And even with the General system pref set to always show scroll bars, none appears for this horizontal region.Īnother option would be the approach used in the Mac App Store, with clickable navigation arrows:īut something is needed to help Mac users understand where and how to take action to scroll the content areas. And parts of the Developer app have this-there's a scroll bar on the sidebar, and one for the vertical content of the main window, but not for the horizontal content. In a well-designed Mac app, there would either be a permanently visible scroll bar (if the user has it set this way, as I usually do), or one that would appear at the first hint of scrolling, letting the user know the region is scrollable. (Trackpad users have it a bit easier, as they can use a two-finger horizontal swipe to scroll this area.) The only way to scroll this region is by using your mouse's scrollwheel with the Shift key held down, so it scrolls horizontally. You might also think you could click on the small dots below the tiles, but you'd also thing wrong. Release the mouse button without moving off the tile, and it will activate. You might think you could click-and-drag on the partially visible tile to scroll across, but you'd think wrong: As soon as you mouse-down on the partial tile, it shrinks a bit, indicating that it's now the active click target. In the case of the Developer app, the large tiles at the top of the window are such an area: You need to scroll to see all the tiles, but it's unclear exactly how you should scroll: This is one of the most grating aspects of Catalyst apps on the Mac: You will often run into interface elements that were clearly designed for touch, and for which no work has been done to make them more usable with a mouse or trackpad. In addition, I'm going to provide a couple more examples-using the same Developer app-showing just how non-Mac-like a Catalyst app can be… I strongly encourage you to read Martin's article, as it puts into words just why I find many Catalyst apps so annoying to use. Find toolbar does not share search string across OS.Can't collapse groups in the sidebar.Doesn't show window title when toolbar is hidden.The search field focus ring does not go away if you click elsewhere in the app.The focus ring on the search field has square corners Here are but a few of the examples from Martin's analysis: Many of the issues aren't specific to Catalyst, but reflect poor attention to the details that make a Mac app look and act as a Mac app should. ![]() (And importantly, he filed bugs on everything he listed.) He has written a great analysis of the numerous issues with the Developer app. No, the deep dive isn't this blog post you're reading now, but rather one by Martin Pilkington. I know that's vague, but today, the vagueness ends, thanks to a deep dive into Apple's recently-released Developer app for macOS. ![]() On Twitter, I've shared my distaste for Catalyst apps, as many of them just don't "feel" right to a long-term Mac user.
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