A Mac-using friend was lamenting the state of OS X to me last week. “What’s not to like about OS X Yosemite,” I asked. Free is good, right? To him the problem was the disparity between iOS on his iPhone and iPad, and OS X Yosemite (and previous versions) on the Mac.
iPhone and iPad no longer have shadows on buttons and windows, while OS X Yosemite maintains that relic from the Aqua interface of the past. Alright, different strokes for different folks, but it didn’t take long to find a Mac utility that removes the shadows from app windows.
It’s called ShadowSweeper, which follows the iOS 8 clean and flat look by removing the app window shadows. Just open the app, the shadows go away. Open it again and they’re back.
Shadows?
Check OS X on your Mac. Menubar menus have shadows. App windows have shadows. With ShadowSweeper you control the shadows; on or off.
Behold! No shadows.
What’s the benefit of removing app window shadows?
Obviously, it’s personal preference, but OS X Yosemite does look clean and elegant without shadows; much like the lean, clean, and mean look in iOS 8 (but it needs more buttons).
Not bad for free.
Bradley Dichter says
I would think the Mac user interface would be a bit faster without the shadows.