[HN Gopher] Native macOS fix for applications hiding under the M...
       ___________________________________________________________________
        
       Native macOS fix for applications hiding under the MacBook Pro
       notch
        
       Author : onnimonni
       Score  : 221 points
       Date   : 2024-02-12 12:05 UTC (10 hours ago)
        
 (HTM) web link (flaky.build)
 (TXT) w3m dump (flaky.build)
        
       | onnimonni wrote:
       | I learned yesterday about this setting which can be change the
       | default whitespace in MacOS menu bar to get access to apps which
       | would otherwise be hidden under the notch. Many of my colleagues
       | told me they were happy so I thought it might be useful for wider
       | audience as well.
       | 
       | I know that the HN guidelines recommend linking to source
       | directly but I think short blog post with images is easier to
       | understand and I hope this is okay :)
        
       | tambourine_man wrote:
       | Wow, thank you.
       | 
       | Someday Apple will expose the gazillion defaults write options in
       | a "Pro" tab in System Settings. One can dream.
        
         | lbourdages wrote:
         | Back in the day there was a "secrets" third party preference
         | pane you could install. It would let you toggle a bunch of
         | options like this.
         | 
         | https://osxdaily.com/2009/12/11/access-a-whole-bunch-of-hidd...
        
       | Eric_WVGG wrote:
       | > While it offers many features, I've refused to pay for a
       | solution to Apple's poor design decision.
       | 
       | The phrasing of this kind of gets under my skin.
       | 
       | Like, it's fine to call it "refusing to pay" if it's some kind of
       | Apple tax. Bartender is great little indie app, a real quality-
       | of-life enhancement. I like to reward creative developers who
       | come up with solutions for weird edge-case users like us.
        
         | clawoo wrote:
         | > While it offers many features, I've refused to pay for a
         | solution to Apple's poor design decision.
         | 
         | Well then you're in luck, because there's a free app called
         | Hidden Bar[1] on the Mac App Store that allows you to hide
         | icons which you're not interested in.
         | 
         | I am not affiliated with the author(s?), I am just a happy user
         | and I would probably be using it even if the Macbook didn't
         | have a notch.
         | 
         | [1] https://apps.apple.com/us/app/hidden-bar/id1452453066?mt=12
        
           | thesuitonym wrote:
           | Still sort of insane that you need extra apps to fix an issue
           | that Microsoft figured out decades ago. The GP says it was in
           | Windows Vista, but I'm pretty sure even Windows 98 had it. I
           | know XP did.
           | 
           | How has Apple not addressed this?
        
             | seba_dos1 wrote:
             | 98 did not, XP was the first one. So, this was addressed
             | there merely 23 years ago, give them some slack! ;)
        
             | evilduck wrote:
             | Weirder still is that they did, they have an entire
             | expanding control panel pane with redundant pop out
             | controls for stuff that was previously in the menu bar,
             | they just failed to universally integrate it with the
             | system so that third parties could use it.
        
           | bitcurious wrote:
           | Hidden bar has the added benefit of not asking to record your
           | screen, an insane thing to consent to for this very basic bit
           | of functionality.
        
           | onnimonni wrote:
           | > Well then you're in luck, because there's a free app called
           | Hidden Bar[1] on the Mac App Store that allows you to hide
           | icons which you're not interested in.
           | 
           | Author here: I did try Hidden Bar yesterday before finding
           | this workaround and I uninstalled it today. I want to see all
           | of the 16 apps that I have. I don't want to hide any of them.
           | By changing the whitespace mentioned in the blog post I now
           | can see all of them.
        
         | jeroenhd wrote:
         | I can understand the sentiment. It's not necessarily something
         | against independent developers, it's anger about a problem that
         | shouldn't happen in the first place to a device this expensive.
         | 
         | Windows had a similar problem with its notifications tray
         | growing to unreasonable size, and they fixed that back in
         | Windows Vista, after applying some auto-hiding algorithm in
         | versions before that. Apple missing this problem or not being
         | able to come up with a solution is simply not believable, this
         | has to be the result of them simply not caring or refusing to
         | address the issue for stylistic reasons.
         | 
         | I'm sure Bartender is great software (even without the notch
         | problem, from what I can tell!) but Apple is the one forcing
         | their users to pay extra for their stupid design decisions. $16
         | to fix a problem other operating systems fixed almost twenty
         | years ago is a steep price to pay when you're expecting a
         | quality laptop.
        
           | onnimonni wrote:
           | Thanks @jeroenhd for giving me the benefit of doubt and
           | explaining it even better than I could! My intention was
           | definitely not to bash bartender and I need to select my
           | words more carefully in the future.
           | 
           | It was just the only solution I knew before yesterday for a
           | such a simple stupid design flaw from Apple. I have nothing
           | against Bartender or its developers. I just wish I wouldn't
           | need to install 3rd party software to fix Apple's issues.
        
             | haswell wrote:
             | There was a time when I would have agreed pretty whole-
             | heartedly with you and dismissed this as a "simple stupid
             | design flaw". I've been writing production code for over 20
             | years, and the existence of solutions like Bartender is
             | evidence that the problem can't be _that_ hard, right?
             | 
             | And then I became a product manager for a large suite of
             | capabilities for which large customers would spend
             | millions/year, and my mind changed pretty significantly.
             | Every release, I was forced to choose the 10-15 things that
             | we could reasonably accomplish from a list of hundreds.
             | Many dozens of the things that we _didn 't_ do could be
             | classified as "simple stupid design flaws".
             | 
             | There was one of these flaws in particular that I was
             | determined to fix when I took the role. "This makes us look
             | stupid" I thought. It had been a gap in the product for
             | years, and I always marveled at the fact that no one had
             | fixed it. But the reality was, the product was architected
             | to be extensible, and to allow 3rd party developers to
             | build their own solutions. And in this case, there were
             | numerous solutions in the community that solved the problem
             | quite well. When faced with the reality of a mile-long
             | backlog, and many of those items having no solution at all,
             | and no affordance for developers to solve them, the
             | already-solved design flaw always fell below the cut line
             | for each release, despite my best efforts to prioritize it.
             | And I begrudgingly had to acknowledge that this was the
             | right choice at the time.
             | 
             | I have a slightly different view on these types of issues
             | now. It's easy to call this a design flaw, but on the flip
             | side, Apple has clearly made it possible for the community
             | to solve this issue. I'm 100% positive someone at Apple is
             | trying their hardest to get this thing fixed, but most
             | likely keeps getting thwarted by more critical issues, and
             | the realities of managing a large and complex
             | platform/ecosystem.
             | 
             | "Apple has all the money; they should just scale up the dev
             | team". And if they did, those new devs would be assigned to
             | the next 10-15 items on that mile-long list that are still
             | more important than a 1st party solution to a solved
             | problem.
             | 
             | It does show the cracks in Apple's marketing, but it's also
             | far more understandable and reasonable than I once would
             | have believed.
             | 
             | (I don't/didn't work for Apple).
        
