Comment by bunderbunder
7 hours ago
I think it might be somewhat generational. There was a time when Apple famously put a lot of effort into HCI research and experimentation, and prioritized it above so many other concerns. When Apple chose to do UI differently from everyone else, it was a strong indication that they made the decision based on empirical research and not just making it up as they go along like everyone else. A single menu bar at the top of the screen, for example, was chosen because they found that users could locate and click on them much faster than they could menus at the top of the window. I can’t remember exactly how much but I think it was something like 1/3 - 1/2 as much time.
But that was in a different millennium.
> But that was in a different millennium.
Exactly. There may have been a reason for the single menu bar back in 1984 when the Mac had a 9-inch screen. But it doesn't work very well on my 43-inch screen where the menu bar may be a few feet away from a small window in the lower right hand corner.
For people with a normal screen size, having the click targets be of infinite size is still very useful.
I think the median screen size today is closer to 30" than 9".
Have you tried ⌘-Shift-? and typing the menu option you want to select?
IIRC Bill Atkinson said that it is at the top because it was easier to code. at any rate, it’s true that screen edges and corners are easy to click because their hit region becomes infinite in one or two directions
It was tried out per window, but changed:
https://milos.fyi/blog/fitts-law-why-the-menu-bar-is-at-the-...
In this video Bill explains why he moved it. At 28 min he says: "…and if the window is near the bottom, how are you going to show all the choices? Well, I tried moving the menus to the top of the screen."
https://www.cs.cmu.edu/~bam/uicourse/05440inter2019/Bill-Atk...
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Now, it feels like they prioritize branding over functionality. Like "Hey let's use a notch as branding element in iPhone and Mac"