Apple's products are getting harder to use, ignore principles of design (2015)

#1

Post by sogen » Sun, Dec 22, 2019, 5:58 PM UTC

Apple's products are getting harder to use, ignore principles of design (2015)
jnd.org

Re: Apple's products are getting harder to use, ignore principles of design (2015)

#2

Post by chrisseaton » Sun, Dec 22, 2019, 7:40 PM UTC

Is anyone trying to back this up with a proper scientific study of whether users find it easier or harder to use? Seems just like opinion and debates about aesthetics otherwise?

If I wanted to claim that JavaScriptCore was getting slower and I didn't post any data to back that up people would laugh me out of the conversation.

Re: Apple's products are getting harder to use, ignore principles of design (2015)

#3

Post by bitwize » Sun, Dec 22, 2019, 7:41 PM UTC

Apple has fallen into the same trap that Microsoft has -- changing their UI not to advance the state of the art, but just for the sake of changing it so they have something new to sell.

Re: Apple's products are getting harder to use, ignore principles of design (2015)

#4

Post by scarface74 » Sun, Dec 22, 2019, 7:46 PM UTC

This article is just a rant without many concrete examples, studies, or suggestions for improvements.

Re: Apple's products are getting harder to use, ignore principles of design (2015)

#5

Post by meerita » Sun, Dec 22, 2019, 7:47 PM UTC

Apple made a huge mistake when it launched iOS 7: it failed to improve its UI. I don't know if it was a matter of the best and most capable designers leaving the company or bad decisions by the managers, but the truth is that iOS 7 was never a good UI for iPhones, especially the biggest ones. There are many things that are missing that are obvious, such as being able to organize the icons on your Home screen as you wish like you can do in Android, and I suspect that many of the things that are excellently solved in Android's Material Design, at Apple can't because of patents. I think it all boils down to patents because I don't believe that a company like Apple has such a poorly designed operating system.

Re: Apple's products are getting harder to use, ignore principles of design (2015)

#6

Post by threeseed » Sun, Dec 22, 2019, 7:50 PM UTC

bitwize wrote: post #3

Apple has fallen into the same trap that Microsoft has -- changing their UI not to advance the state of the art, but just for the sake of changing it so they have something new to sell.

This comment makes no sense.

Apple hasn't fundamentally changed the UI on iOS or OSX since the initial releases apart from say the iOS look & feel refresh and gestures to support iPhone X. And in the last few releases there have been almost no UI changes.

It's actually one of the disappointments of the Apple platforms.

Re: Apple's products are getting harder to use, ignore principles of design (2015)

#7

Post by krackers » Sun, Dec 22, 2019, 7:53 PM UTC

I feel that for OSX, everything past Mavericks has been a downgrade. What's the point in having a beautiful hiDPI display if you're going to flatten all UI elements into a solid color?

Re: Apple's products are getting harder to use, ignore principles of design (2015)

#8

Post by threeseed » Sun, Dec 22, 2019, 7:54 PM UTC

meerita wrote: post #5

Apple made a huge mistake when it launched iOS 7: it failed to improve its UI. I don't know if it was a matter of the best and most capable designers leaving the company or bad decisions by the managers, but the truth is that iOS 7 was never a good UI for iPhones, especially the biggest ones. There are many things that are missing that are obvious, such as being able to organize the icons on your Home screen as you w…

Not sure why you are talking about iOS7 since it was released 7 years.

But anyway the reason Apple doesn't allow for customisation of the home screen is because it adds complexity. And given they are trying to sell to people who are computer and technology illiterate you don't want complexity.

Re: Apple's products are getting harder to use, ignore principles of design (2015)

#9

Post by josteink » Sun, Dec 22, 2019, 7:56 PM UTC

threeseed wrote: post #6

bitwize wrote: post #3

Apple has fallen into the same trap that Microsoft has -- changing their UI not to advance the state of the art, but just for the sake of changing it so they have something new to sell.

This comment makes no sense. Apple hasn't fundamentally changed the UI on iOS or OSX since the initial releases apart from say the iOS look & feel refresh and gestures to support iPhone X. And in the last few releases there have been almost no UI changes. It's actually one of the disappointments of the Apple platforms.

> Apple hasn't fundamentally changed the UI on iOS or OSX since the initial releases apart from say the iOS look & feel refresh and gestures to support iPhone X.

So for the iPhone alone Apple has changed the 1. look and feel to be more “modern” (which means showing less accordances), 2. fashionably removed the very affordable home-button for no functional reason and 3. replaced it with non-discoverable, complex gestures.

Pardon my math but to me that sounds like ignoring 3 core design-principles just to appear trendy and have something new to sell.

Re: Apple's products are getting harder to use, ignore principles of design (2015)

#10

Post by charlesism » Sun, Dec 22, 2019, 7:59 PM UTC

krackers wrote: post #7

I feel that for OSX, everything past Mavericks has been a downgrade. What's the point in having a beautiful hiDPI display if you're going to flatten all UI elements into a solid color?

Everything past Snow Leopard. Lion was a disaster, and there is literally no feature I use that I prefer in any Mac OS created since then. What's more, the OS has become uglier and buggier.

Edit: actually, I like the addition of Finder > Cut, and Finder > Rename. So, hey, there is something!