             | tzs wrote:
             | It still makes no sense to me because I don't see how it is
             | relevant that it is fixing what you see as a design flaw
             | from Apple.
             | 
             | If the gutters on one side of my house frequently get
             | clogged up with needles because the builder planted some
             | pine and fir trees close to the house (but not so close as
             | to be against any codes or regulations), I'm not going to
             | just live with it because it is the builder's fault and so
             | I'm not going to spend money to install gutter guards or
             | have the trees removed.
             | 
             | I think it is a design flaw in many car mirror systems that
             | when a car that is overtaking you gets close enough to no
             | longer be visible in the center mirror it isn't yet visible
             | in the side mirror. It is never occurred to me to just live
             | with it because fixing it means spending money to fix the
             | car's design flaw.
             | 
             | I fix this by buying a cheap little stick on convex mirror
             | and sticking it on the side mirror. Then there is overlap
             | between what I can see in the center mirror and what I can
             | see in the side mirror, and I can see overtaking cars at
             | all times. (Or bicyclists and motorcyclists that are lane
             | splitting).
        
               | onnimonni wrote:
               | You're right and anyone can fix this same issue with
               | Bartender too. You can also fix this issue by using your
               | MacBook solely with external monitor :D
               | 
               | My point was just to raise awareness that there's a free
               | alternative which doesn't require any 3rd party apps.
        
               | Nullabillity wrote:
               | > I'm not going to just live with it because it is the
               | builder's fault and so I'm not going to spend money to
               | install gutter guards or have the trees removed.
               | 
               | No, you'd complain to the builder until they fix their
               | fuckup.
        
           | HumblyTossed wrote:
           | > I can understand the sentiment. It's not necessarily
           | something against independent developers, it's anger about a
           | problem that shouldn't happen in the first place to a device
           | this expensive.
           | 
           | This. Apple cultivates this myth that they only release
           | polished devices/software. When they fail to do even the
           | littlest things like work with a design decision _they_ made,
           | people, rightfully, get frustrated.
        
             | lex-lightning wrote:
             | I agree. I love my iPhone and my iPad. But that touch bar
             | era on the Mac was rough.
        
             | cqqxo4zV46cp wrote:
             | Polished doesn't mean perfect. This sounds like you've got
             | an axe to grind and nothing more.
        
               | HumblyTossed wrote:
               | Sounds like you're just a wee sensitive. No axe, just
               | telling like it is.
        
               | hobs wrote:
               | How many trillions of dollars does Apple need before we
               | can complain about menu bar items?
        
           | sofixa wrote:
           | > I can understand the sentiment. It's not necessarily
           | something against independent developers, it's anger about a
           | problem that shouldn't happen in the first place to a device
           | this expensive.
           | 
           | Especially considering how much people harp on about Apple's
           | amazing UX and quality and how that makes the absurd prices
           | worth it. The notch problem, as well as other UX bugs (like
           | scroll direction having two separate toggles in
           | mouse/touchpad settings, that toggle each other) really don't
           | look all that polished to me.
        
           | jwells89 wrote:
           | I think Apple hasn't followed Microsoft on status item (that
           | the name of menubar icons on macOS) management is simply
           | because they didn't intend for the API to be used even a
           | fourth as much as it is.
           | 
           | In older releases (back when in it was still known as OS X),
           | persistent status items weren't something devs could do
           | without dipping into hacks. That part of the menubar was
           | intended solely for system stuff, e.g. the display and sound
           | menus.
           | 
           | There were always APIs for transient status items, but those
           | were intended for use by "normal" apps with a dock icon that
           | you have open only temporarily to accomplish some tasks
           | (which means these status items wouldn't accumulate). Status
           | items added this way couldn't even be rearranged like the
           | system ones.
           | 
           | So in short, there's no management because they're designing
           | for the user who has a couple of status items, not 5, 10, or
           | 15+.
        
           | cpuguy83 wrote:
           | This is not the same thing as Windows. MacOS users choose to
           | have those things in the menu bar.
           | 
           | On Windows the notification bar was a dumping ground that you
           | couldn't prevent apps from using.
        
         | pushedx wrote:
         | 30% or more of the cost goes directly to Apple, so there are
         | some perverse incentives at play with such unofficial fixes.
        
           | hannes0 wrote:
           | You can purchase directly on their website or via Setapp. So,
           | I would count this as an argument.
        
           | cqqxo4zV46cp wrote:
           | I assure you that whatever money Apple would make from this
           | wouldn't make a dent in even some lower-level Apple pleb's
           | P&L.
           | 
           | This sort of unbound cynicism isn't intelligent or useful. It
           | shouldn't be conflated with being usefully or interestingly
           | critical.
        
             | lynndotpy wrote:
             | It adds up when you need to pay $25 to get per-app volume
             | control, $20 to fix to the menu bar, $10 to get window
             | management, etc, per seat.
             | 
             | I don't think it's cynical to point out the perverse
             | incentive. I think it's a useful point for discussion,
             | especially given anyone familiar with any of the other
             | major desktop environments (Windows, GNOME, KDE, etc.)
             | might be surprised to learn that there's a modern desktop
             | environment lacking these amenities.
        
         | aqme28 wrote:
         | "Refusing to pay for...Apple's design decisions" makes no sense
         | when you just spent $2000 on an Apple laptop, in order to not
         | pay an indie dev $16
        
           | wtetzner wrote:
           | I think the point is that you shouldn't need to spend
           | anything extra after spending $2,000 on an Apple laptop for
           | something Apple should have already addressed.
        
         | OJFord wrote:
         | No, that's clearly not 'I should not have to pay Bartender for
         | its work'; it's 'I should not have to find a third-party who
         | can sell me a fix'.
        
         | risho wrote:
         | especially considering that apple is full of poor design
         | decisions that people have already been using third party
         | software to compensate for. for example a lack of any form of
         | reasonable window management that the many people use stuff
         | like magnet or rectangle to compensate for. or the fact that
         | mouse scroll direction and trackpad scroll direction are
         | linked. or the fact that you can't control volume on a per app
         | basis.
        
         | delfinom wrote:
         | Handling the app icons properly due to the notch IS something
         | that Apple should have done. It's pure idgaf incompetence on
         | Apple's part. Their software quality has been declining the
         | past few years in respects to macOS.
        
         | lxgr wrote:
         | Besides the freeware/shareware issue, I'd like to limit the
         | number of various little tools running on my computer, often
         | with effectively full access to my data (since software that
         | provides that type of quality-of-life improvements for core OS
         | functionality is often hard/impossible to sandbox).
         | 
         | I can't even use most of these on my work Mac for the same
         | reason (it's outright not allowed/possible by policy).
        
         | daviddever23box wrote:
         | It is perfectly acceptable to provide a zero-cost, command-line
         | focused solution to a single, specific user-interface
         | constraint, while, at the same time, providing additional
         | parametric insight to macOS user preferences.
        
