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Whatever Happened to UI Affordances?

shkspr.mobi

21–30 of 210 posts

Re: Whatever Happened to UI Affordances?

#21
The share sheet on Android is super confusing.

It doesn't help that several apps implement their own, and some of them scroll horizontally while others scroll vertically.

Edit: apparently they're forcing apps to use the native share sheet in Android 12? https://www.androidpolice.com/2021/06/01/android-12-will-spe...

Re: Whatever Happened to UI Affordances?

#23
Is the distinction between Android and iOS here maybe that iOS supports only a limited number of horizontal resolutions? At least on my Android phone, the rightmost element ends up at the screen edge with no padding, with a similar effect as the cut off icon.

(I.e. a design that's appropriate in a tightly controlled homogenous environment might not be any good in a mixed one.)

Re: Whatever Happened to UI Affordances?

#24
> Modern design is so beautiful to look at - but an absolute nightmare to use. You either need to use trial an error on every element, or hope that someone else can tell you what you need to do.

This. Aesthetics has overtaken usability. Back when it was web design, a good interface was defined as one that was easy to use first, pretty to look at second. During the rise of mobile interfaces, this got flipped. Now pretty to look at ranks highest, and easy to use is secondary.

Is this because of real-estate? Mobile screens are smaller, and something had to go.

Re: Whatever Happened to UI Affordances?

#25

> Modern design is so beautiful to look at - but an absolute nightmare to use. You either need to use trial an error on every element, or hope that someone else can tell you what you need to do. This. Aesthetics has overtaken usability. Back when it was web design, a good interface was defined as one that was easy to use first, pretty to look at second. During the rise of mobile interfaces, this got flipped. Now pret…

What's crazy is that at one point the new wave of designers was hailed as digital native designers replacing the bad old print-trained designers. They'd save us from treating the screen like paper, unlocking the true potential of these interfaces.

The worst sins of the print-designer era may have been pretty bad, but I'd say the average actually got a lot worse when the new crowd took over. First for the Web, then for native when Web-trained designers started working there, too.

Re: Whatever Happened to UI Affordances?

#26
I'm looking for balance, here. Let me provide an example:

I have a "left-swipe-to-delete-from-list." That's the standard way that Apple has decreed that items should be deleted. They provide no affordance.

You can add an "Edit" button to the navbar, but that means you don't have room for other, more important (and frequently-used) items. In my case, this is a non-starter. I need the room for more important stuff.

So far, I have added the left-swipe, but no affordance. It relies on the fact that the platform standard is left-swipe to delete. I need to make sure that the screen shows a fairly standard list (not getting too fancy), so users that are trained on platform standard will know that they can left-swipe.

In some cases, affordances can actually interfere with usability.

I can develop my own affordance, but I am not sure what a suitable one would be.

Implied training is also a big part of usability. I think it was Tufte that talked about that. He has some really strange UIs that don't make sense, until you learn them, and then, you don't ever want to go back.

In my experience, train maps in Tokyo are like this. They are a fearsome mess, when you first look at them, but, once you understand them, they are marvelous.

Re: Whatever Happened to UI Affordances?

#27

Sorry for this pedantic comment, but he is asking for signifiers not affordances. He wants affordances to be more perceptible. See Design of Everyday Things.

I upvoted your comment because the blog author even references that book, and the book goes into great length to make this distinction between the two. So I think it's only fair to point it out.

Re: Whatever Happened to UI Affordances?

#28

UI affordances have been going away for a long time. FlatUI was the first nearly universal obviously-user-hostile movement. It happened out of boredom and the slow intrusion of the contempt-for-the-audience attitude of art and architecture into web design. Unfortunately, unlike art, we can't ignore architecture or UI design.

I don’t think flat design is inherently hostile. The same way I don’t think heavy skeuomorphism is inherently patronising. We went from a violent explosion of visuals to ambiguous interactive elements. Both shite, both a pain to use, both bad design. Both can be avoided within their respective philosophy. As OP shows, iOS hinting at more content by partially showing the next item is a good example. You can very well…

I think it takes a lot of work to ensure that removing depth and shading doesn't remove information, too. I think flat design inherently "wants" to be, if not user hostile, at least less user-friendly than what preceded it.

It's a win if the depth and shading was just noise, before. If it was signal, well, now you've got to find something to replace that with, or you're harming UX. And you've got less "bandwidth", if you will, to work with.

Re: Whatever Happened to UI Affordances?

#29

I'm looking for balance, here. Let me provide an example: I have a "left-swipe-to-delete-from-list." That's the standard way that Apple has decreed that items should be deleted. They provide no affordance. You can add an "Edit" button to the navbar, but that means you don't have room for other, more important (and frequently-used) items. In my case, this is a non-starter. I need the room for more important stuff. So…

I get that. But how do you first learn about the standard way?

Admittedly, it has been several years since I used an iPhone - but I don't remember it ever telling me that slide-to-delete was a thing. I literally had to ask on Twitter to find out - https://twitter.com/search?q=delete%20podcast%20from%3Aedent...

I agree that there are some things which work best hidden - pull to refresh, for example - but it needs to be consistent and explained.

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