Munki 7.1 Quit Apps Sheet noodling

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Gregory Neagle

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Feb 14, 2026, 7:58:39 PM (5 days ago) Feb 14
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I’ve been thinking about and playing around with the layout for the “quit apps” sheet in development for Munki 7.1.

I’m a little concerned that the button titles are too terse, making it not completely clear what each button will actually _do_.
I’m also concerned that with all three action buttons in a horizontal layout, that there’s not enough room when they are localized into other languages with less-compact words and phrases.

Current layout:

PastedGraphic-2.png
PastedGraphic-5.png
PastedGraphic-4.png
Screenshot 2026-02-13 at 5.36.51 PM.png
PastedGraphic-3.png

Nate Walck

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Feb 14, 2026, 8:17:59 PM (5 days ago) Feb 14
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This looks really good with the stacked buttons. Could the window be less wide as well? (Or maybe as wide as the longest localization perhaps?).

Nate
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German, for example, might not fit well in the current layout (not sure that’s a good localization for “Update others”, but it does reinforce my concern)

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Alerts/dialogs in recent versions of macOS have in many cases adopted a more “portrait" style. Here’s a couple examples:


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So I’ve been experimenting with an alternate layout that allows for longer, more descriptive button titles:

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Downsides might be that the sheet takes up more space, and that it might look odd on older macOSes (I don’t remember when alerts/dialogs started being formatted in “portrait mode”).

Curious how others feel about this.

-Greg

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gregn...@mac.com

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Feb 15, 2026, 6:36:52 PM (4 days ago) Feb 15
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The window could possibly be less wide, but it does need to be wide enough to display long app names (like "Adobe Photoshop 2026" and "Workspace ONE Intelligent Hub") _and_ the "Manual quit required" label or the "Force quit" button in all the supported localizations. 

-Greg

Gregory Neagle

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Feb 15, 2026, 6:48:23 PM (4 days ago) Feb 15
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Not a lot of extra width we could remove in this mockup:

PastedGraphic-1.png

Nate Walck

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Feb 15, 2026, 6:56:14 PM (4 days ago) Feb 15
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Moving the manual quit required to a subtext under the item would save on the width. There is a lot of whitespace as is, which makes it look off vs the Apple ones to my eye. 

Nate

On Sun, Feb 15, 2026, at 6:48 PM, 'Gregory Neagle' via munki-discuss wrote:
Not a lot of extra width we could remove in this mockup:

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> <PastedGraphic-2.png>
> 
> German, for example, might not fit well in the current layout (not sure that’s a good localization for “Update others”, but it does reinforce my concern)
> 
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> 
> 
> Alerts/dialogs in recent versions of macOS have in many cases adopted a more “portrait" style. Here’s a couple examples:
> 
> 
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> and
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> <Screenshot 2026-02-13 at 5.36.51 PM.png>
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> So I’ve been experimenting with an alternate layout that allows for longer, more descriptive button titles:
> 
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> 
> Downsides might be that the sheet takes up more space, and that it might look odd on older macOSes (I don’t remember when alerts/dialogs started being formatted in “portrait mode”).
> 
> Curious how others feel about this.
> 
> -Greg
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Gregory Neagle

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Feb 15, 2026, 7:09:51 PM (4 days ago) Feb 15
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Here’s the sheet set to the width of Apple’s “standard” NSAlerts in Tahoe:

PastedGraphic-1.png
PastedGraphic-2.png

Nate Walck

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Feb 15, 2026, 7:13:41 PM (4 days ago) Feb 15
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That looks better. Like you mentioned, localizations might become problematic with this. I wonder if SwiftUI could be a default minimum width, then dynamic width if the localization or app name demand it 

On Sun, Feb 15, 2026, at 7:09 PM, 'Gregory Neagle' via munki-discuss wrote:
Here’s the sheet set to the width of Apple’s “standard” NSAlerts in Tahoe:

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I agree the narrower look more closely matches standard macOS alerts, but there’s not a lot of room for app names when the “Manual quit required” label is displayed.

