Yosemite can set the mood for nighttime work

Oct 20, 2014 14:49 GMT  ·  By

Over the years, Apple has implemented various features to allow a Mac to sense its surroundings and dim or increase the display’s luminosity whenever it finds it suitable. With OS X Yosemite, Apple has taken another step in that direction.

For people working late at night, or users who simply want a change from time to time, Apple has implemented a very handy “dark” mode for the menu bar and the Dock.

Just a few clicks away

Don’t get the wrong idea. Dark mode may be system-wide, but that doesn’t mean it applies to everything. It doesn’t invert your colors and it doesn’t affect things like photos or the look and feel of your files and folders. All it does is just revert lightness to darkness in the menu bar and the Dock.

The menus that drop down from the menu bar will also be dark (as the screenshots show), but they’ll also retain their transparency. So how do you make it kick into gear? Easy!

Just launch System Preferences (either by typing Sys... in Spotlight or by looking for it in the Applications folder), enter General (in the upper left corner), and tick the box in front of “Use dark menu bar and dock.” Really, they could’ve just called it Dark Mode.

Impact / impressions

If you want this user’s opinion, Yosemite’s dark mode may seem like a half-baked feature but it’s actually very well thought out.

I don’t want my entire OS to be plunged into darkness – for that I can always use the Accessibility menu – and the dark gray hue that Apple chose to act as Bizzaro World here is actually all I need to continue to work through the night without compromising too much on the visual front.

Whoever wants to take things farther can just download a utility like F.lux and dim the whole OS down to a hue their eyes fancy the most.

Speaking of visuals...

...Yosemite has a fair dose of new wallpapers and other stuff aimed to make it feel new and fresh, so don’t forget to right-click your desktop, select Change Desktop Background, and browse the sea of images found in your Wallpaper and Screen Saver directories. With a little patience you can even swap these between them and make your Mac feel new every day.

Don’t forget to leave your thoughts in the comments. We’re dying to see what you think of Yosemite and its new features. Also, browse through the related links for other stuff that might pique your interest.

Photo Gallery (5 Images)

Dark dock
Dark drop-down menuDark background for sprung-out apps
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