Historical archive

This page records a dated plan, audit, or research context, not a current product contract. Project status distinguishes current source behavior, published releases, and unfinished acceptance gates.

macOS UX surfaces

The seven kinds of Mac app surface across 14 UX dimensions, and each one checked against Apple's HIG and API docs (2026-10-25).

Reference

  • macOS UX surface table - The seven kinds of macOS app surface (menu bar, desktop app, Settings, launcher, HUD, onboarding, system extensions) across 14 UX dimensions.

Research

  • Surface table: findings and rules for every surface - What checking the surface table against Apple's docs found: the corrections, the rules every surface shares, and answers to open questions from the skills. (2026-10-25)
  • Surface 1: menu bar app - The menu bar extra and its panel, checked cell by cell against the HIG and AppKit/SwiftUI docs. (2026-10-25)
  • Surface 2: full desktop app - The main app window (sidebar, canvas, inspector), checked cell by cell against the HIG and AppKit/SwiftUI docs. (2026-10-25)
  • Surface 3: Settings window - The app's Settings window, checked cell by cell against the HIG and SwiftUI docs, with three corrections to the table. (2026-10-25)
  • Surface 4: command launcher - A Spotlight-style keyboard launcher panel, checked against the HIG and AppKit docs; the default hotkey must not be Cmd-Space. (2026-10-25)
  • Surface 5: floating HUD - Always-on-top HUDs, PiP bubbles and drop shelves, checked against the HIG Panels page and AppKit window docs. (2026-10-25)
  • Surface 6: onboarding - First-run setup and permission steps, checked against the HIG Onboarding and Privacy pages; Apple prefers short, optional, interactive onboarding. (2026-10-25)
  • Surface 7: system extensions - Widgets, Finder extensions, Quick Actions and notch apps, checked against WidgetKit, Finder Sync and NSScreen docs; the notch has no Apple API. (2026-10-25)