       | yardie wrote:
       | Longterm Mac OS users have used tools like Onyx[0] to configure
       | hidden system and finder settings. It's probably one of my first
       | downloads after an OS upgrade.
       | 
       | [0] https://titanium-software.fr/en/onyx.html
        
         | therealmocker wrote:
         | Could you share some examples of settings you customize with
         | this tool? The description on the website seems pretty fairly
         | broad.
        
       | josephd79 wrote:
       | I just use TopNotch.
        
         | speedgoose wrote:
         | It's not doing what you think it does.
        
         | kjkjadksj wrote:
         | Broken in Sonoma
        
           | luuurker wrote:
           | Top Notch is working well here with 14.3.1.
           | 
           | This app only makes the menu bar black though, so it's not
           | really a fix for what the article complains about.
        
       | tw04 wrote:
       | Bartender is an app that will let you hide items/hide items in a
       | submenu. I have no affiliation, and it just works.
       | 
       | I'm guessing there's something similar open source but I've yet
       | to stumble across one that works as well.
       | 
       | https://www.macbartender.com/
        
         | iAkashPaul wrote:
         | HiddenBar
        
           | neodymiumphish wrote:
           | When I open the hidden bar, they still expand "behind" the
           | notch. What am I doing wrong?
        
             | evilduck wrote:
             | Nothing. HiddenBar will declutter your menu bar by hiding
             | things but it doesn't help with having so many menu bar
             | items that they're obscured by the notch like Bartender
             | does.
        
               | neodymiumphish wrote:
               | Damn, ok. Thanks for the clarification.
        
         | DavideNL wrote:
         | Yea, Bartender does its job really well... simple and stable.
         | Would also recommend.
        
         | tanepiper wrote:
         | $20 for what should have been the workaround from Apple for
         | their design decision. I mean really, too many icons - have a
         | widget to display the rest on click - the number of times I
         | have to kill Alfred to get to Docker Desktop is more than I can
         | count on one hand.
        
           | aeturnum wrote:
           | I think it's worth emphasizing that, while Bartender does
           | solve this egregious oversight from Apple - it also makes a
           | number of enhancements to the top bar that are hard to write
           | off as "bad Apple design". Even if the notch has never
           | bothered you it may be worth your money.
        
         | rsanek wrote:
         | This is mentioned in the third sentence of the article.
        
       | iAkashPaul wrote:
       | HiddenBar is a FOSS alternative to Bartender, combined with
       | reduced whitespace it'll be quite nice!
        
       | Erratic6576 wrote:
       | There's a FOSS alternative to bartender
        
         | euroderf wrote:
         | Do tell
        
           | DarthNebo wrote:
           | HiddenBar
        
       | SteveAlexander wrote:
       | You don't need to log out / in after trying this. You can instead
       | restart the service that runs the menu bar.
       | 
       | killall -KILL SystemUIServer
        
         | onnimonni wrote:
         | EDIT: I tried this out and at least it didn't work for me. The
         | whitespace did change a bit after running your command but not
         | as much as happens when I log out and log in.
        
       | Simulacra wrote:
       | I find the notch the be an utterly horrible design choice. Like
       | the iPhone notch, it seems like a major step back in aesthetic. I
       | found both too distracting for comfort.
        
         | lioeters wrote:
         | I agree, Steve Jobs would have never accepted such a design
         | compromise.
        
       | flohofwoe wrote:
       | I really like my M1 Mac, but the notch has to be the dumbest
       | design decision in the history of laptops :/ I would accept any
       | design compromise for the webcam, make it grainy / low-res and
       | put it under the display, put it at the bottom so it points up my
       | nose, or move into a small 'corner notch' in the top-right corner
       | so that the camera looks at me from the side ... anything really
       | but please get rid of that stupidly oversized center notch.
        
         | bri3k wrote:
         | You can change the resolution in System Settings->Displays,
         | make it so the entire display is below the notch.
        
           | flohofwoe wrote:
           | The thing is, I really _like_ the thin bezel, but why has the
           | notch to be so massively big? The camera hole looks like it
           | 's just about 3..4 millimeters in diameter.
           | 
           | PS: also looking around, there seem to be plenty of laptops
           | with thin display bezel and no notch, if others can do it,
           | why not Apple?
        
             | Wowfunhappy wrote:
             | > PS: also looking around, there seem to be plenty of
             | laptops with thin display bezel and no notch, if others can
             | do it, why not Apple?
             | 
             | Because those laptops have worse webcams.
             | 
             | You don't have to agree with the tradeoff Apple made, in
             | fact I don't, but I think the reasoning is pretty clear.
        
             | Waterluvian wrote:
             | There's like four different things in the notch. Not just a
             | camera. Plus some recessed screw holes to mount it.
             | 
             | The notch feels weird, but when I try to redesign it
             | without sacrificing features, I can't come up with a better
             | option. ...Not that I'm a brilliant designer by any means.
        
               | pimanrules wrote:
               | Not really? There's a webcam, an indicator LED, an
               | ambient light sensor, and a lot of empty space. As far as
               | I can tell, the MacBook notch is wide just to make it
               | look like the iPhone notch.
               | 
               | https://guide-images.cdn.ifixit.com/igi/5JIdAqwLsxWAFAyZ
        
               | Tagbert wrote:
               | There is also the mounting hardware. It's not an
               | unreasonable size for what it contains. If they were to
               | really redesign the module they might shave a little off
               | of it but how impactful would that reduction really be?
        
               | johnwalkr wrote:
               | They probably set the notch size with some margin too, so
               | they could develop the camera module and LCD at the same
               | time.
        
               | Tagbert wrote:
               | Here is the module behind the notch: https://forums.macru
               | mors.com/attachments/img_0383-jpeg.22053...
        
               | dlivingston wrote:
               | > The MacBook notch is wide just to make it look like the
               | iPhone notch.
               | 
               | I'm convinced this is true, at least partially.
               | 
               | The iPhone notch is branding and a visual differentiator
               | from the competition, which is Apple's forte, and
               | carrying over that very distinctive design element to
               | other product lines seems right in Apple's playbook.
               | 
               | In other words: glass slab in your hand? Who knows. Glass
               | slab with a black notch? iPhone.
               | 
               | Person typing on metallic laptop in a cafe? Who knows.
               | Ah, but the screen has a notch? MacBook.
        
             | jwells89 wrote:
             | Most of those other laptops have asymmetric bezels, which
             | Apple was probably trying to avoid. They wanted thin bezels
             | on all edges.
             | 
             | The extra room in the notch is likely there in case they
             | want to change webcam parts to something larger, add Face
             | ID, etc so they don't also have to change the display panel
             | and can continue to use existing stock.
             | 
             | Apple seems to like to try to avoid changing parts/tooling
             | wherever possible and will go as far as to awkwardly keep
             | using a chassis until stock of that part has been exhausted
             | if necessary (see the 13" M1 Touch Bar MBP).
        
               | nottorp wrote:
               | > Most of those other laptops have asymmetric bezels,
               | which Apple was probably trying to avoid. They wanted
               | thin bezels on all edges.
               | 
               | Yeah, I'm thinking firing Johnny Ive wasn't enough.
        
