Template talk:MacOS versions

List of release colors

I'm not sure I see a valid rationale for including "Latest preview version" in the legend at the bottom if and only if there is currently such a release; it seems like extra effort to put it in during the "next major release is in beta" period and take it out again when that beta period ends, lather, rinse, repeat.

(I'm not sure what a "future release" would be, so I don't see a rationale for including that in the legend.) Guy Harris (talk) 01:52, 30 December 2020 (UTC)

I agree, it seems redundant to have both "Latest preview version" and "future release". They should probably be merged into one color in the legend, preferably blue. What I'm not sure about is the intent of the editor who put in those colors. Maybe orange was supposed to be for betas of minor versions and blue for major versions? I'm not sure because those colors have never been used in that context. Herbfur (Eric, He/Him) (talk) 16:56, 30 December 2020 (UTC)

The colors come from Template:Version. The documentation for that template says that the "data type" template for a table cell includes "cp" for a "preview version" and "p" for a "planned future version", so presumably "future release" means "planned future version", emphasis on "planned". If, for example, Apple were to say, prior to WWDC 2021, that they would be announcing macOS 12 and iOS 15 there, those releases would be "planned future versions" until the first betas were released, and which point they'd become "preview versions". Given that Apple, by and large, Just Doesn't Do That Sort Of Thing (they keep things well under their hat), we're unlikely ever to use the "future release" color. Guy Harris (talk) 19:27, 30 December 2020 (UTC)