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Safari 15 on Mac OS, a user interface mess

morrick.me

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Re: Safari 15 on Mac OS, a user interface mess

#111

I vehemently disagree that vertical space used is negligible. Due to standard aspect ratios, the vertical space of the display is at a premium. 1920*1080 means you have 840 less vertical pixels than horizontal - it makes a lot of sense to me to try to reclaim some of that space for actual content instead of widgets.

This is basically what I tell people when they ask me why I put my start menu and task bar on the left side of the screen.

You don't hide the start menu and task bar?

Re: Safari 15 on Mac OS, a user interface mess

#112

I vehemently disagree that vertical space used is negligible. Due to standard aspect ratios, the vertical space of the display is at a premium. 1920*1080 means you have 840 less vertical pixels than horizontal - it makes a lot of sense to me to try to reclaim some of that space for actual content instead of widgets.

Yet one obvious UI change on Big Sur is they added pointless padding to windows and menus.

Re: Safari 15 on Mac OS, a user interface mess

#113

Linked article refers to the changes in Safari as "thoughtless UI", which is a fairly common argument used against changes that people don't like. Against Apple, Microsoft, WinAmp, Reddit, etc. But let's be fair and note that there quite certainly a lot of very proud, considerate, intentional designers and developers who are behind this change. People who probably put thousands (millions?) multiples of "thought" in c…

> …yet they're presented as if they're objective truths. Readability is objective. It can be measured. They keep bending themselves backwards to get out of a problem they inflicted upon themselves. A web browser should be readable first.

I know exactly what you mean.

Your opinion is objective. Opinions you don't like are subjective.

Sorry but this is how I read it. In my late years, there's little I fear more than such authoritarian claims.

Not everyone sees things the same way. And I mean that in the most literal sense possible

Re: Safari 15 on Mac OS, a user interface mess

#114

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> People who probably put thousands (millions?) multiples of "thought" in considering the changes Thoughts maybe, but did they ask users what they wanted? Did they run usability studies to verify that these changes make sense? I can't imagine that they did. Certain UI changes in macOS, Windows, etc. are so obviously bad (and are eventually changed) that no matter how much they thought about it, they didn't care to ch…

Every user thinks they're the aggregate "users", though. That their personal opinion and take is universal. For instance the address bar on here is a canonical truth and is the linchpin of the experience. See how every time a browser touches it (e.g. Chrome truncating the address) is met with mobs of the angry. Many users -- including even "power" users -- seldom interact with the address bar. Nor is it verification…

One of the clearest examples of this for me is having the address bar at the bottom on mobile devices. There is pretty much no disadvantage to placing it there yet whenever a browser does that, people get inevitably angry. I hope Apple sticks with it and the other iOS browsers like Brave adopt it.

Edit: point proven

Re: Safari 15 on Mac OS, a user interface mess

#115

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Someone's casual opinion about "readability" is not objective. It is the very definition of subjective. I mean, if you've been on HN at all you've seen massive debates about fonts, colors, contrast, and so on, where people have profoundly different opinions about readability. Run a study and then talk. Otherwise it's just subjective observations. Further, we're talking about page theme spreading to the chrome of the…

> Run a study and then talk Have they? The base of your argument is a classic appeal to authority. They're "very proud, considerate, intentional" designers so they must be right and everybody else wrong. Where's the data? Aren't unhappy users valid enough data to demonstrate a downgrade in user experience?

> They're "very proud, considerate, intentional" designers so they must be right and everybody else wrong.

Contriving a straw man to argue a position does no good.

I specifically took issue with claims that it's thoughtless. That in no way says it's right or wrong [1], but I'm extraordinarily certain that a lot of people thought long about every detail of this, they probably argued and different people had different takes, and we can see the results of that process. Trying to casually dismiss all of that as thoughtless is gross.

> Aren't unhappy users valid enough data to demonstrate a downgrade in user experience?