           | tambourine_man wrote:
           | It is extremely hidden, but here's how you access all
           | available resolutions, including the ones which work below
           | the notch:
           | 
           | https://support.apple.com/en-ke/guide/mac-
           | help/mchl86d72b76/....
        
         | dev_tty01 wrote:
         | Just use something like RDM to set the screen size to the
         | choice that is a few pixels shorter. The system will take those
         | pixels off the top and the notch will disappear. The top of the
         | active pixel area will be a bit lower.
         | 
         | I suspect those settings are available in the controller
         | because some Apple engineers also hate the notch.
        
         | gniv wrote:
         | > I would accept any design compromise for the webcam, make it
         | grainy / low-res
         | 
         | I think this is a minority opinion.
         | 
         | I personally don't remark the notch anymore.
        
           | ambyra wrote:
           | It's an okay solution, not the best, but definitely the most
           | expensive.
           | 
           | Another solution that would have been cool and expensive: if
           | they put a camera in each corner of the screen. Then at least
           | they could have the rounded corners they always wanted. Also
           | four cameras could be used for cool 3d effects and AI to keep
           | your eyes looking at the center of the screen.
        
             | cooper_ganglia wrote:
             | Wait a second, I think you're onto something here...
        
               | mceachen wrote:
               | https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fire_Phone had a camera
               | on every corner of the front screen.
        
               | cooper_ganglia wrote:
               | Thanks for the link! I went in search of a product like
               | this to read about it's development, but didn't find one
               | in my short search. This was super convenient!
        
             | LeonenTheDK wrote:
             | > Also four cameras could be used for cool 3d effects and
             | AI to keep your eyes looking at the center of the screen.
             | 
             | Nvidia has been doing the eyes with a single generic camera
             | for over a year now: https://www.nvidia.com/en-
             | us/geforce/news/jan-2023-nvidia-br...
        
               | lxgr wrote:
               | Facetime has been doing this for a few years now too.
               | It's called something not-quite-straightforward in the
               | settings ("enhance attention" or something).
        
               | rcdemski wrote:
               | Not sure if it was renamed but today the setting is
               | called "Eye Contact"
        
             | threeseed wrote:
             | I think you need to think through that four camera concept
             | a bit more.
             | 
             | It would significantly increase the screen bezels because
             | instead of just one notch you now have to bring in all four
             | edges to accomodate the cameras.
        
           | pompino wrote:
           | It's the majority opinion, infact Apple _also_ believes that
           | the notch is a compromise. Apple has been trying to develop
           | the under-screen webcam tech. They just don 't have the
           | technical capability to eliminate it. When Apple and others
           | finally eliminate the notch it will be heralded as the best
           | thing ever.
           | 
           | Few will realize how Apple milked you twice - once to accept
           | the horrible design (that they created), and again to accept
           | how wonderful they are for eliminating the problem.
        
             | KerrAvon wrote:
             | Unless you've actually conducted a survey, you don't know
             | how many people feel like you do. I get that you hate it,
             | but I personally haven't noticed the notch in day to day
             | use ever -- I've been using an M1 in light mode since it
             | came out.
        
               | pompino wrote:
               | I am not saying its the most pressing design feature that
               | disqualifies a purchase. I just don't get the push-back
               | when pointing out obvious flaws.
        
             | resfirestar wrote:
             | I don't see anyone saying the notch on a laptop is a "good"
             | thing that they bought the laptop to get, just people who
             | bought a laptop for other reasons justifying why an
             | imperfect screen shape wasn't enough to make them regret
             | the purchase. They're not being "milked" in any way I can
             | see.
             | 
             | Compare phones, where manufacturers have actually created a
             | narrative that camera cutouts are a desirable feature.
             | Maybe people who bought new phones because they like the
             | cutout design are getting milked twice.
        
               | pompino wrote:
               | Its an MBA thing. Engineers and nerds would never support
               | it.
               | 
               | https://www.google.com/search?q=apple+incremental+innovat
               | ion
        
             | Tagbert wrote:
             | All designs involve compromise. That doesn't mean that
             | those designs are bad, just that they are taking into
             | account factors which are in opposition. Factors such as
             | size, capacity, function, and legibility are examples of
             | the kinds of oppositional factors that designs often need
             | to take into account.
             | 
             | The MacBook notch is a clever design that increases the
             | size of the screen without increasing the size of the
             | overall case. There are some, relatively minor, downsides.
             | 
             | 1. Some applications have an unusual number of menu items.
             | The system takes this into account and renders those menu
             | items to the right of the notch. In many cases, those are
             | the less often used menu items "Window" and "Help" so the
             | impact is lower.
             | 
             | 2. When there are large numbers of app icons in the
             | menubar, they may not all fit and some are truncated. This
             | has always been a problem with that feature and many people
             | have solved this by using utilities such as Bartender that
             | hide extra app icons and move them to secondary panels.
             | 
             | 3. There is an additional visual element on the screen.
             | Many people quickly learn to ignore the notch and soon
             | forget that it is there. For those who are bothered by it,
             | there are a couple of simple ways to reduce the visibility
             | of it. One method is to change the resolution of the screen
             | so that all content appears below the notch. The downside
             | of that solution is that there is less screen area. Another
             | method is to use a utility to turn the menubar black. This
             | makes the notch blend into the menubar so that it is much
             | less visible.
        
               | pompino wrote:
               | Do you agree that there is good and bad design?
               | Furthermore, I don't see what is wrong in criticizing bad
               | design when the Vendor also acknowledges that it's bad
               | and they're rushing to fix it. This isn't software where
               | you can just run an update. No, you have to re-buy the
               | machines to get the fixed design.
        
               | halostatue wrote:
               | I do believe that there is bad design and Apple
               | occasionally falls prey to it. Design that is not suited
               | to purpose, like the late-2010s keyboards, is bad design.
               | Design that is intentionally anti-human (anti-loitering
               | architecture, HP printer locks, etc.) is bad design.
               | 
               | The notch is not bad design: it is a design compromise.
               | _In reality_ the presence of the notch increases the
               | overall screen space with the reduced bezel. That
               | electronics wizardry and physics do not currently permit
               | under-screen high definition cameras means that you need
               | bezel space for it. That Apple managed to get it to be
               | ~35mm x ~9mm is impressive. On every other laptop in the
               | world with a webcam at the top, that ~9mm is required
               | forehead on the laptop, meaning at least a ~9mm bezel.
               | 
               | And Apple is not rushing to replace this. After all,
               | we've had three generations of Apple laptops released
               | with the notch. Sure, if/when they prove they can do a
               | quality under-screen camera, they will update this (after
               | they update the iPhone family). But calling this "bad
               | design" is suggesting that you could do better.
        
         | duxup wrote:
         | > put it at the bottom so it points up my nose
         | 
         | My Dell has a nose cam... it's so unpleasant a view that it is
         | unusable IMO.
        
