Top all-time · #1306
Riccardo Mori
Personal blog · morrick.mehardwarewriting
Riccardo Mori's personal blog at morrick.me covers hardware and writing. Since 2016, 54 different Hacker News readers have linked it 78 times, most often “Safari 15 on Mac OS, a user interface mess”. It is still writing: the last post was on 2026-10-28, and you can follow it by feed.
Too few sampled comments (14) to say how often HN recommends it.?
Why HN links it
HN readers cite Riccardo Mori's posts on Mac interface changes, including Safari 15 and Snow Leopard compared with later macOS, and on Windows Phone 8 versus 10, as references.
Summarised by Claude from a sample of 14 HN comments that link here. Each comment is marked recommending, critical or neutral (citing without judging); how this works.
Writer & Translator
Most-linked posts?
- Safari 15 on Mac OS, a user interface mess4 people · 5 mentions · first linked 2021-06-19
- “Origins of the Apple human interface” lecture – an annotated transcription3 people · 4 mentions · first linked 2019-04-18
- A Retrospective Look at Mac OS X Snow Leopard3 people · 3 mentions · first linked 2021-02-22
- Habits, UI changes, and OS stagnation3 people · 3 mentions · first linked 2021-07-21
- The Reshaped Mac Experience3 people · 3 mentions · first linked 2021-02-01
- My next main browser: a review of Orion3 people · 3 mentions · first linked 2022-02-09
- /archives/92202 people · 3 mentions · first linked 2023-01-04
- The Macs Apple was selling in 19962 people · 2 mentions · first linked 2016-04-09
- Helvetica 122 people · 2 mentions · first linked 2023-08-04
- Why do you want to touch your Mac screen so badly?2 people · 2 mentions · first linked 2023-02-10
What Hacker News says?
> I'm listening to Music right now and just spent a few minutes trying to use the keyboard. I don't really feel unable to do so. I'm not subscribed, but here's my experience. When Music just starts, Tab is locked to a single pane. Cmd+F to find something, how do I exit the search? Visually Esc does nothing. While in Search Tab is locked to Search field. After Esc tabbing first does nothing, then cycles through top b…
Comment linking /archives/9407
on “Clarus returns home in macOS Ventura”Submitted I feel Apple has lost its alignment with me and other long-time customers as a story · 576 points
HN discussionThe author links out to a writeup on Safari 15 which I found interesting: https://morrick.me/archives/9368 One of the main bizarre design choices was making the address bar shrink as you add more tabs. It made me wonder if these designs reflect the diminution of sites visited in a modern internet user's session. Seems like we are moving from a mode of research-and-explore to residing in one of a few home bases (redd…
Comment linking /archives/9368
on “Whatever Happened to UI Affordances?”Submitted Safari 15 on Mac OS, a user interface mess as a story · 463 points
HN discussionThe behavior hasn't changed radically, but it has changed. In most cases the differences diminish the OS. Eg: scrollbars hide themselves, multi-select options don't work everywhere, dragging window icons requires more steps, etc... Re: looks , they are admittedly subjective. To my eyes, the difference between the Mac today, and the old Mac, is night and day. Every Mac OS, starting with 10.7, has visual elements that…
Comment linking /archives/9220
on “Infinite Mac OS X”Submitted My next Mac might be the last as a story · 341 points
HN discussionI wouldn't know. Even Snow Leopard had more thorough options in a lot of areas, see http://morrick.me/archives/9220 . In today's era people don't dare to change from the default configuration if they don't have to. We all know that if some settings feel like Apple doesn't want it, it will be hell (incompatibility with other settings, subtle hints that things won't work because of that, the option will get back to de…
Comment linking /archives/9220
on “System Preferences Reimagined on macOS”Submitted Mac OS Catalina: more trouble than it’s worth as a story · 295 points
HN discussionI can only quote https://morrick.me/archives/9368 === start quote === The utter user-interface butchery happening to Safari on the Mac is once again the work of people who put iOS first. People who by now think in iOS terms. People who view the venerable Mac OS user interface as an older person whose traits must be experimented upon, plastic surgery after plastic surgery, until this person looks younger. Unfortunate…
Comment linking /archives/9368
on “First Look: macOS Monterey Public Beta”Submitted Mac OS Catalina: more trouble than it’s worth (Part 2) as a story · 263 points
HN discussionI wish the Windows software landscape was as interesting as the Mac. Windows gets all the best games, but if you aren’t interested in games, there isn’t a whole lot of anything new or interesting. The web, although newer, is just as dull these days. iOS and Android aren’t doing much better. Maybe it’s a sign that personal computing is now about as interesting as other appliances. Things are mature. The author has po…