Unhappy users aren't proof of much at all but that people really dislike change, and that you can't please all of the people all of the time. The eventual net result is an entirely different thing.

And again, the net might be positive and it might be negative. I've made zero assessment of that. I happen to be a pretty malleable user and I just flow with whatever, adapting to whatever various platforms demand I use.

[1] Although notions of right and wrong depend upon the inputs to your assessment. e.g. often we'll some users feel that a certain function or trait is a first class, primary element, while it isn't to others. What is right for one can be wrong for another. Seldom is it universal. Every design of any complexity is wrong for some subset of users.

Re: Safari 15 on Mac OS, a user interface mess

#116

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is basically what I tell people when they ask me why I put my start menu and task bar on the left side of the screen.

Wow. I hadn't thought of it this way, and I even go as far as using a second monitor in portrait mode.

I have been doing this ever since 16:9 became a thing, and have converted several people to this simple solution.

Canonical had the right idea with Unity which not many people are willing to acknowledge

Re: Safari 15 on Mac OS, a user interface mess

#117
post #107

Linked article refers to the changes in Safari as "thoughtless UI", which is a fairly common argument used against changes that people don't like. Against Apple, Microsoft, WinAmp, Reddit, etc. But let's be fair and note that there quite certainly a lot of very proud, considerate, intentional designers and developers who are behind this change. People who probably put thousands (millions?) multiples of "thought" in c…

“People who probably put thousands (millions?) multiples of "thought" in considering the changes” In my experience it’s usually one person’s vision behind major design changes (good or bad). It may be “discussed” so long as the discussion doesn’t deviate from boss’s vision (or you’re not a fit for the project).

One I've learned from grim experience is that most of the time, 1 person with a strong vision and the willingness to fight for it is better than 10 or more people just kinda doing their own thing in their own sandbox. Sure, the former might turn out bad. The latter is almost guaranteed to.

Re: Safari 15 on Mac OS, a user interface mess

#118

Am I the only person who likes this change? Normally, I’d have 4-5 tabs that I keep switching between fairly often and then 20-xx most of the time useless, de facto bookmarks. I use a keyboard shortcut with fuzzy find to pick the right one. Reclaiming the address bar space to cram more tabs on the screen is a marginal gain, at least in my case.

What I find most interesting in this discussion is that it implicitly hinges on how each of us organises and browses information. For example, some people are good at recalling stuff that they have seen before, so bookmarks and search will work well for them.

At the same time, other people can handle a lot of information but only as long as it is readily present in front of them. Hide that information away and it is as if it never existed. Tools that depend on their ability to recall information will fail them. Tools that give them the ability to keep that information available and visible will make them shine.

Re: Safari 15 on Mac OS, a user interface mess

#119

Linked article refers to the changes in Safari as "thoughtless UI", which is a fairly common argument used against changes that people don't like. Against Apple, Microsoft, WinAmp, Reddit, etc. But let's be fair and note that there quite certainly a lot of very proud, considerate, intentional designers and developers who are behind this change. People who probably put thousands (millions?) multiples of "thought" in c…

Reminds me of how almost any corporate logo redesign works. Company makes a new logo, everyone is outraged by how awful and horrible it is, then we get used to it.

The Discord logo redesign was one of those logos that elicited a very odd amount of outrage for what it was. Multiple video essays were made about just how terrible the logo is [0].

It's really not a bad logo at all. It's a minor change. But once you get used to something, any change seems to be perceived as a threat. After a few months, I bet most people will get used to the new Safari UI and forget what they were even mad out.

[0] https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=discord+new+log...

Re: Safari 15 on Mac OS, a user interface mess

#120
I'm not going to take Safari over Firefox or even Chrome, but this design isn't thoughtless. It looked to me from the demo that they did put some thought into the design. Integrating the address bar into the tabs is a nice idea for saving the precious vertical space people (validly) keep complaining that we're losing. It won't work well for me because I have too many tabs open all the time, but they even thought about that issue and gave tab groups as a way to help keep the number of tabs under control.
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