10 MACWORLD AUGUST 2019
MACUSER PROJECT CATALYSTpast, was something you’d just hide
behind a contextual menu—that’s a
right-click or control-click or (if you use a
trackpad) a two-finger click. And in some
(but not all) of the apps in Catalina, a
control-click will reveal the same options
as what you’ll find by tapping that
circular icon.
I can see the argument that many users
do not think to two-finger-click on things,
and therefore are missing important
features that maybe they’ll be more likely
to find if they see a circle with three dots
inside it and click on it to see what it has to
offer. The counter argument is that not all
features need to be front and center
because most users won’t use them, and
hiding them behind a secondary menu is
not much better than hiding them behind
an alternate click.
But is Apple really pushing for more
discoverability for extra features? One big
change in iPadOS 13 is a tap-and-hold
gesture that pops up a content preview
window with a bunch of contextual sharing
options. There’s also a two-finger-tap
multiple-selection gesture. How do you
square adding these new gestures with
moving away from control-clicks?
I don’t think even Apple knows the
answers to these questions. But I do
think it’s exploring them, and the
prospect of apps being brought over
from iOS to macOS (as well as the
advent of new apps being built using
SwiftUI) has opened a gigantic can of
worms in terms of how these interfaces
should look and work.
As the platform owner, Apple does get
to drive that process and make those calls.
Unfortunately, right now it doesn’t seem to
know what it wants. In the meantime, it will
be up to third-party app developers to do
the best they can to make great Mac
apps—and to not blame their tools if they
fall short of that standard. ■