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There is no place for just shitting all over other people's work

37signals.com

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Re: There is no place for just shitting all over other people's work

#81

Post by danilocampos »

jarin wrote: post #79
msbarnett wrote: post #74

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There are a few that are fairly cluttered visually, but the vast majority are simply different , and I can't say, looking at them, whether or not they'd be any good in practice because I haven't used them , and I'm not so full of myself as to believe that I know everything about something based on a single picture of it. For instance, there's nothing obviously wrong with the interface of the grammar app currently at…

It's not a bad looking design, but it is a somewhat strange attempt to bring an iOS-specific UI element to a desktop application.

Not just strange – incorrect. iOS UI vocabulary is designed for touching. You have a big meatstick you can freely move around and squash against whatever interests you.

This does not apply to the desktop. On the desktop, you have a plastic puck you need to shove around a surface, which moves a pointer to a designated area. At the most advanced, you're massaging a glass tile, for the same effect. By merit of these facts, the interface must work differently.

It's a lazy design, by someone who couldn't be bothered to learn the correct UI paradigms for a desktop app. It doesn't make them a bad person, it doesn't mean they caused any grievous offense, it simply means they made a bad design. This isn't subjective.

Re: There is no place for just shitting all over other people's work

#82

Post by huertanix »

davidedicillo wrote: post #72

I'm actually surprise by how many people are defending the author of RTFHIG. As a designer I can tell you can most of the users of HN could end up on a site like that with their app (web or native). Those people that he's picking on could be developers who build those app for the love of programming and make some extra cash, and they may genuinely thinking those are good UIs.

Good. This is why I hate asking my nice friends what they think of my web app design. They always say it looks good. I want to raise the bar to epic, and the only way to do that is to stop asking for preschool-era "everybody wins" criticism and start asking for Chef Ramsey servings of brutally honest opinion.

Re: There is no place for just shitting all over other people's work

#83

Post by jw84 »

msbarnett wrote: post #75
jw84 wrote: post #67

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Just because work is hard and it was done doesn't mean it's above criticism.

There's a difference between criticism and vulgar flaming. I have no problem with the former when presented constructively and with some knowledge of the subject, but the blog is engaging in the latter.

A quick glance at Read the Fucking HIG and it's very clear what they're mocking deserve to be mocked; not a single one validates based on the HIG.

Vulgarity is immature and childish but it's a tonality the Internet has adopted. You can participate or choose not to, sermonize about decency or not, but this insistence--beyond the scope of this article and RTFHIG--that everyone does things on your pace, your schedule, your needs, your preferences, on you... is just so whiny.

Care less, it'll make you happier.

Re: There is no place for just shitting all over other people's work

#84

Post by msbarnett »

jw84 wrote: post #83
msbarnett wrote: post #75

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There's a difference between criticism and vulgar flaming. I have no problem with the former when presented constructively and with some knowledge of the subject, but the blog is engaging in the latter.

A quick glance at Read the Fucking HIG and it's very clear what they're mocking deserve to be mocked; not a single one validates based on the HIG. Vulgarity is immature and childish but it's a tonality the Internet has adopted. You can participate or choose not to, sermonize about decency or not, but this insistence--beyond the scope of this article and RTFHIG--that everyone does things on your pace, your schedule, y…

> this insistence ... that everyone does things on your pace, your schedule, your needs, your preferences, on you... is just so whiny.

We're talking about the "Everything that differs from the HIG is a fucking abomination" crowd here, right?

I value civility, pragmatics, and constructivity, and you evidently don't. I think we've reached the point where it's clear we have two fundamentally different opinions and continuing to talk past one another is pointless.

Re: There is no place for just shitting all over other people's work

#85

Post by prawn »

nostromo wrote: post #40
jzimdars wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

He may be right. But he's not adding any value for anyone the way he points it out. I think the biggest problem I have with it is that he's insulting and attacking the people who made these apps. There is no reason for that.

> he's not adding any value The point of the blog, from what I can tell, is to make people laugh. Let's lighten up. Honestly, if I had an app in the store and it was featured here (with a handy backlink) I'd probably send him a thank you note for the free advertising and feedback.

First freelance job I did as a teenager (around 1996 maybe?) was for a sporting celebrity in my country. I got paid $90/hr which I was particularly excited about.

I spent so much time on this web interface, 'Shopping my brains out. The result was, for the time, amazing. People, who didn't have to use the site on a day-to-day basis, gushed.

Then I happened across an absolutely brutal, brutal review by some random on the net. At first I was crushed, but soon I realised that, though coarse, they had made good points and I became a better designer because of it.

Re: There is no place for just shitting all over other people's work

#86

Post by gregpilling »

Did anyone else notice that the Apple Human Interface Guide is hard to read on a widescreen monitor? I clicked on the link and the text was a good 18" wide. You would think they would know about making a website readable.

http://developer.apple.com/library/mac/#documentation/UserEx...

Re: There is no place for just shitting all over other people's work

#87

Post by dedward »

I've always found the mac software space to automatically weed out bad UI. The userbase is used to certain behaviours (as generally described in the UI guidelines from apple)- and apps that don't follow that tend to not gain much traction.

Sure, the app store will expose a bunch of crappy apps from people who don't read the guide - but the market should weed them out in a hurry - those who develop according to what the market expects will succeed over those who write junk.

Re: There is no place for just shitting all over other people's work

#88

Post by dedward »

tjarratt wrote: post #63
brudgers wrote: post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> "rage at the way Apple flouts the HIG." I don't see any of the rage at http://readthefuckinghig.tumblr.com/ being directed at Apple. Somehow I suspect it would be hard for one who holds the guidelines in such reverence to do so.

The rage is directed at the people that put forth time and effort into releasing applications in the App Store, as well as at Apple for enabling these people to publish apps that offend their delicate sensibilities. I can see where he's coming from, and I can agree that it's a little childish and or obscene, but looking through his examples, there are some really terrible apps in the store, and a lot of them are unne…

So.. let the consumer decide, no?

The people were free to publish applications anyway. The good ones will rise to the top, the bad ones will fail.

Re: There is no place for just shitting all over other people's work

#89

Post by haecib »

37signals really missed the point.

Are they seriously calling them out for not offering more constructive criticism? Um...that's not why that site exists...

On a side note, there is nothing stopping 37signals from creating a webspace dedicated to constructively critiquing Mac App design for the benefit of the community in a more thorough and serious manner. But somehow, like the creators of the site, I doubt 37signals is interested in doing so. :|

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