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The end of the nice GTK button

blog.brixit.nl

351–360 of 666 posts

Re: The end of the nice GTK button

#351
The font rendering issues:

https://gitlab.gnome.org/GNOME/gtk/-/issues/3787

I recommend ignoring the blaming (users) and ignoring (developers) on both side both reading the details involved. Looks like mostly intended and used during development on HiDPI-Displays and that they need people experienced in font drawing matters.

Re: The end of the nice GTK button

#352
post #156

> I feel like the designers of this new theme have never sit down with anyone who's not a "techie" to explain to them how to use a computer. The designers of this new "everything is flat and devoid of visual hinting" trends are maybe, at most, enthusiast, but not professional designers. I don't mean professional in the "hired for work" sense, but in the "really has the knowledge and has studied the psychology behind…

> nobody with solid background, experience, and/or scientific studies in their hands would in their right mind sketch the current shape of mindless "modern" UIs

So... Since you are talking about scientific studies, could you please reference some studies that back you up and show that flat design is in some way inferior?

Re: The end of the nice GTK button

#353
post #95

> The only issue with it is that font rendering looks horrific, but that might just be my machine. This is because GTK4 enables pixel/scaling-independent fractional vertical positioning, even with hinting enabled. There's a long (somewhat ongoing) discussion at https://gitlab.gnome.org/GNOME/gtk/-/issues/3787 , though I haven't followed the last few months of discussion. Even though GTK4 aims to achieve scale-indepen…

“Scale-independent layout” (layout that ignores pixel aliasing) really requires PPI over ~200, that is, more than most desktop monitors provide. We’re still just not there.

They should take note of Windows 11 and the fallout from new menu item style due to the font no longer scaling properly at DPI “100%”. Many reported it as a bug! But it’s per design in the new Segoe Variable file where hunting breaks down at “low” (i.e. normal, non-hi) DPI.

Re: The end of the nice GTK button

#354
post #272
post #270

I really miss a consistent user experience. A core idea that I as a user can rely on to predict how a new app will work. I was in awe when I discovered as a kid that user interface were a research area. Things like Fitt's Law and so on. It was not just opinion. Today I get the feeling it's mostly just opinion. Either the designer's opinion or the wish to copy the look of something. Whenever I see a hamburger menu I s…

> Whenever I see a hamburger menu I silently think "Here someone has given up" Can you explain what you don’t like about hamburger menus?

Isn’t it because it’s the “Misc” counterpart to the preferences tabs?

Re: The end of the nice GTK button

#355

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There are guidelines for what should be in menu bars, what order the items should be in, and how they should behave for different sorts of application. For example, on Mac: https://developer.apple.com/design/human-interface-guideline... And on Windows: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/win32/uxguide/cmd-m... > "Where do I find the settings for this app?". Is it in File, Edit, View, Tools or Help? On Mac, it sh…

Of course there are ancient, rarely updated guidelines that almost all applications ignore. Microsoft indeed has that great guide, and yet their own applications implement it inconsistently, and often incorrectly according to the guidelines. Apple is a tad bit better, but third party apps rarely get it right. The best thing Apple has going for it is specifically on the question of where Settings is: there is a dedica…

> Of course there are ancient, rarely updated guidelines

You mean well researched guidelines with tons of evidence behind their decisions [1] that are as relevant today as they were 20 years ago.

> almost all applications ignore.

That most current applications ignore because people think they are ancient rarely updated guidelines.

This is especially evident in the MacOS world. HIG were the guide on the platform, and developers tried to adhere to them. And then the new breed of "designers" took over and even Apple breaks nearly every single one of them [2]

Microsoft has always been worse when it came to enforcing consistency of user interfaces, but even their choices were never random until quite recently [3].

[1] Apple's original HIG even had a bibliography section because it was actual research, and not some Dribble showcase: https://twitter.com/andy_matuschak/status/144740917559669965... and https://twitter.com/andy_matuschak/status/144771024771228057... etc.