         | wulfeet wrote:
         | I've been using a M1 for well over a year, and until about two
         | weeks ago I didn't know it had a notch.
         | 
         | I don't follow the tech press, who I'm sure discussed it a
         | great length when it was released. And I'm not personally
         | invested in the Mac, it's owned by my employer.
         | 
         | So I didn't notice the notch until my cursor disappeared while
         | scrolling across the top of the screen.
        
           | TillE wrote:
           | Yeah it's completely invisible if you use a background that's
           | very dark near the top, I haven't thought about the notch in
           | months.
        
           | bombcar wrote:
           | The notch is really noticeable if you have a white menubar.
           | 
           | I'd take a screenshot of it but ... ha!
        
         | bloopernova wrote:
         | I use my mac docked and closed, so I hardly ever see the notch.
         | 
         | However I think Apple should be able to use some fancy
         | engineering to keep the camera as hidden as possible in the
         | edge of the screen surround. Or use multiple fibre optic points
         | embedded in the screen along with those fancy neural processors
         | to create an eye-to-eye webcam.
        
         | swozey wrote:
         | I've had an m1 max 14" since the week they first released 2-3
         | years ago and I actually COMPLETELY forgot there was a notch
         | until I read this post.
         | 
         | I can't think of like, one time when it was an issue but I also
         | have probably used TopNotch since then.
        
         | thimp wrote:
         | Haven't really noticed mine. Even after I've used it plugged
         | into the studio display for a couple of days and go back to
         | laptop mode, it's just such a non issue.
        
           | pdntspa wrote:
           | I agree here. I thought it was dumb but the OS works around
           | it really nicely; the only time it ever got in the way was
           | with some non-native software
        
           | lloeki wrote:
           | I live with it, the most annoying part being how big it is
           | vertically. It has a weird psychological effect of screaming
           | _WASTED SPACE!!!_ at me, even though I rationally know that
           | if the screen would start below would make for less space.
           | 
           | It's constantly bothering me to the point that I set a
           | background with a black area at the top so that it blends
           | with the menubar. I don't have a problem with the menubar
           | icons though because I keep that tidy and minimal.
           | 
           | I punt on the issue through clamshell mode most of the time
           | though.
           | 
           | To each their own, and TBH I have worse pet peeves.
        
             | devsda wrote:
             | The way I see it, we can think of the screen below the
             | notch as actual display area and consider the area next to
             | notch as bonus display dedicated for menubar. The bonus
             | area goes dark when in fullscreen app. So, the app area is
             | consistent in both modes.
             | 
             | This way you don't have to feel like there's wasted space.
        
             | j45 wrote:
             | Is there a chance anything that us paid attention to grows
             | in size.
             | 
             | Would anyone be willing to go to an older laptop without
             | it?
             | 
             | Assuming not, what are the options? External displays?
             | 
             | I find I usually look at the content on the screen not the
             | webcam or the notch, but it could be different for others
        
           | tcdent wrote:
           | I've had my M2 Air for about a month now and this thread is
           | the only reason I know that it's there. Never would have
           | noticed.
        
         | Fnoord wrote:
         | I own a M1 MBP.
         | 
         | What you wrote about notch isn't a fact but a (controversial)
         | opinion. Some people feel very strongly about it in a negative
         | way, but many don't care.
         | 
         | Personally, I don't care much about notches, and if you can put
         | the pixels very dark/black (ie. OLED) I don't think you should
         | care either. With Settings -> Accessibility -> Reduce
         | Transparency you can make the menubar very dark. But to be
         | fair, miniLED isn't OLED.
         | 
         | I am using Bartender to hide items in menubar. I did so before
         | notch existed. Without it, I wouldn't be able to fit my menubar
         | (with or without notch).
        
           | bombcar wrote:
           | I prefer to think of it as two large full-color notches going
           | _upwards_ as compared to a small black notch coming down.
           | 
           | Too bad they didn't increase the resolution of the display
           | slightly for that.
        
             | selectodude wrote:
             | They absolutely did though. The notched MacBooks are
             | 15.5:10 instead of 16:10.
        
               | bombcar wrote:
               | I'm honestly amazed I didn't know that, perhaps Apple
               | should have shipped the NotchBook Pro(tm) with the
               | menubar below the notch, and everything above black, and
               | had a setting you could change to turn it to how it is
               | now.
        
               | Fnoord wrote:
               | [delayed]
        
         | lcnmrn wrote:
         | I sold a M2 MBA and bought a M1 MBA because of the notch.
        
         | dur-randir wrote:
         | >but the notch has to be the dumbest design decision in the
         | history of laptops
         | 
         | No, it had been the touch bar. There're multiply solutions for
         | the notch, none had been imagined for that abomination.
        
         | andrei_says_ wrote:
         | The notch gives me a larger screen combined with a camera and a
         | smaller body. I personally value these and the decision to use
         | that real estate for the hardware camera is imo quite creative.
         | 
         | I paid a few dollars for the bartender app which solves for the
         | hidden apps. Haven't thought about it since.
        
         | Groxx wrote:
         | I really hate it. I lose menu bar applications and application
         | menus behind it _literally every single day_.
         | 
         | I don't mind that it exists and that some people prefer it to
         | large bezels... I just wish there was a way to say "claim my
         | screen is -X pixels and show me the full menu" like before.
         | Without both requiring one app to be full screen and that crazy
         | scaling mode that makes everything fuzzy.
        
           | renewedrebecca wrote:
           | That's literally possible... there's some criteria that will
           | force the display into that mode (although I can't remember
           | off hand what it is)
        
             | Groxx wrote:
             | Full screen app + tell it to shrink (afaik only available
             | if it doesn't natively declare support for the notch).
             | 
             | And it achieves it by scaling the whole screen ever so
             | slightly, ruining pixel offsets everywhere and making
             | everything fuzzy, seemingly so it doesn't ever present a
             | non-standard display ratio despite the notch being very
             | non-standard already, and despite full screen apps already
             | working on external monitors that can have any ratio.
             | 
             | It's not an option anywhere else. Nor would I want that
             | fuzzy mess anyway. It's such an insane design.
        
         | amanzi wrote:
         | You're right about the dumb design decision. There's no good
         | technical reason that it's so massive compared to the single
         | tiny webcam. The only way it would have made any sense was if
         | it also contained the FaceID array of cameras too. This was
         | just Apple going all-in on the notch that was part of the
         | "iconic" iPhone design. Now that the iPhone notch is on the way
         | out, I expect they'll introduce the dynamic island to the MBP
         | in a future update.
        
         | kstrauser wrote:
         | If you look at it as "the notch took away part of the screen",
         | it's annoying. I see it like "the notch gave me new chunks of
         | screen that wouldn't have been there otherwise".
        
           | pompino wrote:
           | A customer should care about looking at a retail product with
           | their own POV, not someone else's. This is the classic
           | "you're holding it wrong" response.
        
             | SkyMarshal wrote:
             | It's more the classic glass half empty vs half full
             | response. Although given the small size of the notch, it's
             | more like 10% empty vs 90% full.
        
