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

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

#401

Post by ascagnel_ »

artimaeis wrote: post #394
neor wrote: post #331

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I fully agree, there is a steady decline in usability and its a bloody shame because for years the usability is what set Apple apart from the others. A few things which hugely annoy me; - Saving a photo from iMessage.... the option has disappeared. I get a popup to airdrop the file, interact with some apps and a huge copy button. In fact, I can scroll down in this menu but there is not a single visual indicator that…

> "Saving a photo from iMessage" I feel like I see the root of this problem everywhere in "card"-based UIs. The share button opens a "card" on top and you can move the card up in the view. There should definitely be some consideration for how to represent that there's more "card" outside of your screen.

The simple solution is to design the card so that, at all display layouts, the last visible item is cut off -- it goes a long way toward saying "there's more in this list".

The new share sheet in iOS/iPadOS 13 is not great -- the two rows of horizontal scrolls (one for contacts, the other for apps) was much more discoverable.

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

#402

Post by ascagnel_ »

costcopizza wrote: post #387
neor wrote: post #331

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I fully agree, there is a steady decline in usability and its a bloody shame because for years the usability is what set Apple apart from the others. A few things which hugely annoy me; - Saving a photo from iMessage.... the option has disappeared. I get a popup to airdrop the file, interact with some apps and a huge copy button. In fact, I can scroll down in this menu but there is not a single visual indicator that…

The lack of a visual scroll indicator is a problem with the Apple Music app too. 'Repeat' and 'next up' are below the play/pause button. But the spacing makes it look like there's no possibility to scroll!

Not any longer -- now they're tucked into an "unordered list" icon to the bottom-right of the play button, in a row with buttons to toggle display of lyrics and to select the output.

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

#403

Post by whywhywhywhy »

judge2020 wrote: post #38
josteink wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> hidden things like 3D Touch is the exact problem I’ve had an iPhone for around 5 years now and I still have no idea what 3D Touch is. I hear it’s not supported on all models, so my phone may be lacking it, but if it does, I wouldn’t even be able to tell.

Pressing hard on a UI element, like an app icon[0], tweet, etc will show certain actions. On the newer models without a pressure-sensing screen, you can hold the UI icon for about a second to perform the same thing. 0: https://imgur.com/a/wOTDT3s

They disabled the pressure sensing on old devices in iOS 13 so it wouldn’t feel like a downgrade on newer phones without pressure sensing.

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

#404

Post by Razengan »

kienkien wrote: post #354
Razengan wrote: post #287

The iPad was my gateway into the Apple orchard. I had never purchased an Apple product until about a decade ago, when I got the first Retina iPad as a gift for someone who didn’t use computers. I was so impressed by how intuitive the device and OS was for them, that I installed macOS in a VM on Windows to try iOS development. I fell in love with macOS (back during Lion) shortly before getting my first MacBook and lea…

Too soon to say never

I never really agreed with many of the core fundamentals of Windows/Microsoft, before I had even discovered Macs as an alternative.

Like the whole need for installers/uninstallers, worrying about drivers, separate menu bars for each window, and so on.

Some of those things will never change as long as Windows remains Windows.

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

#405

Post by Razengan »

Razengan wrote: post #287

The iPad was my gateway into the Apple orchard. I had never purchased an Apple product until about a decade ago, when I got the first Retina iPad as a gift for someone who didn’t use computers. I was so impressed by how intuitive the device and OS was for them, that I installed macOS in a VM on Windows to try iOS development. I fell in love with macOS (back during Lion) shortly before getting my first MacBook and lea…

I think the core problem is that every manmade tool eventually has to choose 2 of the 3:

• Be intuitive for new users

• Have features for power users

• Sane number of customization options

Like the dock labels issue. I personally don't need or want labels in the Dock. But there should be an option to enable dock labels for people who are not familiar with all the icons.

In fact I would like to hide the labels for ALL icons on the Home Screen, with a tap-and-hold to show them temporarily, like the mouse hover on the Mac Dock.

Now you need 2 more options to satisfy everyone.

And then you need to keep the Settings app from becoming too cluttered or intimidating.

So I believe the cornerstone of all good design is a good settings/preferences system, that is easy to navigate, discover, search and filter. And to selectively restore defaults when you fuck shit up.

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

#406

Post by whywhywhywhy »

josteink wrote: post #29
jbverschoor wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The iPhone has become a 2-handed device instead of a 1-handed device.

