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The Apple Goes Mushy Part I: OS X's Interface Decline

nicholaswindsorhoward.com

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Re: The Apple Goes Mushy Part I: OS X's Interface Decline

#131

Post by vacri »

CPLX wrote: post #18

I'm not sure how to tell this guy, but I'm over 40 years old and I have been using Apple computers literally since elementary school. At a certain point the reference to intuitive design can be to ones own past, if that past has become sufficiently ingrained and intuitive to users. I thought the lament about the photo app dropping the icon that looks like a camera was particularly odd. He seems uninterested in even a…

People still know what that kind of camera looks like, just like they know what a floppy disk looks like or an old phone handset. The new icon isn't evocative at all.

Re: The Apple Goes Mushy Part I: OS X's Interface Decline

#132

Post by lloeki »

SlashmanX wrote: post #94
phoboslab wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I'm 35 and I have probably seen an actual contact book once when I was little. It doesn't make sense to have a skeuomorphic contact book as an icon for Contacts. There was a rhetoric not too long ago where OSx fanboys would make fun of Windows' interfaces for still using the disk icon as the "save" button. Now that guy is complaining that the photos app icon doesn't look like a Point And Shoot camera, when fewer an…

> Now that guy is complaining that the photos app icon doesn't look like a Point And Shoot camera, when fewer and fewer people use those. The old icon also had a photo on it though which made it clear it was the Photo's app, even if you don't know what the other thing is in the icon at all.

The new Photos app icon always looked like a thinly veiled colorful shutter/aperture thing to me.

Re: The Apple Goes Mushy Part I: OS X's Interface Decline

#133

Post by k-mcgrady »

hellofunk wrote: post #41
0942v8653 wrote: post #36

Note: This is my personal opinion! I recently had to use a computer with OS X Mavericks on it (10.9 I think). I was struck by how beautiful the interface was. I'm having trouble finding a good screenshot illustrating this, but compare http://content.gcflearnfree.org/topics/243/2013_new_desktop.... http://download.softwsp.com/sites/12/2015/11/os-x-el-capitan... Everything just looks better on Mavericks. The gradients…

One of those URLs you've posted results in a banned security error in Chrome, with the strong recommendation not to visit it due to malicious activity on that site.

Warning in Safari too.

Re: The Apple Goes Mushy Part I: OS X's Interface Decline

#134

Post by vacri »

codeulike wrote: post #2

Guidelines from 30 years ago dont necessarily get to remain guidelines. Cos stuff changes. We've been using guis for 20 or 30 years now. We dont need to pretend they have shadows or include a realistic depiction of some related artifact in the icon. People just get it now without all that clutter.

There isn't a binary choice between "flat design" and "skeumorphism". You can use lots of different visual cues to indicate things.

I loved hearing that Windows 10 was going to go 'authentically digital', but that emotion died when it became apparent that they decided that mean 'flat design'. Just because something is on a computer screen doesn't mean it has to be made of simple single-colour polygons.

Re: The Apple Goes Mushy Part I: OS X's Interface Decline

#135

Post by Gracana »

carlosrg wrote: post #87
terda12 wrote: post #39

OS X looks better than ever. Yeah I agree with Notepad and Photos icons looking not good but everything else is perfect. I'm typing this on an OSX right now and it just looks great. Worst part of the article by far was > OS X packaging, once very elegant and eccentric (and printed on a physical box), has become thoroughly unremarkable. This is 2016, no one uses CD's anymore. And that leopard print box design looks li…

>leopard print box design looks like packaging for some kinky underwear It's funny witnessing how certain people that a couple years ago considered Apple designs the pinnacle of design and far ahead of everything else using the same arguments today that Windows fans used.

I think you're making a big assumption about who is saying what.

Re: The Apple Goes Mushy Part I: OS X's Interface Decline

#136

Post by k-mcgrady »

franze wrote: post #121

I'm writing this post form an late 2015 Mac Book Retina (not air, not pro). The mac book stands on a book, a small fan points to it's back so that I can write this. Without this the machine would get to hot, which results into a slower user interaction (think: write a letter, wait for it, wait for it, wait for it, letter appears on the screen). On the left hand side a huge adapter (99EUR) is plugged in. It enables me…

Sounds like you simply bought a machine not powerful enough for your needs. I'm using a 2015 MacBook Pro. It's been pretty hot here for the last week (30-33c) and my performance has been good. The MacBook sits flat on a table and hasn't got hot once. Battery lasts about 8 hours for me. I'm typing all day (iOS dev) and none of my keys are fading. I have two USB ports which are in use and all I need. If the machine you're talking about is the new super thin MacBook you just made a bad purchase decision as that machine almost costs as much as mine.

Re: The Apple Goes Mushy Part I: OS X's Interface Decline

#137

Post by fabean »

jakobegger wrote: post #56
fredsted wrote: post #15

I like the minimalistic UI of El Capitan. It gets out of the way, and puts in focus what I really want to look at: the content, Web pages, my code, my photos. My computer is a tool, it's not an artwork I turn on to look at. Buttons still look pushable, input fields still look editable. The Dock didn't lose any functionality whatsoever by having the 3D effect removed. In my opinion, the El Cap UI requires just as much…

The Dock absolutely lost usability; all the icons look the same now. I practically stopped using the dock because I never find the apps I'm looking for quickly; I've switched to using Spotlight for opening apps instead. The old "Pages" icon was instantly recognisable. The new one looks, at first glance, exactly the same as text edit and notes. I don't think that the UI actually needs to get out of the way. We humans…

I agree all the designs of icons all look the same and that's not the best thing, but using Spotlight to open things is just better anyways.

Re: The Apple Goes Mushy Part I: OS X's Interface Decline

#138

Post by uptown »

56k wrote: post #28

This article doesn't make any sense. The use of metaphors worked when people didn't know what a computer was, and the only way to make its UI make sense was to mimic real-world objects. Now, this is no longer necessary. It's been 40 years. While I agree that new macOS icons aren't great (see the Game Center icon), the old ones were silly. I'm 35 and I have probably seen an actual contact book only once when I was lit…

> I hate how Safari hides the full address in the address bar, for instance.

There's an option to show the full URL under Preferences -> Advanced -> Show full web address

Re: The Apple Goes Mushy Part I: OS X's Interface Decline

#140

Post by 56k »

jrockway wrote: post #104
gimboland wrote: post #98

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Cool, so we don't need icons at all!

Indeed, icons are unnecessary. They're there to fill space with colors, which people like. Full = good. Color = happy. good + happy = sales.

It's quicker to glance at icons and spot the app right away than not read each and every item in a list.
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