               | xattt wrote:
               | "Screen half black vs half lit up"
        
               | pompino wrote:
               | I don't see a problem with criticizing the one of richest
               | companies in the world on legitimate issues, or holding
               | them to a very high standard. They can defend themselves
               | just fine. I'd give a smaller company much more leeway. I
               | own several Apple products (often the ones I criticize
               | the most are the ones I personally purchased and used
               | long term), but I'm not part of the Apple "community" or
               | other Apple fanbases.
        
             | yungporko wrote:
             | no it's just a fact. before the notch, the parts of the
             | screen either side of it were not screen, but now they are.
             | the complaints about the notch literally boil down to "it's
             | not _enough_ extra screen ".
        
               | pompino wrote:
               | The only "fact" here is that Apple is going to milk you
               | twice. Once when they sold you a knowingly flawed design
               | and again, when they finally develop the tech to
               | eliminate the notch, Apple fans will happily line up to
               | pay them again.
        
             | kstrauser wrote:
             | OK. I'm the customer here, and I'm looking at it with my
             | own POV. I think it's neat that I have extra pixels to hold
             | the menu bar so that the rest of the screen can be
             | dedicated to the apps I'm running.
        
               | pompino wrote:
               | Good, so are you going to pay Apple twice? Once for
               | creating the problem, and again when they develop the
               | under-screen tech to fix it?
        
               | kstrauser wrote:
               | Um, yeah? I bought my current laptop with the extra
               | pixels at a time I needed a new laptop. If Apple comes up
               | with a way to add more extra pixels by the next time I'm
               | looking to buy one, I'll get that.
               | 
               | The notch is an improvement over the old thick bezel
               | design. Presumably they'll find an even better solution
               | down the road. When they do, I'm not going to complain
               | that they didn't jump forward to the currently
               | nonexistent technology on the first iteration.
        
               | pompino wrote:
               | It's called incremental innovation "this changes
               | everything, again" (yawn!) , so they can slow talk you
               | into opening up your wallet yet again. You can bet your
               | bottom dollar if Apple saw a significant threat to their
               | money maker, you'd see them eliminate the notch in gen 1
               | itself. Suddenly the "non existent" tech would magically
               | appear.
        
               | threeseed wrote:
               | The under screen tech doesn't even exist in a product
               | today.
               | 
               | Did you want Apple to hold off on giving people extra
               | real estate until that happened ?
        
               | pompino wrote:
               | You've already accepted the premise that Apple is
               | "giving" a feature to the customer, so there doesn't seem
               | to be any room for a conversation.
        
         | anais9 wrote:
         | Completely agree - I made https://notchbegone.com to help mask
         | it visually when it came out expecting Apple to quickly obviate
         | via their own design updates and yet years later we're still
         | having this conversation.
         | 
         | My tinfoil hat take is that the true primary purpose of the
         | notch is to drive upgrade purchases at some point in the future
         | whenever serious technical advancements are waning.
        
         | porphyra wrote:
         | I don't think the notch is inherently dumb.
         | 
         | It's a great use of the space in the macOS menu bar that is
         | otherwise usually wasted.
         | 
         | Moreover, having a good webcam is very important to a lot of
         | Macbook users who would not be able to tolerate grainier
         | cameras or the nostril-peering bottom positioning on some XPS
         | laptops.
         | 
         | It is, however, super annoying that various implementation bugs
         | have not been fixed after years.
        
         | ActorNightly wrote:
         | >but the notch has to be the dumbest design decision in the
         | history of laptops
         | 
         | The virtual escape key on the touch bar, all while Apple was
         | pushing their laptops as developer friendly, is magnitudes
         | worse
        
         | mort96 wrote:
         | Just don't think of it as a 15.4:10ish screen with a hole cut
         | out of it, think of it as a 16:10 screen with some extra space
         | on top for the menu bar. Realistically, what you're proposing
         | is to _remove_ the part of the screen with the notch in it to
         | make it a normal 16:10 screen, and tbh that seems like a
         | straight-up downgrade.
         | 
         | I do think the machine looks better with a dark menu bar in the
         | "notched" area though. That's how I have my Asahi Linux system
         | set up.
        
           | Miraste wrote:
           | I don't believe those are the only options. Why is the notch
           | so _big_? If they kept the webcam the same size and made it a
           | hole punch in the display, instead of surrounding it with a
           | giant blob that still can 't do Face ID, it would solve the
           | whole problem.
        
             | Tagbert wrote:
             | Because there is more than just a camera. There is the
             | camera, two sensors, and some mounting hardware. It all
             | adds up to some space. The specific size doesn't really
             | matter especially if you use Bartender to properly manage
             | the app icons.
             | 
             | See the camera module here: https://forums.macrumors.com/at
             | tachments/img_0383-jpeg.22053...
        
               | Miraste wrote:
               | I know, but the other two sensors are for color
               | temperature and light level. There's no reason they
               | couldn't be in the bezel or the bottom of the display,
               | and they don't need that massive chunk just to mount a
               | camera.
               | 
               | Before Apple Silicon I always set the menu bar to
               | autohide, and it bugs me unreasonably that I can't do
               | that anymore.
        
       | beretguy wrote:
       | People need to vote with their wallets and stop buying MacBooks
       | with a notch instead of complaining.
        
         | stewx wrote:
         | IMO, complaining is probably a more effective way to get the
         | message to Apple in this case than buying a different computer.
        
         | evilduck wrote:
         | To buy a Windows laptop with a half dozen worse problems
         | instead? Hard pass, I'll take an even bigger notch instead
         | please.
        
       | stewx wrote:
       | The free app Dozer gives you the ability to move icons into a
       | collapsible section, which also solves this problem from a
       | different angle. https://github.com/Mortennn/Dozer
        
         | avnigo wrote:
         | It doesn't look like it solves the problem.
         | 
         | https://github.com/Mortennn/Dozer/issues/168
        
       | LaSombra wrote:
       | All this added padding from the last few releases forces me to
       | believe this is in preparation for a port to iPad or AVP.
       | 
       | EDIT: The hardware is there, it's just a matter of getting the
       | right UX in place.
        
       | jwr wrote:
       | I don't mind the notch (I understand the reason it's there and
       | it's a compromise), but it boggles my mind that Apple decided to
       | just place the icons under the notch, where they aren't visible.
       | 
       | This is a clear example of lack of dogfooding: clearly Apple
       | executives do not use many apps, or they would have been
       | infuriated at the stupid problem.
        
         | nottorp wrote:
         | Apple executives don't have time to use computers :)
        
       | Saris wrote:
       | How come apple doesn't just 'jump' over the notch and keep
       | displaying icons on the left side like android does?
        
       | xwowsersx wrote:
       | This drives me nuts. I resort to quitting applications until I've
       | removed enough that the app I'm looking for is visible again. I
       | did use bartender for a while. I can't remember why I stopped
       | using it.
        