The iPhone SE may have been the last true iPhone IMO. Too bad Apple seems hellbent on the much less usable 6” monstrocitious these days.

Just gone from a 7 to an 11. It’s weird, if I didn’t know the history I’d say this device feels older.

It’s bigger, fatter and heavier with a cheaper feeling finish. The 7 feels positively elegant if you hold one after the other.

And apart from the slight camera improvements the performance feels identical.

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

#407

Post by ascagnel_ »

endorphone wrote: post #385
krtkush wrote: post #303

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I feel that this is a dark-pattern to force users to enable automatics updates.

iOS 13 defaults to automatic app updates. How in the world is that a "dark pattern"? I get that people got accustomed to manual updates [1], and some illusion that this gave them some control, but from a rational evaluation it makes no sense. [1] - I remember when Google first added enabled automatic app updates and one of the most common retorts, including on here, was "can you say bricked" and similar nonsense.

iOS updates apps automatically; system updates still require explicit user approval. I think it 's a decent trade-off, given that the options are "don't update", "update now", and a default of "update overnight, when/if the device is plugged in".

More stuff should allow for the latter option.

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

#408

Post by Razengan »

smcl wrote: post #367
Razengan wrote: post #287

The iPad was my gateway into the Apple orchard. I had never purchased an Apple product until about a decade ago, when I got the first Retina iPad as a gift for someone who didn’t use computers. I was so impressed by how intuitive the device and OS was for them, that I installed macOS in a VM on Windows to try iOS development. I fell in love with macOS (back during Lion) shortly before getting my first MacBook and lea…

"I had to enter the Apple/iCloud account credentials multiple times at different points before it stopped asking me to sign in again" Yes! What on earth is this for? My girlfriend picked up an iPhone after a series of awful Android phones and it's still sitting on her desk in a half-setup state a few days later because she got frustrated inputting her iCloud credentials constantly for god-knows-what and dismissing un…

> Yes! What on earth is this for?

I would presume that it's an overreaction to cover their asses if users get "hacked", and also a more aggressive DRM authentication to keep making sure you paid for all those apps/books/songs/shows.

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

#409

Post by Wowfunhappy »

Razengan wrote: post #405
Razengan wrote: post #287

The iPad was my gateway into the Apple orchard. I had never purchased an Apple product until about a decade ago, when I got the first Retina iPad as a gift for someone who didn’t use computers. I was so impressed by how intuitive the device and OS was for them, that I installed macOS in a VM on Windows to try iOS development. I fell in love with macOS (back during Lion) shortly before getting my first MacBook and lea…

I think the core problem is that every manmade tool eventually has to choose 2 of the 3: • Be intuitive for new users • Have features for power users • Sane number of customization options Like the dock labels issue. I personally don't need or want labels in the Dock. But there should be an option to enable dock labels for people who are not familiar with all the icons. In fact I would like to hide the labels for ALL…

Two separate points:

1. You can largely escape the trifecta by hiding advanced customization options inside of the Terminal, where they're 100% invisible to anyone who isn't explicitly searching for them.

2. For a long time, Apple's way around the problem was to have different platforms for different markets. The iPad was a simple computing platform for very casual users, and the Mac was the more capable option for more advanced users. For some reason, Apple has now decided that their simple platform needs to be as capable as the more advanced platform.

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

#410

Post by Wowfunhappy »

hellomyguys wrote: post #299
Razengan wrote: post #287

The iPad was my gateway into the Apple orchard. I had never purchased an Apple product until about a decade ago, when I got the first Retina iPad as a gift for someone who didn’t use computers. I was so impressed by how intuitive the device and OS was for them, that I installed macOS in a VM on Windows to try iOS development. I fell in love with macOS (back during Lion) shortly before getting my first MacBook and lea…

As someone who does product design for a living and has used an iPad for almost 10 years now, I still get so confused with the Slide Over multitasking. There's no discoverability at all for this. You have to read the manual and memorize the gestures. Absolutely mind-blowing that they've made something this confusing. I know when people say "it's like they don't even use their products" it is usually hyperbolic, but I…

Or that bug with Mac Keyboard Shortcuts[1]. I don't know how to explain something like that other than, no one working at Apple right now actually uses the custom keyboard shortcuts feature.

[1]https://eclecticlight.co/2019/03/03/last-week-on-my-mac-keyb...

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