[2] See, e.g. their abomination of an App Store https://grumpy.website/post/0RsaxCu3P

[3] Even the ribbon menus they introduced in Office weren't a random choice. They surely are now. See the Why the UI blog series: https://web.archive.org/web/20080316101025/http://blogs.msdn...

Re: The end of the nice GTK button

#356

I'm going to take a risk here and say that I'm a designer who generally likes flat design. I see a lot of hate here against flat design, and it makes sense. A lot of designers abuse it, making their UIs ambiguous. It's probably true that if flat design was never conceived, UIs would be less confusing on average. But it's clearly possible to do flat design well. iOS is mostly flat, but it's quite beautiful and user fr…

Something you much see too often is that a designer tries to copy some design, without understanding why that it had been designed that way in the first place.

That is how you got bad flat design.

That is how the idea of metaphors got skewed into skeuomorphism — and likewise, how metaphors got swept away by the movement against skeuomorphism.

Re: The end of the nice GTK button

#357

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There are guidelines for what should be in menu bars, what order the items should be in, and how they should behave for different sorts of application. For example, on Mac: https://developer.apple.com/design/human-interface-guideline... And on Windows: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/win32/uxguide/cmd-m... > "Where do I find the settings for this app?". Is it in File, Edit, View, Tools or Help? On Mac, it sh…

Wait, there's a standard for ribbon menus??? I thought that was just a horrible failed experiment that drove a huge number of people away from the MS suite towards Google Docs and was abandoned...

Originally it was a well-researched and executed concept, see https://web.archive.org/web/20080316101025/http://blogs.msdn...

Nowadays it's just a random hodge-podge no one knows how to use properly.

Re: The end of the nice GTK button

#358

I'm going to take a risk here and say that I'm a designer who generally likes flat design. I see a lot of hate here against flat design, and it makes sense. A lot of designers abuse it, making their UIs ambiguous. It's probably true that if flat design was never conceived, UIs would be less confusing on average. But it's clearly possible to do flat design well. iOS is mostly flat, but it's quite beautiful and user fr…

What do you think of the iOS podcasts app then? I have no idea of where to press to view details of a podcast, vs to start playing it. On the main page, the black text starts playing a podcast, and the purple text shows details. Further into the app, the purple text will start playing while the black text will view details. While playing, neither the purple nor black text do anything (they act as title/subtitle). Clicking on a picture is also pretty unpredictable.

This is admittedly not a flat vs non-flat design problem, but it is exacerbated by the flat design. If actions which started something playing were outlined or something, it would be so much easier to use.

Re: The end of the nice GTK button

#359
post #7

The flat UI trend baffles me. The removal of text from icons and buttons baffles me. For example, in Windows 11 I spent close to a minute looking for "Rename" in the right-click menu in Windows Explorer. Turns out it's not there! It's been removed out of the flow of the list and put in the top of the right-click menu, behind a small, picture-only icon that I've never seen before. MacOS is guilty of this too: Buttons…

This is honestly a large part of why I enjoy keyboard shortcuts, like F2 to rename on Windows. But it’s of course also a low grade for their UI design because I like it for knowing how to reach it instantly. Unlike by using their user interface.

Re: The end of the nice GTK button

#360
post #270

I really miss a consistent user experience. A core idea that I as a user can rely on to predict how a new app will work. I was in awe when I discovered as a kid that user interface were a research area. Things like Fitt's Law and so on. It was not just opinion. Today I get the feeling it's mostly just opinion. Either the designer's opinion or the wish to copy the look of something. Whenever I see a hamburger menu I s…

> In modern Windows, press Win-key and start to type, oops, it missed the first keypresses, presented the completely wrong results and made a mess of your workflow.

Every time I bump into these interaction issues, my stomach churns a little bit.

Right now, Windows 11 is especially bad because they have new and old code working side by side. It'll take a few years for Microsoft to rewrite enough of the Shell so everything will be consistent again.

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