Interestingly, when I switch the language to German, the sheet displays wider, which I did not expect:

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(“Quit App and Update” and “Skip and Update Others” have not yet been translated into German for the localization files)

> On Feb 14, 2026, at 4:58 PM, 'Gregory Neagle' via munki-dev <munk...@googlegroups.com> wrote:
> 

Allister Banks

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Feb 15, 2026, 8:22:40 PM (4 days ago) Feb 15
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I am on the side of using more space just because I find the checkbox and icons and indentation and explanatory text combines where the older style feels ‘busy’/easier to be overwhelmed by versus letting it spread out vertically. I find the previous style fine in instances like this alert I’ve attached a screenshot of from the 7.0 series, but there’s not a lot going on - sorry and to the point. The new window is explaining new behavior, ‘quit apps’ may be one of the most information-dense modals we’re presenting to end users over the course of expected interactions.
Allister
image.png

Gregory Neagle

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Feb 15, 2026, 8:48:19 PM (4 days ago) Feb 15
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Und auf Deutsch:

PastedGraphic-1.png

Gregory Neagle

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Feb 15, 2026, 9:02:12 PM (4 days ago) Feb 15
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And yuck when the Force Quit button gets displayed:

PastedGraphic-1.png

Gregory Neagle

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Feb 15, 2026, 10:35:36 PM (4 days ago) Feb 15
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Which brings us back to why this feature hasn’t been implemented yet: the UI work is non-trivial.

I don’t have the motivation to figure out how implement the UI within the Managed Software Center updates view. If that’s the direction the community thinks is the right one, then I’ll wait for someone else to make the effort.

On the other hand, the UI that Jordan contributed seems to work _fine_, and we’re just discussing some visual tweaks. It’s definitely not _required_ that it perfectly matches existing Apple UI. If we can get close without degrading functionality, that’s great. But we could also just go with the version that’s in last week’s beta.

-Greg

On Feb 15, 2026, at 7:21 PM, 'Robert Sandkam' via munki-discuss <munki-...@googlegroups.com> wrote:

Greg,

For your consideration:

Forget about the sheet.
Just make this information available in the Updates panel of the main Managed Software Center window.
This will give you plenty of horizontal space, and an infinite amount of vertical space.
Here is a mockup (which I am sure is full of mistakes with respect to text and buttons that actually need to be present):

<Screenshot 2026-02-15 at 9.45.29 PM.png>

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On Sun, Feb 15, 2026 at 9:02 PM 'Gregory Neagle' via munki-discuss <munki-...@googlegroups.com> wrote:
And yuck when the Force Quit button gets displayed:

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> On Feb 15, 2026, at 5:48 PM, 'Gregory Neagle' via munki-discuss <munki-...@googlegroups.com> wrote:
>
> Und auf Deutsch:

>
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>> On 2/15/26, at 5:22 PM, Allister Banks <a...@aru-b.com> wrote:
>>
>> I am on the side of using more space just because I find the checkbox and icons and indentation and explanatory text combines where the older style feels ‘busy’/easier to be overwhelmed by versus letting it spread out vertically. I find the previous style fine in instances like this alert I’ve attached a screenshot of from the 7.0 series, but there’s not a lot going on - sorry and to the point. The new window is explaining new behavior, ‘quit apps’ may be one of the most information-dense modals we’re presenting to end users over the course of expected interactions.
>> Allister
>>
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Jordan Calhoun

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Feb 17, 2026, 9:45:06 AM (3 days ago) Feb 17
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I personally don't like trying to condense so much information down into an alert style dialog.  This sheet should be compared to a "Print" dialog sheet not an alert IMO.  With that said I am happy to be wrong here if the rest of the community feels differently.

Usage Scenarios:
Alert: Use for critical, non-urgent information or to warn of destructive actions.
Action Sheet: Use to let users choose from multiple alternatives when they initiate an action.

Appearance & Behavior:
Alert: A centered modal popup that often requires an explicit dismissal.
Action Sheet: Slides up from the bottom (iOS) or appears as a popover (iPad/macOS).

Content:
Alert: Contains a title, optional message, and typically 1–2 buttons (rarely 3).
Action Sheet: Contains multiple actions/choices. It must include a Cancel button to allow users to dismiss it safely.

Gregory Neagle

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Feb 17, 2026, 10:12:49 AM (3 days ago) Feb 17
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To me the key things needed are:

1) Supports needed functionality
2) Action buttons are clearly labeled
3) Looks reasonably “native” on current macOS
4) Can be localized into languages that take up more space than English

The main reason I started experimenting with the layout that more resembles current macOS alert layouts was to provide more space for more descriptive button labels that could be localized into languages like German and Spanish, which tend to use more horizontal space than English.

Sent from my iPhone

On Feb 17, 2026, at 6:45 AM, 'Jordan Calhoun' via munki-dev <munk...@googlegroups.com> wrote:

I personally don't like trying to condense so much information down into an alert style dialog.  This sheet should be compared to a "Print" dialog sheet not an alert IMO.  With that said I am happy to be wrong here if the rest of the community feels differently.

Gregory Neagle

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Feb 17, 2026, 11:20:40 AM (2 days ago) Feb 17
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No clam that these translations/localizations are ideal, but they illustrate the issue.

