Now that I’ve shared my perplexities regarding the menu bar, let’s just… stay with the menu bar a bit more. One of the new features of Big Sur that was touted in the preview at the WWDC 2020 is Control Centre. Clearly taken from iOS, on Mac OS it serves the very same purpose: to provide a series of shortcuts to the most used settings, all in one convenient place. Here it is in its default configuration on my MacBook Pro:
First impression: why not? I don’t particularly dislike it, and it kind of makes sense. Those are all useful controls to have handy.
From a usability standpoint, here’s what I’ve noticed. On previous versions of Mac OS, not having something like Control Centre available, users would populate the menu bar with the controls they need and use most. Let’s just take three examples: Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, and Volume. These three menu extras provide both access to the respective settings and instant information on their current state. You can immediately see whether Bluetooth is on or off. You can see whether Wi-Fi is turned on or off, and see whether the Mac is connected to a wireless network and the intensity of the signal. And you can have an approximate idea of the system volume level by looking at the Volume icon.
When you click on these controls and bring down their respective menus, you get additional information and additional control:
- Bluetooth: you can turn it off/on immediately; you can select a previously paired device and connect to it; you can open Bluetooth preferences.
- Wi-Fi: you can turn Wi-Fi off/on immediately, connect to another network with a click on its name, plus access other options like create a network or open Network preferences.
- Volume/Sound: you can adjust the volume, change the output device, access the Sound preference pane.
Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, and Volume menus in previous Mac OS versions (High Sierra pictured here)
I know this is pretty much self-evident, but bear with me. If you combine the information provided by these three menu bar icons, with the level of control their respective menus give you, you end up with a pretty efficient way of dealing with their status and settings. It’s all quite immediate and a couple of clicks away.
Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, and Volume menus in Mac OS Big Sur (beta)
Now in Big Sur, their function hasn’t changed. They behave the same way. Their look has been refreshed, but they work exactly like before. The only difference is that, due to the UI redesign, now it takes you one click more to turn e.g. Bluetooth or Wi-Fi off and on. Before, you clicked on their icon and just moved the mouse on the Turn Bluetooth Off/On or Turn Wi-Fi Off/On menu command. Now you have to click on their icon and then click on their on/off switch. I know this is incredibly subtle and the delay in the corresponding action is only a fraction of a second higher, but still, it feels unnecessary; it feels like something clearly designed for touch interaction that was simply copied and pasted on a desktop paradigm driven by a mouse or trackpad.
There’s another interesting detail to note, in my opinion. Given the excessive spacing introduced between menu bar elements (both between icons and — something I failed to point out in the previous logbook entry — menu names), what you’re tempted to do is remove the separate Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, and Volume controls, and just use Control Centre. And this is both a practical and impractical solution. Practical because, well, you have multiple controls all in one place. Impractical because, by removing the single controls from the menu bar, you lose the ability to know about their state at all times. To see whether Bluetooth or Wi-Fi are turned on, you have to click on the Control Centre icon. To access their additional features you have to click on the annoyingly tiny light-grey arrow near each control (by the way, the arrow appears on mouseover, it’s not always visible).
And here is where things slow down more noticeably and get a bit more awkward. Before Big Sur, if I just wanted to switch networks, I would pull down the Wi-Fi menu from the Wi-Fi control on the menu bar, and select the other network. One click, one scroll of the menu, and selection. In Big Sur — provided you only want to use Control Centre in the menu bar — the same operation takes three clicks, one scroll of the menu, and finally the selection:
- You first click on the Control Centre icon;
- You carefully position the mouse to make the grey arrow appear (otherwise your click will just turn Wi-Fi off);
- A second click, and you enter Wi-Fi settings;
- If the network you want to switch to is among the Preferred Networks, then you just select it here;
- If not, you have to click a third time on Other Networks and finally scroll down the list and select the network you want.
Yes, you get a prettier interface, but that’s pretty much what you get. For now, Control Centre on the Mac feels simultaneously handy and awkward. You have faster access to multiple controls, but slower access to each control’s finer settings.