It's easy to get so caught up in the false moat of minimalism that you forget you are selling a tool.
Slapping ads on a tool doesn't improve the functionality of the tool.
“Gravity is worth asking about”
41–50 of 149 posts
Re: “Gravity is worth asking about”
#42The same people who want minimalism here in the comments are angry at Microsoft for removing half the features in any control panel inside Windows with every release. Shows how difficult it is to design and build software at scale.
> angry at Microsoft for removing half the features in any control panel inside Windows
Tbf, I'm not sure anyone is any at Microsoft for removing things. They are angry because Microsoft does not actually remove those settings, they just don't allow them to be changed from the new UI, and instead hide them away somewhere in the same classic control panel that has existed since Windows NT...
Re: “Gravity is worth asking about”
#43> This is why it’s important to hire and recognize people who will understand that those limitations have to be imposed arbitrarily Better get the folks that recognize users exist and are different, so instead of arbitrary mistakes UI should be tailored to a user. Case in point: > five options I have to choose from, every time, even if I never touch four of them: So the way out is to allow you to remove those 4 rathe…
Having the menu exist at all is already well onto the slippery slope - once upon a time the screenshots went directly into the photo library, without any interstitial at all... And at the time, everyone was perfectly fine with opening the photo library to access the options that are now in that menu
> everyone was perfectly fine
This was never true, of course. You've slipped way down the slope of the mythical golden past.
But also, having the option not to show an empty menu is a trivial part of customization, so this is also solved in my suggested approach.
Re: “Gravity is worth asking about”
#44Broken Windows Theory works.
Re: “Gravity is worth asking about”
#45Even the 'own stickers' joke doesn't really apply anymore. I recently saw ads for Apple Fitness+ and Apple Intelligence in the system settings (!, I'll forgive the ads for Apple Care). Apple Creator Studio ads in the former iWork Apps (including abusing toolbar icons for it). Finally (luckily I haven't experienced it), ads for their F1 movie in Apple Wallet. It is gross and destroys what Apple stood for. Their introd…
The really annoying thing to me about the "Ads" in the system settings for various things like Apple Music, iCloud, Fitness, etc (other than the fact they're there in the first place) is that they appear after a bit of a delay (around 500 ms?), so other items I actually want have to slide down to make space as I'm about to click something.
Old Apple would never have done that I don't think.
Re: “Gravity is worth asking about”
#46I don't understand what the title has to do with the content.
The text quoted in a sibling comment implies the author is describing an effect whereby poor ux decisions - even if seemingly small - serve as a foundation to "attract" further negative patterns, gravity being the analogy.
Re: “Gravity is worth asking about”
#47I daily drive linux (arch btw) with all the adblocking bells and whistles and I was dumbfounded when I saw my grandma's PC with all the clutter and ads. Really makes you miss the old era.
When was the ad-free era on Windows (Home)? I don't remember it.
XP had crapware trial versions but you could disable them and there were never ads on the actual UI.
Re: “Gravity is worth asking about”
#48Even the 'own stickers' joke doesn't really apply anymore. I recently saw ads for Apple Fitness+ and Apple Intelligence in the system settings (!, I'll forgive the ads for Apple Care). Apple Creator Studio ads in the former iWork Apps (including abusing toolbar icons for it). Finally (luckily I haven't experienced it), ads for their F1 movie in Apple Wallet. It is gross and destroys what Apple stood for. Their introd…
The really annoying thing to me about the "Ads" in the system settings for various things like Apple Music, iCloud, Fitness, etc (other than the fact they're there in the first place) is that they appear after a bit of a delay (around 500 ms?), so other items I actually want have to slide down to make space as I'm about to click something. Old Apple would never have done that I don't think.
No they would not. This is probably biggest betrayal of Apple users I have experienced. Apple should never confuse their OS's as ad delivery systems.
Re: “Gravity is worth asking about”
#49Even the 'own stickers' joke doesn't really apply anymore. I recently saw ads for Apple Fitness+ and Apple Intelligence in the system settings (!, I'll forgive the ads for Apple Care). Apple Creator Studio ads in the former iWork Apps (including abusing toolbar icons for it). Finally (luckily I haven't experienced it), ads for their F1 movie in Apple Wallet. It is gross and destroys what Apple stood for. Their introd…
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Re: “Gravity is worth asking about”
#50The minimalist approach is great until it isn't. You can cover 98% of use cases with a single button is a great motto, until you are in the other 2%. I often fail to find basic functionality in software today, because some smart product manager decided that nobody really needs it. For example, it is now often impossible to load all elements from a list and filter/sort it along basic properties.
Does it satisfy 98% of users always? Or does it satisfy each user 98% of the time?
I would say I'm about 90% satisfied. Yesterday I just did a bunch of batch graphic conversations by opening multiple images in Preview. Selecting all the images in the sidebar. I could then batch process manual using preview.
It was an awesome experience and the first really exciting improvement I have seen in a long time.