (as you’re showing).
2. Add a new account. I have my work 1Password account information stored in my personal 1Password account. When I was presented the “add a new account” modal, I could not use 1Password to fill the information into 1Password without copying the data into my system clipboard and pasting it into somewhere else so that I could copy everything required.
3. Manage collections. OMG this is a nightmare to work with to the point where I can’t possibly see using it because it’s a modal. This is a signature feature touted by Dave and I hate it because it’s a modal and doesn’t let me explore at the same time as I’m working with it. There are other problems with how collections are integrated (no reordering, which means that “all vaults” is always “all vaults”, even though that is NEVER what I want because I have access to my parents’ vault). Not even remotely close to useful.

Seriously:

A modal window is a secondary window that opens on top of the main one. Users have to interact with it before they can carry out their task and return to the main window.

You should use modal windows when there are steps the user needs to do before the task can be completed. Using a modal window instead of a full page allows users to maintain the context of their task

https://uxmovement.com/forms/best-practices-for-modal-windows/

Absolutely none of the three items are things that I should do before anything else. Maybe adding the first account, but that‘s no reason to use modal windows at all and certainly never the garbage modals provided by Electron.

The modals here are a usability nightmare and will 100% hinder my adoption of 1Password 8 and I will be recommending against any of my family upgrading to 1Password 8 if they are on a Mac. The behaviours here are complete regressions and should not be accepted as remotely acceptably by anyone in the 1Password family. Just because Windows and Linux users don’t recognize these modals as wrong and broken does not mean that they aren’t wrong and broken. You have an opportunity to improve the UX for all your target platforms. Why not do so?

it would get you like 90% of the way towards being an actual Mac app as opposed to a Linux app running in the Mac.

The Linux app does not have support for Touch ID or Apple Watch unlock. It is not code-signed, sandboxed, or notarized. There is no Universal Linux binary. It does not use Secure Enclave or macOS Launch Services.

These feature may not be in-your-face but they are super important for a great macOS experience.

Windows control buttons belong on the left. They are on the left here. Little things like that.

Is this really the UX-breaking problem though? Apple seems to be ok with shipping their apps with buttons on the right. And you can't move them either.

I like that you keep 1Password to a higher standard and we are certainly striving to match that bar. I just wish we had a bit of leeway in some cases.

Windows control buttons belong on the left. They are on the left here. Little things like that.

If you would fix the UI on 1Password 8 so that the preferences window was a real, movable, non-modal window with a proper close button on the left, so that the “new item” menu pop down wasn’t truncated to the the height of the main window, so that the disclose/reveal widgets used the proper animation to fold up and unfurl their contents, so that the menus in the menubar were as thorough as they were in version 7, it would get you like 90% of the way towards being an actual Mac app as opposed to a Linux app running in the Mac. Are y’all planning to address any of these Mac UX-breaking problems?

Looking at those screenshots, all of the widgets look like Mac widgets and are in the proper places.

Proper places? The main window didn't even have a title bar. Sure, this is something that is common today but it wasn't the case back in 2013.

Look at tabs in Safari 15 on Monterey. Are they even close to anything we have seen in macOS before?

Looking at those screenshots, all of the widgets look like Mac widgets and are in the proper places. I’d imagine that the app had no pop down menus that were limited to the height of the window. It looks like the preferences window is movable. And having used version 4 back in the day, it had a fully fleshed out set of menus in the menubar. So despite some custom design flair, it worked and felt just like a regular Mac app.

1Password 8 does not.

https://twitter.com/roustem/status/1428405371270479891?s=20

@StevenBedrick It's an extremely underrated feature. I also use Raycast, which taps into this functionality and makes finding and accessing menus even quicker.

@bradleysm I think many/most are fine with the actual appearance (though I’m on the “too much whitespace” bandwagon, I like the rest). It’s just the Electron stuff really mars what would otherwise be a great experience. We can hope all we want, but Electron has fundamental limitations that will prevent it from ever feeling like a truly native app.