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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

#171

Post by intoverflow2 »

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 don't think that the UI actually needs to get out of the way

Getting a bit fed up of listening to fellow designers preaching about "cognitive overload" over a few button shapes and icons then proceeding to ship designs where all the controls are un-styled blue text with the occasional semi-abstract line art icon.

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

#172

Post by oblio »

lloeki wrote: post #117
arrrg wrote: post #3

It’s not that important a point, but legal pads are a very US phenomena. I’m German and I have never ever seen a yellow pad like that in person. The current notes icon (with white paper) is much more in line with the note pads you would encounter in Germany. Paper people write on to take notes is typically just white. Maybe bound with a spiral on the left or top (and perforated paper to tear off), maybe glued togethe…

France here, and the new one feels so much better. I definitely viewed the old one as a U.S. centric thing (similar to units).

Yeah, I think it's an US - European thing. The parent comment mentioned Germany, you mentioned France, another comment mentioned Italy, I'm from Romania and we also use white notepads.

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

#173

Post by puranjay »

Infinitesimus wrote: post #158
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…

My general rule of thumb for Macbooks: If you want to do anything other thank browse facebook and write word docs, and want the machine to last you for more than 3 years - get a Pro. Vote with your wallet, if you can replace the Macbook experiment* with a Pro or some other computer, go for it. As it stands, Apple has no incentive to make it better since they have your money anyway unless enough users skip the product…

My wife wants a Mac. She's a teacher and uses it mostly to write documents, watch movies, and read PDFs. Would an Air be good enough for her?

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

#174

Post by arrrg »

Luc wrote: post #109
arrrg wrote: post #3

It’s not that important a point, but legal pads are a very US phenomena. I’m German and I have never ever seen a yellow pad like that in person. The current notes icon (with white paper) is much more in line with the note pads you would encounter in Germany. Paper people write on to take notes is typically just white. Maybe bound with a spiral on the left or top (and perforated paper to tear off), maybe glued togethe…

To me the current icon looks a lot like a Rhodia notepad with the typical orange cover folded over at the top: https://www.stylo.ca/fr/produits/Rhodia/Basics-(no.18)/430_2... Not sure how well known that brand is outside of Europe.

I would guess that stationery is not extremely globalized as of yet. I’m honestly not sure why, though. It seems easy enough to mass produce and export everywhere. Maybe historic standards (different paper formats, different rulings) have created trade barriers that prevent globalization.

My brand new notepad (DIN A5, 5mm grid, spiral bound at the top) for my board game evening today doesn’t say where it was made, just that it’s from a German company (it’s labelled predominantly in German, though somewhat prominently also in English – language designated as “UK” – and Turkish, as well as French, Italian and Dutch in much smaller print).

Googling the company doesn’t tell me where and even whether they produce the notepads. Maybe they just relabel someone else’s notepads and resell them?

All I know that the text on their website makes me want to vomit: “Kyome’s target group is primarily women between 30 and 50 who want to combine the practical with the attractive. SoHos (Small Office or Home Office) are increasingly finding their place in living rooms and kitchens. For this reason, kyome products are surprising, as according to the brand promise, with nice, clever ideas, are pleasantly functional and a long way from grey, everyday office life.”

Firstly that’s some really bad English, secondly that’s insultingly sexist.

But back to the topic at hand: I think the important point is that white paper with some ruling (lines or grid, with margins or without) and bound in some way (left or top, spiral or glue) is a widespread internationally recognizable look for notepads. The details then don’t matter that much.

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

#175

Post by intoverflow2 »

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…

> He seems uninterested in even acknowledging the point that most cameras don't look like that anymore, and there are many (most?) full fledged adults who have never used a camera with a large attached lens.

People say things like this in defence of the recent Apple UI changes but completely ignore the [iOS6 camera icon](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/7/7d/IOS_6_Home_Sc...) vs [iOS7+](http://static1.i4u.com/sites/default/files/imagecache/main_i...)

We went from an icon that literally looks like the iPhone camera to an icon of a point and shoot you and others claim is antiquated and not relevant.

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

#176

Post by homingbrain »

Sean1708 wrote: post #103
krylon wrote: post #16

One thing I really dislike about 10.10 is that "maximizing" a window will - with a few exceptions - switch it to fullscreen. To maximize a window I need to press Alt while clicking the maximize-button. And there is not even an option to switch this behavior. On a small laptop screen this behaviour might be preferable, but on a FullHD display, I find it rather annoying.

Ah see I like that behaviour. I've never once wanted to fill the screen with an app without putting it in fullscreen, I just don't see what the point of doing that would be.

The point is being able to see the menu bar (with the current date/time etc.) without hovering the mouse over it.

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

#177

Post by zer0defex »

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…

Exactly why I make mine transparent: http://imgur.com/a/AXNy9

Contrary to popular belief these days, contrast is not the enemy.

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

#178

Post by groovy2shoes »

Luc wrote: post #109
arrrg wrote: post #3

It’s not that important a point, but legal pads are a very US phenomena. I’m German and I have never ever seen a yellow pad like that in person. The current notes icon (with white paper) is much more in line with the note pads you would encounter in Germany. Paper people write on to take notes is typically just white. Maybe bound with a spiral on the left or top (and perforated paper to tear off), maybe glued togethe…

To me the current icon looks a lot like a Rhodia notepad with the typical orange cover folded over at the top: https://www.stylo.ca/fr/produits/Rhodia/Basics-(no.18)/430_2... Not sure how well known that brand is outside of Europe.

American here. Can't say I've ever seen a notepad like that, nor have I heard of Rhodia. For what it's worth, with the cover folded back it looks very much like a legal pad. That wide left-hand margin with red vertical rule with the faint blue horizontal rules are pretty characteristic of legal pads. While you do often see legal pads with yellow paper in the US, whitely-papered legal pads are also readily available (frankly, I never liked the yellow paper and I don't really understand why anyone would...). I've also seen legal pads with pale pink paper, and ones with pale blue paper, but in my opinion both of those were too dark to offer good contrast with ink.

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

#180

Post by cocotino »

daenney wrote: post #75
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…

Firefox's problem is that it does the whole UI by itself. This basically makes it look out of place anywhere they haven't explicitly put effort into giving it a similar experience. It looks out of place on El Capitan and on macOS Sierra it's downright disturbing. I don't want tab titles in Times New Roman (at least it reminds me of that).

Maybe they've fixed it but the address bar had an atrocious amount of glow. It is clearly out of place.
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