Source: Apple Inc. Canonical content at https://developer.apple.com/design/human-interface-guidelines/designing-for-macos. This file is a structured index of that content, snapshot 2025-02-02. Apple HIG text and imagery are © Apple Inc.; this repository provides organization and cross-referencing for AI agent consumption only.
Designing for macOS
Display.
Ergonomics.
Inputs.
App interactions.
System features.
Best practices
Leverage large displays to present more content in fewer nested levels and with less need for modality, while maintaining a comfortable information density that doesn’t make people strain to view the content they want.
Let people resize, hide, show, and move your windows to fit their work style and device configuration, and support full-screen mode to offer a distraction-free context.
Use the menu bar to give people easy access to all the commands they need to do things in your app.
Help people take advantage of high-precision input modes to perform pixel-perfect selections and edits.
Handle keyboard shortcuts to help people accelerate actions and use keyboard-only work styles.
Support personalization, letting people customize toolbars, configure windows to display the views they use most, and choose the colors and fonts they want to see in the interface.
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For the complete guidance, including worked examples and illustrations, see the canonical page: https://developer.apple.com/design/human-interface-guidelines/designing-for-macos