Helvetica Neue is tighter, with more uniform space between letters and a more consistent stroke.
Here’s a GIF showing the differences between the two fonts: Since the very earliest builds, OS X’s GUI has been defined by the typeface Lucida Grande, which has graced the menus, labels and stock UIs shipping from Cupertino since 1999. It’s still OS X, but it’s been flattened out and made a little more translucent. Yosemite doesn’t have the large swaths of white with colorful, text-only buttons that iOS does. This blog post by Nick Keppol really breaks it down well. The Dock icons are a good example of the direction Yosemite takes as a whole good and bad (as we’ll see with Finder). For example, Dock icons retain some textures, but many have lost unneeded decoration. Apple has worked to make OS X more approachable over the years, and with Yosemite, that means making things simpler. While introducing OS X’s new UI, Federighi insisted that the company started with the concepts of clarity and utility. While this new version of OS X is structurally the same as all of its predecessors, there’s not much left of that original Aqua look left.Īpple didn’t go all iOS 7 on OS X’s ass, though. All of those things are awesome, but maybe its better to think of this article as follow-up to On the past, present and future of Apple’s Aqua user interface, which I published back in April. That said, Yosemite does come with major changes to iCloud data storage, not to mention Handoff, Continuity and Apps Extensions. Instead of a wide-ranging review, life (READ: starting Relay FM, having a baby, etc.) dictated I spend time on just the revamped UI. The annual verbiage about checking on system requirements, having a good backup and making sure your third-party apps work on the new operating system all apply this year.
Like Mavericks before it, OS X Yosemite is available for free on the Mac App Store.
OS X Yosemite is a big leap forward for OS X’s user interface and the way it interacts with iOS. His performance was electrifying, and throughout the week, he was seen taking selfies with developers, telling jokes and being the overall cool guy from Apple.īeyond the flashiness of the keynote, however, there was real substance. This past June, Craig Federighi introduced Yosemite. Every summer, Apple takes the wraps off a new version of OS X.