TrayItem springs to mind.
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Which has little reason to not be compatible with Mac, as it could map to NSStatusItem, but they just never did.
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Was reminded of this lengthy post. It would be good to see some progress on improving Xojo built Mac apps.
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Thereās some other things that I see people struggle with that are not covered here.
macOS Preferences object / handler
Xojo has one for Windows, but not the Mac. https://tracker.xojo.com/xojoinc/xojo/-/issues/18346
macOS color well, picker control
https://tracker.xojo.com/xojoinc/xojo/-/issues/25845
Dynamic color support
The macOS has supported dynamic colors for a long time, and these became important with macOS 10.14 Mojave and dark mode. Xojo still doesnāt support dynamic colors, forcing developers to either rasterize (which is wrong) or use declares to bypass Xojoās framework.
Support macOS system images, including SFSymbols
Putting SFSymbols to one side, the macOS includes a wealth of system images that cannot be accessed without declares, then even more declares are needed to actually use 'em in Xojo. Whatās worse is that Iāve seen some truly bad examples of āSFSymbolā Xojo code where the image was needlessly rasterized and converted several times, which is wasting time, memory and energy.
Under the hood Xojo should support NSImage already, and should allow for creation of a picture that wraps (does not convert) the NSImage and allows us (your customers) to use them in our UI. It must to support the template property.
With SFSymbols, there are several customization options that Xojo should also adopt.
An example of SFSymbol and dynamic colors
The battery symbol is a SFSymbol, that has been configured to match the text size and weight. The symbol is then placed into a Xojo ImageWell, which has itās border removed and the color property of imageWell has been set the system label color. The icon matches the text without any rasterization and auto adapts according to the customer selected āthemeā. This functionality is all exposed in a competitors tool, but requires additional work for Xojo.
The value labels underneath the bar are also using declares to get a lighter weight of the system font.
Xojoās lack of interest in the Mac is getting to the point, where itās really difficult to recommend Xojo to wannabe Mac developers. Which is a shame, it had so much potential, but is getting left way behind.
As always, I make the offer to assist Xojo (within reason), they know how to reach me and all they gotta do is ask.
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More than a year later, the increase in price is proportional to an increase in the quality? 
Do users actually see the difference? āNormalā users see differently than we do. They probably notice modern vs. old listboxes. But for sure they donāt notice font weights and all the other minute details you so love.
Certainly not. The main reason why I do not renew my Xojo licenses.
The problem persist ā¦ Xojo does not have enough engineers to improve the basics.
FWW I have zero interest in iOS and Android support (and I do not believe they will gain a lot of customers for this either). There are way better tools for that.
Xojo should stick to desktop (Windows, macOS, Linux and Web) and improve those platform. For sure both needs a LOT of attention to get up with modern and new OS features.
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Several thoughts.
- You care about your application, demonstrating that shouldnāt be difficult.
- Using the correct API and letting the OS handle as much as possible should reduce future problems.
- You want your app to stand out in a positive way, not because Xojo doesnāt support standard system functionality that existed for over 20 years (NSScrollView).
- Yes, Iāve received criticism when things are not quite right.
Over the years, I have received several comments from people that they couldnāt believe my apps were created with Xojo, and that they should give Xojo another look. Iāve since stopped advertising that I use Xojo, as I believe it provides the wrong impression.
I would love to see Xojo go back to their roots and really put effort into helping us build high quality Mac apps again.
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I care about my interface. But I also see c.r.a.p interfaces like Evernote or Outlook. We all know that Xojo has different priorities.
The listboxes need to be modernised and I would like to use popovers. The rest is on the 20 side of 80/20.
What are popovers? Not, I hope, those little boxes that āpopupā when I sit at someone elseās Windows box and move the mouse from one side of the screen to the other? If Iām due to work on that machine, first thing I do is turn all of those OFF. Only then can I take my sunglasses off.
Popovers are little windows that you can use instead of a sheet. They are less modal.
In Xojo they work fine if they contain labels like in the examples above. Using a listbox or anything editable is not possible.
This is from my old Cornerstone version:
Right - thanks for that.
Better look at Xojo Ide, Window Editor; this is similar to Popover; it allows you to change the Control Name (orā¦). Click in the button that appears when your mouse is above the Control (search for it since I forgot where it appearsā¦ bottom-right, but not sure).
Fully agree that the macOS version need more love as itās very hard to build modern apps. Most Mac users are using latest version of macOS so why to keep legacy stuff? Focus should always be on the majority of users.
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Considering not a soul I know enjoys or wants to be on Ventura, could you provide the data source for this claim?
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Mike Bombich (Mr. Carbon Copy Cloner) , as I recall, mentioned >60% Ventura adoption in recent CCC release notes. The context was in having āPreferencesā now read as āSettingsā. Now, he didnāt give his source.
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Here Iām using Catalina, Big Sur, and Monterey. No plans to change. And what are āmodern appsā?
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Bjƶrn has chimed in that heās happy on Ventura, so I stand corrected. I also appreciate that you have some data on this, thank you for sharing.
I still think 60% sounds a bit high for the general feeling I get from the circle of developers I spend time around. I could also very well be in an echo chamber, so I really am looking for something like an Apple Keynote announcement of user share.
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What is the issue with Ventura? it rocks. I never install original versions, always waiting for x.1 versions. All the people I know are on Ventura. Apple will display stats during WWDC, itās like iOS, a majority use last versions for apps to be more reliable or for security reasons.
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A strong focus on high-quality UX and components. Most apps are crap as a fact because designers are not involved in the making. Some examples:
https://culturedcode.com/things
Just look at the best sellers on the Mac App Store, mostly good looking UI/UX
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