{"slug": "sweet-jeebus-macos-27-golden-gate-removes-the-dumb-icons-from-menu-items", "title": "★ Sweet Jeebus, MacOS 27 Golden Gate Removes the Dumb Icons From Menu Items", "summary": "Apple has removed the controversial icons from menu items in MacOS 27 Golden Gate, reversing a widely criticized design change introduced in MacOS 26 Tahoe. The updated Human Interface Guidelines now advise using menu item icons sparingly and with purpose, a move praised by developers and critics who had condemned the original implementation as inconsistent and distracting.", "body_md": "By **John Gruber**\n\n[WorkOS launches auth.md](https://workos.com/auth-md?utm_source=daringfireball&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=q22026) — an open protocol for agent registration.\n\nPerhaps the worst UI crime in MacOS 26 Tahoe was the inexplicable decision to add inscrutable, distracting icons next to every item in the menu bar. You will recall [Jim Nielsen writing about it](https://daringfireball.net/linked/2026/01/06/nielsen-icons-in-menus), rightly describing it as exactly the sort of thing that Mac users look down upon in platforms like Google Docs and Windows. You will also recall [Nikita “Tonsky” Prokopov writing about it](https://tonsky.me/blog/tahoe-icons/), illustrating that the bad idea wasn’t even implemented well, with different Apple apps using entirely different icons for the same menu items. You will also recall [my linking to Nielsen](https://daringfireball.net/linked/2026/01/06/nielsen-icons-in-menus) (“I can tolerate being angry about UI changes Apple makes to the Mac. But I can’t tolerate being heartbroken.”) and [to Prokopov](https://daringfireball.net/linked/2026/01/05/hard-to-justify-tahoe-icons) (“The fact that Tahoe’s menu item icons are glaringly inconsistent and often utterly inscrutable is the fudge icing on a shit cake, but the real embarrassment is that the idea ever got past the proposal stage. No real UI *or* icon designers think this is a good idea. None.”)\n\nTop third-party developers rightly [rejected the design](https://weblog.rogueamoeba.com/2026/01/10/removing-tahoes-unwanted-menu-icons/), adopting [open source code from Brent Simmons](https://indieweb.social/@brentsimmons/115846213935605782) to disable the default “icons in all standard menu items” behavior.\n\nWonderful news in MacOS 27 Golden Gate: the icons are gone. It’s like Tahoe’s menu item icons never happened. [Prokopov noted it on Mastodon](https://mastodon.online/@nikitonsky/116720790550648158) with before and after screenshots, and mentions that [Apple has updated the Human Interface Guidelines accordingly](https://developer.apple.com/design/human-interface-guidelines/menus):\n\nUse menu item icons sparingly and with purpose.Icons allow people to find menu items more quickly, and help clarify what selecting an item does. Use an icon to highlight the most common actions and key features of your app, file system locations, connected devices, visual concepts like rotating or flipping an image, and user-generated content like folders and documents. Don’t display an icon if you can’t find one that clearly represents the menu item.\n\nThis updated advice in the HIG is perfect. Screenshot:\n\nMacOS 26 Tahoe — across every Apple app on the system — is a living example of the updated HIG’s “what not to do” example illustrations (including the second section about groups within a menu). If you’re stuck using Tahoe until Golden Gate arrives, [recall this tip](https://daringfireball.net/2026/03/what_to_do_about_those_menu_item_icons_in_macos_26_tahoe) to alleviate the problem to some extent.\n\nThis is my favorite news from all of WWDC this week. I mean that. In a small way I mean it because I so loathe this aspect of MacOS Tahoe. But in a large way I mean it because it’s proof that the rot has been rooted out of Apple’s software design team. I don’t know if all the untalented hacks are gone, but the untalented magazine-designer hacks with clout and influence all left with Alan Dye. I’ve chatted with a few people from Apple’s design team this week and they’re all loving the work they’re doing and the direction they’re taking Apple’s platforms. Backtracking on these idiotic menu item icons was a necessary first step.", "url": "https://wpnews.pro/news/sweet-jeebus-macos-27-golden-gate-removes-the-dumb-icons-from-menu-items", "canonical_source": "https://daringfireball.net/2026/06/macos_27_golden_gate_removes_the_dumb_icons_from_menu_items", "published_at": "2026-06-11 00:09:01+00:00", "updated_at": "2026-06-13 02:19:16.623766+00:00", "lang": "en", "topics": ["developer-tools"], "entities": ["Apple", "MacOS 27 Golden Gate", "MacOS 26 Tahoe", "John Gruber", "Jim Nielsen", "Nikita Prokopov", "Brent Simmons", "Alan Dye"], "alternates": {"html": "https://wpnews.pro/news/sweet-jeebus-macos-27-golden-gate-removes-the-dumb-icons-from-menu-items", "markdown": "https://wpnews.pro/news/sweet-jeebus-macos-27-golden-gate-removes-the-dumb-icons-from-menu-items.md", "text": "https://wpnews.pro/news/sweet-jeebus-macos-27-golden-gate-removes-the-dumb-icons-from-menu-items.txt", "jsonld": "https://wpnews.pro/news/sweet-jeebus-macos-27-golden-gate-removes-the-dumb-icons-from-menu-items.jsonld"}}