The settings window in MacOS needed to evolve IMHO. Just like the old disgusting confusing Windows settings/profilers/doodads, it worked only for old Mac power users. When the young audience is coming from iOS, MacOS has to satisfy what they’re used to. And Apple needs to stay consistent to not become like Windows.
As I age and switch constantly between OSes and devices for work, search has increasingly become my primary way of finding settings and whatnot. The part of my brain that remembers things spacially just doesn’t bother anymore.
Yeah, I can see this. However, I’ve been on iOS from the start (as a developer) and there is not a lot of sense to why some settings are organized the way that they are.
- “General” is a trash fire of hodgepodge
- “Home Screen” & “Wallpaper” are separate top-levels
In general, the top level items are grouped by task, but the tasks aren’t labeled but instead implied:
- Radio signals (Airplane Mode, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth)
- Noise & distractions (Notifications, Sounds, Focus, Screen Time)
- Input, output, and appearance (General, Control Center, Display, … Touch ID, …)
- Purchasing (App Store, Wallet & Apple Pay)
- Apple apps (except for the first, Passwords)… Mail, Contacts, Calendar, …
- Apple apps with media (Music, TV, Photos, …)
- All the other apps
This is on iOS. Is it too much to ask for some commitment to naming of these sections?
Oh yeah agreed, hence my approach with search taking over. Who has the time to be pointing around ever changing menus. (Which fails of course when what you’re looking for can’t be easily named to search.)
But for a corporation making these decisions, I would venture that the questions around how iOS should do it better are a separate concern from this merging the iOS way into the Mac way.
The old setting app was nowhere near the mess Windows settings apps are. And I'm not quite sure what's so complicated about the old settings for iOS users? It is way more non power users friendly than the old windows control panel and imho actually more simple and easier to use than iOS settings (where I find it impossible to find anything without search and search doesn't even work that great there..)
As I age and switch constantly between OSes and devices for work, search has increasingly become my primary way of finding settings and whatnot. The part of my brain that remembers things spacially just doesn’t bother anymore.