Brent Simmons on ‘Stock’ Mac UI

The useful part

To recap: the reasons for using stock Mac UI are 1) user familiarity, which we've known for a while just isn't a thing, and 2) hoping to be able to expend less developer effort, which we've seen can work against you. There's another reason: the stock Mac UI is designed by Apple, the best designers in the world, and do you really think you can do better? The app world is full of people who think they're better and they're really, really, really not.

How it works

• I'm not blaming the people doing the work — they're doing great work with the direction they're given.
• (I've always loved the way Brent writes.) But I really like his emphasis throughout the piece on the term "stock Mac UI".
• Debating the nuances of what it means for software to be "Mac-like" is one of the through lines of Daring Fireball since the very beginning.
• It doesn't mean just one thing, and it doesn't encompass just a few things.
• That makes it susceptible to picking and choosing — what one considers "Mac-like" might just be what one personally prefers.

What to take from it

Using the stock Mac UI — or building your custom UI atop (or in OOP terms, subclassing) stock Mac UI controls — is so thoroughly agreed-upon as a fundamental aspect of Mac-like-ness that it's seldom even discussed.

Details worth keeping

So this — bad direction — is where the secret third reason falls down.