         | onnimonni wrote:
         | Author here: Sounds very familiar. I used this exact same "Poor
         | Man's process" up until yesterday :D
        
       | notorandit wrote:
       | The real point for me is: where were all Apple Egineers when the
       | decision ws taken to add (or actually remove) that notch to the
       | display? Have then been called in at all?
       | 
       | I can hardly think that the decision came from the engineers:
       | that would not solve any technical problem or add any extra
       | technical feature. Just whoes.
       | 
       | The decision likely came from the marketing.
       | 
       | Fancy and stylish decisions (the nothces) on engineered stuff
       | (the Mac) should require the former to beg the latter for a go/no
       | go badge.
       | 
       | I think you can put a camera in any of the 4 corners in a bezel,
       | you can put it (back) in the middle of the upper bezel, maybe in
       | the middle of the lower bezel.
       | 
       | Or ask you Apple fans to use their iPhone as a camera.
       | 
       | Look at where they put cameras in a Tesla. Not where it is nice,
       | but where it is effective under all the points of vieew.
       | 
       | To me the notch is totally useless also in my phone as it doesn't
       | add anything. It rather makes some of my screen real estate
       | unavailable. Just to get a slimmer bezel which is not a useful
       | feature.
       | 
       | I would rather sacrify some of the bezel to get back my perfectly
       | rectagular display without any rounded corners (another pesky
       | marketing-driven decision) or nothces. Meh!
        
         | tiltowait wrote:
         | While I doubt anyone at Apple wants to keep the notch forever,
         | I imagine the engineers justified the notch as adding screen
         | real estate, and rightly so. The display's size ratio is
         | 1728:1117, which is slightly taller than the 16:10 of the older
         | displays--taller by exactly the size of the notch, in fact. So
         | while it's a bit unsightly, it does serve the functional
         | purpose of allowing them to raise the "ears" of the monitor
         | about the size of the menu bar[1].
         | 
         | Prior to owning this Mac, I always set the menu bar to
         | autohide, which wasn't the greatest UX but gave me some extra
         | screen space. Now I can keep the same space and have the menu
         | bar always visible. Seems like a win to me.
         | 
         | [1] Yes, they could have just made the top bezel bigger and had
         | no notch, but that would have have meant having a smaller
         | screen or a larger footprint for the laptop. I don't like the
         | notch one bit, but I think they made the correct choice.
        
           | noqc wrote:
           | >I think they made the correct choice.
           | 
           | Do you understand how much harder layout is when its not on a
           | rectangle?
        
         | threeseed wrote:
         | > Just to get a slimmer bezel which is not a useful feature
         | 
         | I would much rather have more screen real estate.
         | 
         | And if you need to have a perfectly rectangular display you can
         | just make your apps full screen.
        
       | dorianmariefr wrote:
       | You can kill " _Core_ " processes if you don't want to log
       | out/log in
        
         | onnimonni wrote:
         | Author here: Can you test this and share a working one-liner? I
         | will happy to add it into the blog post.
         | 
         | I tried few commands like this but they didn't work
         | consistently for me.
        
       | luuurker wrote:
       | I've been using Bartender since before the notch because often
       | the space isn't enough.
       | 
       | This is something macOS needs to handle better. The notch itself
       | only removed some space, but the problem was already there.
        
       | Tagbert wrote:
       | This is a "problem" that existed before the notch was born and
       | has been fixed with Bartender (and clones) for several years now.
       | Anyone with lots of app icons would run into situations where the
       | icons would not all fit on the menu bar. Bartender gave us
       | control and helped reduce the clutter.
       | 
       | The problem didn't start with the notch, it just made it more
       | likely that someone would run into it.
        
       | jonhohle wrote:
       | As the author of a current and many past Menu Extras, holy crap!
       | Why would anyone have so many menu bar apps!
        
         | eitally wrote:
         | I don't have that many, but they can definitely add up. On my
         | work machine, where we have a need to provision multiple VPN
         | options for technical staff working on client projects, I have
         | menu bar icons for 3 VPNs, not to mention SentinelOne, Cylance,
         | _and_ CarbonBlack... and Google Drive Sync, and then a few
         | others for software I 've installed.
        
         | lemming wrote:
         | I find that I only have a couple, but I have a lot of system
         | services in the menu bar. I currently have (apart from
         | time/date): siri, control centre, the user switcher, wifi,
         | battery, bluetooth, music, volume, spotlight, time machine and
         | keyboard layout. Some of those show up by default, and some I
         | had to turn on (bluetooth, keyboard layout). But that's all
         | just default system stuff. I have only 3 custom apps, and the
         | next one will go behind the notch by the look of it.
        
       | nerdjon wrote:
       | The large amount of white place has been driving me insane for a
       | while, glad to see there is a fix I will need to check this out
       | later.
       | 
       | But I don't understand why Apple did not take a page out of
       | Windows's taskbar. If there are too many make a dropdown. They
       | are already easily draggable and removable so concern about bloat
       | isn't really a concern. If I have them there I want them there
       | and accessible.
        
       | bloblaw wrote:
       | The open-source Hidden Bar is my current solution to this
       | problem, but I think I prefer this native fix.
       | 
       | https://github.com/dwarvesf/hidden                 brew install
       | --cask hiddenbar
        
       | aeturnum wrote:
       | > * I discovered a free, native macOS solution that doesn't
       | require installing Bartender or any other additional apps.*
       | 
       | > _You can adjust the values from 0 to 6 to accommodate even more
       | icons. Personally, I found 6 to be a good fit._
       | 
       | It's ultimately a really petty point - but this is not a fix.
       | This increases the number of apps on the top bar before the
       | problem occurs. Bartender (and hidden[1] - which I discovered in
       | this thread) fix the problem. Calling a technique that delays the
       | problem "a solution" after sneering at a project that actually is
       | a solution just rubs me the wrong way.
       | 
       | Edit: Though I'll leave my rude comment in its original form,
       | it's also important to note that OP added a note clarifying this
       | may not fix the problem for everyone in what I thought was a
       | mature reaction to a petty complaint.
       | 
       | [1] https://github.com/dwarvesf/hidden
        
         | onnimonni wrote:
         | You're correct that there are certain scenarios that won't be
         | addressed by this. Would it be more fair to say to write that
         | this will only postpone the issue?
         | 
         | To offer a counterexample, I've been using my machine for
         | slightly over a year now, and the number of applications
         | running in the menu bar have stabilized to 16 apps. _So this
         | undeniably resolves the issue on my machine and for my usage._
         | 
         | EDIT: I think this was a great point and I added a notice
         | section to the blog post so that everyone using this hack will
         | be well informed to make best decisions. Thanks for the
         | feedback!
        
           | aeturnum wrote:
           | I appreciate you taking my very petty feedback! I totally
           | agree that it's a clever change that will allow most people
           | to avoid the problem.
        