Comment linking /archives/9523
on “A brief reflection on Mac software stagnation”Submitted More assorted notes on Liquid Glass as a story · 184 points
HN discussion"Windows 10 Mobile was a significant upgrade from WP8 in nearly every way" EXCEPT the UI — unfortunately the interface was the main reason Windows Phone fans took up the platform. Riccardo Mori provides my go-to reference for illustrating the difference between 8 and 10: http://morrick.me/archives/8094 WP8 took on Apple-Android with a beautiful interface; its glance-ability is still unsurpassed. webOS took on Apple-…
Comment linking /archives/8094
on “KaiOS takes on the Apple-Android mobile duopoly”Submitted My next main browser: a review of Orion as a story · 180 points
HN discussionRiccardo Mori has a great series of articles comparing Snow Leopard with modern macOS if you're looking for something to read: http://morrick.me/archives/9220 http://morrick.me/archives/9246 http://morrick.me/archives/9265
Comment linking /archives/9265
on “PowerMac 6100 Upgrade Guide (2000)”Submitted “Origins of the Apple human interface” lecture – an annotated transcription as a story · 150 points
HN discussionSeparate keys have challenges: in addition to the extra cost, you need to find physical space and train people to look for and use them. The original designers wanted to make it efficient for people who were already typing and as you might have noticed those keys are all close together and convenient for one-handed use: > Why the Z X C V keys? — They were close on the keyboard. We did X because it was a cross out (C…
Comment linking /archives/8432
on “Mac OS 9”Submitted A brief reflection on Mac software stagnation as a story · 142 points
HN discussionHTTPS unfortunately breaks compatibility with old software. Try to focus on its offline rather than online uses: ebooks, music (AAC/MP3), movies (H.264), photos. Or, if you write, maybe it can serve as a distraction-free writing environment? Old iPads pair nicely with Apple’s iPad Keyboard Dock. For other ideas and reflexions on old iPad uses: https://morrick.me/archives/8136
Comment linking /archives/8136
on “Ask HN: Old iPad, Unusable?”Submitted A Retrospective Look at Mac OS X Snow Leopard as a story · 137 points
HN discussion> My Kindle Scribe makes me a little sad every time I use it. I played with a 30something friend's brand new ReMarkable a few years ago. I was torn between tears and rage. It is so miserable and dumb and primitive. I own 2 Newtons. The poor guy was shocked and baffled by my reaction. Yes, I agree, Snow Leopard was peak OS X. Riccardo Mori wrote eloquently about this: https://morrick.me/archives/9220
Comment linking /archives/9220
on “Screenshots of Old Desktop OSes”Submitted Yes to everything as a story · 91 points
HN discussionFrom " Safari 15 on Mac OS, a user interface mess " https://morrick.me/archives/9368 from 5 years ago: --- start quote --- The utter user-interface butchery happening to Safari on the Mac is once again the work of people who put iOS first. People who by now think in iOS terms. People who view the venerable Mac OS user interface as an older person whose traits must be experimented upon, plastic surgery after plastic…
Comment linking /archives/9368
on “The struggle of resizing windows on macOS Tahoe”Submitted In case of emergency, break glass as a story · 88 points
HN discussion> but I could see how they might be alien and uncomfortable to someone that has only ever experienced mobile interfaces. From a review at an attempt to butcher Safari interface several years back, by Riccardo Morri https://morrick.me/archives/9368 --- start quote --- The utter user-interface butchery happening to Safari on the Mac is once again the work of people who put iOS first. People who by now think in iOS ter…
Comment linking /archives/9368
on “Sweet Jeebus, macOS 27 Golden Gate Removes the Dumb Icons from Menu Items”Submitted The Reshaped Mac Experience as a story · 88 points
HN discussionNo. That's not comparable at all. What he's saying is that he's tried later versions of the same OS and he doesn't like them. I've tried the later versions, too. I don't like them either. As such, I think his assessment is sound. Additionally, this piece does not stand alone. He has written about this extensively before, in January 2021: https://morrick.me/archives/9150 And then revisiting it a month later after it…
Comment linking /archives/9220
on “Mac OS Ventura Issues”Submitted Habits, UI changes, and OS stagnation as a story · 87 points
HN discussionSubmitted Subscription fatigue and related musings as a story · 37 points
HN discussionSubmitted The gem Apple discontinued: the 11-inch MacBook Air (2019) as a story · 26 points
HN discussion
