Скачать или смотреть iOS 26 Liquid Glass: The return of Skeuomorphism.

Notes and details on the fourth beta of Apple's iOS 26 "Liquid Glass" UI refresh, coming soon to many screens near you. "Skeuomorphism", in graphic design terms, is when design and/or interaction imitates real life objects. It doesn't always have to be purely functional; sometimes it can also be for fun, attention to detail, or a "wow" factor in terms of visual flourish.

I consider the Liquid Glass UI update to be both a technical and design marvel, with many challenges and a few flaws inherent in this prerelease. As a developer, I can only imagine the work that goes into the rendering of all of these effects and transitions; there are countless moving parts to consider.

I cover a few highlights, a glitch or two, compare some of my own web projects from the past, and show what I believe to be a precursor to the Liquid Glass theme: the visual flourish on desktop widgets between "Dashboard" and "Exposé" demonstrated by Steve Jobs in 2004.

The iPhone was released in 2007. It's interesting to see how these desktop widgets from 2004 look quite familiar, in retrospect. Sometimes when designing the future, you need to look no further than the past.

Apple WWDC 2004 video:
https://archive.org/details/wwdc-2004

Timestamps:
00:00 Mac OS X Dashboard, 2004
00:16 Liquid Glass, iOS 26 beta 4
00:46 Music UI bug
01:13 Dashboard "water drop" glitch
01:24 Graphics rendering
01:41 Contrast
01:51 Touch lighting, elasticity
02:04 Stocks app opacity / rubber band
02:34 Inspiration: Wheels of Steel
02:49 Inspiration: Cassette Tape UI
03:02 Steve Jobs WWDC 2004 dashboard demo