             | onnimonni wrote:
             | I really appreciate your original comment and it was
             | straight to the point. It's probably good to still reflect
             | about that part since other users might feel offended.
             | Thanks also for the EDIT part too. It makes me feel that HN
             | users won't tolerate bullshit but will nonetheless give
             | great feedback :)
             | 
             | Your comment original comment lead me to ask if HN admins
             | could rephrase the blog article from: "Native macOS fix for
             | applications hiding under the MacBook Pro notch" -> "Built-
             | in MacOS workaround for applications hiding under the
             | MacBook Pro notch"
             | 
             | Which is more accurately representing the contents of the
             | article. I also changed the title in my own blog post to
             | this already.
        
         | rollcat wrote:
         | I endorse Hidden Bar, it's just such a simple and obvious
         | solution.
         | 
         | I use my Mac with a 43" screen at 4k/1x, so the space in the
         | menu bar has never been a real problem... It's the sheer number
         | of icons and the resulting clutter, especially as they're all
         | tiny, monochromatic, and therefore hard to tell apart.
         | 
         | IMHO, 80% of apps that put icons on the menu bar, shouldn't,
         | but the system doesn't really give them any better place. Lunar
         | (<3) should just hook into the builtin system brightness
         | control; Velja (<3) or Shortcat (<3) should've been panes in
         | System Settings; and so on. And then there's apps that put
         | icons in both the Dock _and_ the menu bar - just why...
        
       | neither_color wrote:
       | I found an alternative solution: the application Easyres, a
       | little app that lets you change resolutions from the menu bar,
       | has an alternative resolution that's about 30-40px shorter than
       | the standard resolution. This gives you back the whole menu bar
       | as it sits below the notch. It's a much cleaner look. The notch
       | completely disappears and you forget it ever existed.
        
         | swozey wrote:
         | I use bartender and try to keep the right side of my menu
         | pretty light on taskbar stuff. I think I do lose a few things
         | on my 14" but anything critical I want in 1 click is on the far
         | right and visible.
        
       | klaushardt wrote:
       | I just dump my default changes here. Maybe somebody finds
       | something usefull for themself. Added the command from this
       | thread too. :) Edit: Looks like i already did edit this before
       | since mine was already at 8 and 12. Added the original source
       | like its linked above.
       | 
       | # Defaults and other Stuff                   sudo scutil --set
       | HostName nix                  # https://macos-defaults.com/
       | defaults write NSGlobalDomain NSNavPanelExpandedStateForSaveMode
       | -bool true         defaults write NSGlobalDomain
       | PMPrintingExpandedStateForPrint -bool true         defaults write
       | NSGlobalDomain NSDocumentSaveNewDocumentsToCloud -bool false
       | defaults write com.apple.dock "autohide-delay" -float "0" &&
       | killall Dock         defaults write com.apple.dock "autohide-
       | time-modifier" -float "0.3" && killall Dock         defaults
       | write NSGlobalDomain ApplePressAndHoldEnabled -bool false
       | defaults write NSGlobalDomain AppleShowScrollBars -string
       | "Always"; killall Finder         defaults write
       | com.apple.screencapture "disable-shadow" -bool "true"
       | defaults write com.apple.dock "tilesize" -int "38" && killall
       | Dock         defaults write com.apple.dock "mineffect" -string
       | "scale" && killall Dock         defaults write com.apple.finder
       | "ShowExternalHardDrivesOnDesktop" -bool "false" && killall Finder
       | defaults write com.apple.finder "ShowRemovableMediaOnDesktop"
       | -bool "false" && killall Finder         defaults write
       | com.apple.dock "mru-spaces" -bool "false" && killall Dock
       | defaults write com.apple.TimeMachine
       | "DoNotOfferNewDisksForBackup" -bool "true"         defaults write
       | com.apple.dock "enable-spring-load-actions-on-all-items" -bool
       | "true" && killall Dock         defaults write com.apple.Music
       | "userWantsPlaybackNotifications" -bool "false" && killall Music
       | # https://www.jessesquires.com/blog/2023/12/16/macbook-notch-and-
       | menu-bar-fixes/         # https://www.reddit.com/r/MacOS/comments
       | /16lpfg5/hidden_preference_to_alter_the_menubar_spacing/
       | # https://flaky.build/native-fix-for-applications-hiding-under-
       | the-macbook-pro-notch         #
       | https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=39343919         defaults
       | -currentHost write -globalDomain NSStatusItemSelectionPadding
       | -int 8         defaults -currentHost write -globalDomain
       | NSStatusItemSpacing -int 12              # https://www.reddit.com
       | /r/macgaming/comments/16ra8di/metal_hud_enabledisable_shortcut/
       | #
       | https://www.icloud.com/shortcuts/1271048e407543d391415934cad5edcd
       | defaults write -g MetalForceHudEnabled -bool YES
       | /bin/launchctl setenv MTL_HUD_ENABLED 1
        
       | onnimonni wrote:
       | Author here: @dang other users here helped me to understand that
       | the title is bit misleading. I was just eager to share about this
       | and possibly help others with this knowledge without thinking
       | about this correctly.
       | 
       | I already renamed the article on my end and redirected it to a
       | new url: https://flaky.build/built-in-workaround-for-
       | applications-hid...
       | 
       | Can you change the url and rename the submission title to:
       | "Built-in MacOS workaround for applications hiding under the
       | MacBook Pro notch"
       | 
       | Thanks a lot and sorry for the trouble!
        
       | miles wrote:
       | Here is the apparent origin post of this undocumented preference:
       | 
       |  _Hidden preference to alter the menubar spacing_
       | https://www.reddit.com/r/MacOS/comments/16lpfg5/hidden_prefe...
       | 
       | The author describes tracing Bartender's activity to hunt down
       | the method.
       | 
       | And this blog post mentions higher values than 6 (recommending 12
       | for NSStatusItemSpacing and 8 for NSStatusItemSelectionPadding):
       | 
       |  _How to fix Mac menu bar icons hidden by the MacBook notch_
       | https://www.jessesquires.com/blog/2023/12/16/macbook-notch-a...
        
       | icodestuff wrote:
       | The notch is what it is: a compromise between webcam quality,
       | branding, and thin bezels. But it's hard to argue but that
       | Apple's software integration with it is mediocre at best. None of
       | the extra space is usable except by anything but the awkwardly
       | tall menu bar and the status items or menu extras it holds, and
       | the system not being aware of the notch --sometimes-- like
       | letting status items pile up underneath, or being able to put the
       | mouse pointer underneath it but not when a mouse button is held
       | down (this behavior was removed in a late version of Ventura), or
       | putting the picture-in-picture window partially underneath the
       | menu bar (like it expects only a regular-sized menu bar to be
       | there)... is symptomatic of a larger quality and integration
       | problem at Apple, I think.
        
       | actinium226 wrote:
       | I was hoping this article would show how you could make
       | fullscreen apps actually fullscreen. It bothers me that the top
       | of the app sits below the notch - there are some apps where
       | there's nothing in the top middle that the notch would cover, and
       | the apps would benefit from a little bit of extra real estate.
       | 
       | Oh well, we wait and hope someone figures it out.
        
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       (page generated 2024-02-12 23:01 UTC)