Current Munki 7.1 beta:

PastedGraphic-6.png

Alternate layout:

PastedGraphic-4.png

Current Munki 7.1 beta:

PastedGraphic-7.png

Alternate layout:

PastedGraphic-2.png

Current 7.1 beta:

PastedGraphic-5.png

Alternate layout:

PastedGraphic-3.png 

With the current layout, it’s not just that the buttons start to collide with each other; it’s also that the button titles are very terse and might not give a clear idea what will actually happen. I think the alternate layout addresses at least some of this.

-Greg

Jordan Calhoun

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Feb 17, 2026, 1:00:30 PM (2 days ago) Feb 17
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That makes sense; the alternative layout seems like a good compromise.  Alternatively, I can make the layout more dynamic if we want to keep a similar structure.

Does the alternative layout look better with the check box and text being centered and does it make more sense for it to be below the buttons as well?  Not sure it'll actually look better; just thinking out loud

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Gregory Neagle

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Feb 17, 2026, 1:07:58 PM (2 days ago) Feb 17
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On Feb 17, 2026, at 10:00 AM, 'Jordan Calhoun' via munki-dev <munk...@googlegroups.com> wrote:

That makes sense; the alternative layout seems like a good compromise.  Alternatively, I can make the layout more dynamic if we want to keep a similar structure.

Does the alternative layout look better with the check box and text being centered and does it make more sense for it to be below the buttons as well?  Not sure it'll actually look better; just thinking out loud

One example of an alert/dialog with a check box and three response buttons (from Xcode):

Screenshot 2026-02-13 at 5.36.51 PM.png

Note the checkbox is left-justified like the title and description.

I think I have seen examples where a check box is _below_ the action buttons, but I don’t have any visual examples right now. 

-Greg


On Tue, Feb 17, 2026 at 11:20 AM 'Gregory Neagle' via munki-dev <munk...@googlegroups.com> wrote:
No clam that these translations/localizations are ideal, but they illustrate the issue.

Current Munki 7.1 beta:

<PastedGraphic-6.png>

Alternate layout:

<PastedGraphic-4.png>

Current Munki 7.1 beta:

<PastedGraphic-7.png>

Alternate layout:

<PastedGraphic-2.png>

Current 7.1 beta:

<PastedGraphic-5.png>

Alternate layout:

Gregory Neagle

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Feb 18, 2026, 4:31:13 PM (yesterday) Feb 18
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Code with the alternate UI is in the Munki7_1_alternateUI branch.
A compiled MSC.app that you can play with and run alongside a Munki 7.1 beta install is here:

https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/lj157ionbs8nt78b6vgbh/Managed-Software-Center.zip?rlkey=c4kwcjg0f5hivlysnk0j9ko4h&dl=0

-Greg

On Feb 17, 2026, at 10:07 AM, Gregory Neagle <gregn...@mac.com> wrote:



On Feb 17, 2026, at 10:00 AM, 'Jordan Calhoun' via munki-dev <munk...@googlegroups.com> wrote:

That makes sense; the alternative layout seems like a good compromise.  Alternatively, I can make the layout more dynamic if we want to keep a similar structure.

Does the alternative layout look better with the check box and text being centered and does it make more sense for it to be below the buttons as well?  Not sure it'll actually look better; just thinking out loud

One example of an alert/dialog with a check box and three response buttons (from Xcode):

Gregory Neagle

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Feb 18, 2026, 4:46:12 PM (yesterday) Feb 18
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In the alternate UI, I’ve put everything into an NSStackView, so putting the checkbox at the bottom is pretty easy:

PastedGraphic-1.png

PastedGraphic-2.png

-Greg

On Feb 17, 2026, at 10:00 AM, 'Jordan Calhoun' via munki-dev <munk...@googlegroups.com> wrote:

That makes sense; the alternative layout seems like a good compromise.  Alternatively, I can make the layout more dynamic if we want to keep a similar structure.

Does the alternative layout look better with the check box and text being centered and does it make more sense for it to be below the buttons as well?  Not sure it'll actually look better; just thinking out loud

On Tue, Feb 17, 2026 at 11:20 AM 'Gregory Neagle' via munki-dev <munk...@googlegroups.com> wrote:
No clam that these translations/localizations are ideal, but they illustrate the issue.

Current Munki 7.1 beta:

<PastedGraphic-6.png>

Alternate layout:

<PastedGraphic-4.png>

Current Munki 7.1 beta:

<PastedGraphic-7.png>

Alternate layout:

<PastedGraphic-2.png>

Current 7.1 beta:

<PastedGraphic-5.png>

Alternate layout:

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