Overcoming 25+ years of muscle-memory
I see that in the 3 months since the first 1Password 8 for Mac early access release there have been numerous comments about the non-standard Preferences window UI and close button positioning.
I also note that apart from command-W now closing the Preferences window (as expected) rather than the whole app, nothing has been done about the look and positioning of the close button.
Should I assume then that you're going to ignore Mac users requests to make this like 99% of other Mac apps, and ignore 25+ years (in my case) of muscle memory to close this window? I've been using 1Password 8 since the first release, and my mouse pointer STILL automatically heads off to the top-left of the Preferences window expecting find the close button EVERY SINGLE TIME. I then have to consciously make the effort to look to the top-right to find the non-standard X button to click. It's annoying.
I've seen responses that this is a consequence of using Electron, however, that doesn't mean it can't be resolved. The Facebook Messenger Mac app is written in Electron, yet its developers have taken the time and effort to create a separate detached Preferences window with the standard macOS 'traffic light' buttons at the top-left as expected. So it can be done.
I've also seen @roustem flippantly respond with a few examples of recent (poorly implemented Catalyst) Apple apps that have the close button top-right as justification, however that ignores the previous 30 years of Mac UI behaviour, and using universally criticised bad examples of poor, first-attempt iOS to Mac transplants isn't something I'd expect 1Password to want to use as inspiration/justification.
I've come around/got used to/tolerated many of the other 1Password 8 changes, but this one still gets me, every time.
So, TL;DL, will the Preferences window close button be moved and changed to look like a native Mac window control, ever?
1Password Version: 8.5.0 (80500008 Nightly)
Extension Version: Not Provided
OS Version: Not Provided
Comments
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I'm 100% with you on this.
Especially this bit: "my mouse pointer STILL automatically heads off to the top-left of the Preferences window expecting find the close button EVERY SINGLE TIME. I then have to consciously make the effort to look to the top-right to find the non-standard X button to click. It's annoying." That exact process happens. Cognitively frustrating.
I think there are two possibilities here:
Move the close button to the left just on MacOS. (not perfect but acceptable)
Switch the Preferences window to be a real popup window that uses native traffic light controls. (Better)
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It is certainly possible to change the Preferences window.
However, I have a few concerns:
- Is it worth the initial investment of time? I just checked the issue tracker and there are currently 4,162 open tickets that include new features, improvements, bug fixes. Wouldn't it be wiser to invest this time in a new feature or fixing a bug?
- Making the Preferences window different only for Mac means that it will also require on-going effort to keep it this way as the app evolves, settings are added/removed/modified, etc. Every build of 1Password that we publish will require a separate test scenario.
- Today, our cost of writing and maintaining documentation is huge because of so many differences between the platforms. I was sad to see that many of our docs have removed the screenshots simply because it was so difficult to maintain them — I always thought that screenshots make the documentation better. One of the big advantages of 1Password 8 is being able to create a higher quality documentation that covers all platforms.
Finally, there are many popular apps that already have a very different approach.
I went through my Applications folder and launched every app to see how the Preferences are implemented. Here is a list of apps in my Mac that either do not have a floating window or do not have the traffic light controls or both. I don't have a huge selection of apps on this Mac because I just started setting it up from scratch a couple of weeks ago. Still, the list is pretty large:
- Acrobat Reader
- Brave
- Chess (comes with macOS, might be one of the oldest Mac apps?)
- Evernote
- Firefox
- GitHub Desktop
- Ishtar Commander
- Journey by Moleskine
- LanScan
- Logseq
- Microsoft Edge
- Music (comes with macOS)
- Notion
- Obsidian
- Pocket Casts
- Slack
- Spotify
- TV (comes with macOS)
- Visual Studio Code
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Is it worth the initial investment of time?
Maybe not to you now, but clearly it would be to all the Mac users who have raised this issue here (and those who haven't but agree).
I understand that individual Mac users are no longer a priority. All those corporate customers for whom the close button has always been on the top-right in their OS aren't having to change their behaviour. But Mac users choose macOS because they care about the user experience, about consistency of design and are prepared to pay extra for that. Maybe that's why you originally chose a Mac all those years ago, but perhaps your priorities have changed?
Wouldn't it be wiser to invest this time in a new feature or fixing a bug?
Of course you should add features or fix bugs, but this is neither of those, this is something you've changed for the worse - it is different to previous versions, breaks Mac users muscle memory, and is a move away from macOS conventions.
Making the Preferences window different only for Mac means that it will also require on-going effort to keep it this way as the app evolves,
You already have many more complicated platform-specify features to maintain, however, I'm referring specifically to the title bar / window controls (I'm less concerned about whether it floats or not). You don't seem to have any problems maintaining different title bars for the main 1Password window between platforms which are all quite different:
It is also inconsistent design within the same application on the same platform. The main 1Password window has standard macOS controls as you'd expect, but the Preferences and New Item windows don't.
However, I see from the release notes that you do invest time fixing many tiny UI inconsistencies (down to the pixel level), yet this major, in-your-face inconsistency is left untouched.
Today, our cost of writing and maintaining documentation is huge because of so many differences between the platforms
I would not expect anything else. It's a direct consequence of the business decision you and Dave took to expand and release 1Password on so many platforms, and why your workforce has ballooned in recent years to keep up with the workload.
But the location and appearance of a window close button isn't something you would cover in your apps documentation - that's an OS-level feature which users of each OS would already be familiar with.
However, by actually moving and changing the appearance of a standard Mac window close button, you are forcing Mac users to jarringly leave subconscious behaviour and consciously make the effort to do a common action differently.
I was sad to see that many of our docs have removed the screenshots simply because it was so difficult to maintain them
Do you not have an automated screenshot creation process?
Here is a list of apps in my Mac that either do not have a floating window or do not have the traffic light controls or both
I too can find exceptions on my Mac. But this is about 1Password, an app that is much more important and frequently used than all of the exceptions on your list. It is one of the few apps that runs constantly on my Mac and I interact with it hundreds of time a day. Previous versions of 1Password didn't have this issue either.
It always surprises me that you often resort to the "school playground" style response of "Well, so-and-so does it too!", when these kind of topics come up, rather than trying to set an example of exemplary cross-platform support, whilst still honouring OS-specific UI/UX conventions.
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