iOS 7 • Hacker News Board

Re: iOS 7

#51

Post by deskmonkey » Wed, Jun 12, 2013, 6:08 PM UTC

>iOS 7 is a decluttering of the most exciting, profitable, desirable mobile operating system available. It’s a shift away from artefact, and back to essence. It indicates a clarity of vision, and a continued willingness to pursue simplicity ruthlessly.

>The new iOS is designed for a different environment, and a different maturity of mobile user: one who recognises simplicity for what Jony Ive believes it is. Not something as pedestrian as familiarity or consistency for its own sake, but rather focus and clarity.

Then why does the homescreen look like a high resolution version with garish colors of this from >20 years ago?

http://images.yourdictionary.com/images/computer/_PROGMAN.GI...

If you really want to see "a continued willingness to pursue simplicity ruthlessly." compare the homescreens of Windows Phone with all other mobile platforms including iOS, Android, Blackberry, Jolla, UbuntuOS, Symbian.

For example of a real transition, see Windows Mobile to Windows Phone.

>Too many interfaces run immediately to the well-worn toolbox of simulation and explicitness, imposing a cognitive straitjacket not only on the user, but also the designer. We too easily forget that the only thing that matters to people are their goals: their own tasks, and content. With limited attention, we want to devote our focus to what’s important, rather than distractions and artifice masquerading as design traditions.

I thought "Content over chrome" and "Authentically digital" were Microsoft's buzzwords.

>Apple’s philosophy – and particular genius – has always been in sieving the demands of users, technologies and the cultural zeitgeist, and finding the right hundred things to remove for every one thing to keep.

It's all hardware design guru Ive's genius, indeed, to come up to speed with state-of-the-art UI design in just 7 months and come out with this, which looks like Android fonts and Metro UI had a baby that was dipped in fluorescent colors.

Sure, Android and Windows phone copied a whole lot from iPhone, but I don't see the blogosphere give them credit for, say the one click app installs, and calling them geniuses for doing so.

Re: iOS 7

#52

Post by prollyignored » Wed, Jun 12, 2013, 6:08 PM UTC

dylangs1030 wrote: post #16

I'm glad someone wrote a blog post like this. It's getting to be somewhat annoying how many people are whining about Windows Phone and Android similarities. Design and engineering decisions are not made in a vacuum. Android copies from iOS and vice versa - they each follow the cultural trends of smart design. I would much rather see blog posts like this - where the author considers the iOS in its own right instead of…

I love half eaten apples !

Re: iOS 7

#53

Post by gknoy » Wed, Jun 12, 2013, 6:09 PM UTC

aroman wrote: post #43

smacktoward wrote: post #27

iOS 7 foregoes borders, instead relying on colour to indicate interactivity Good thing there aren't people out there who are color-blind, then... Oh, wait.

I thought about this too, but then realized it's a completely moot point unless you are black/white color blind (which virtually nobody is). Differing colors are NOT being used to indicate differing actions. They're just being used to indicate interactivity in general , and it doesn't matter if you see that indicator as red or green (the most common form of colorblindness).

You hint at it, but there are more flavors of color blindness than red/green. When I learned that my (former) boss was color-blind, I spend an hour on wikipedia and learned way more about color blindness than I had realized there was to know.

Re: iOS 7

#54

Post by McPants » Wed, Jun 12, 2013, 6:11 PM UTC

runjake wrote: post #42

Domenic_S wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Borrowing ideas is only a big deal if you're ripping on those you borrow from. Like if someone from Apple were to say "MS just can't do design right, Metro is terrible start to finish" and then they borrow from Metro, that's newsworthy. Following current design trends and adding a splash of your own flavor to them... that's status quo, isn't it?

You're missing the whole point of my comment. Yes, that's the status quo. But Apple's (and their pundits') history of snarky comments against this is why people are dishing this criticism. "Some of their own medicine" as it were.

It's homeopathic medicine in comparison.

Re: iOS 7

#55

Post by speeder » Wed, Jun 12, 2013, 6:15 PM UTC

smacktoward wrote: post #27

iOS 7 foregoes borders, instead relying on colour to indicate interactivity Good thing there aren't people out there who are color-blind, then... Oh, wait.

A friend of mine that do not see green will love it (she sees mostly only red, green she sees as 100% colorless, and blue she sees partially)

Re: iOS 7

#56

Post by jmduke » Wed, Jun 12, 2013, 6:15 PM UTC

jamesaguilar wrote: post #48

jmduke wrote: post #34

Man, iOS 7 feedback is incredibly frustrating for no reason that actually matters. I feel like I spent the past few years falling in love with flat design, on mobile and on the web -- and I read article after article from historically pro-Apple bloggers/authors explaining that no, flat design was fundamentally a bad move: the strongest metaphor is that of the phone as a tool -- that we needed skeumorphism, we need hi…

Most people are saying the same things about Apple as they said about Microsoft with the flat design stuff. This is one of the few positive articles I've seen on HN about iOS 7. I don't understand why you are frustrated reading about this OS when the vast majority of what's been written so far essentially agrees with what you've said. You'd prefer no dissenting articles rather than a handful? Anyway, even if Apple we…

I don't understand why you are frustrated reading about this OS when the vast majority of what's been written so far essentially agrees with what you've said.

Perhaps our browsing history is different: I've read negative feedback about iOS 7 but it's mainly from the Dribbble crowd. I'd say the majority of the feedback from the tech press/blogosphere has been gushing.

Anyway, even if Apple were broadly being lauded for it now, that would be expected. Microsoft pioneered this look in the mobile space. Obviously they were going to catch more flak for it. The first one to try something new always gets criticism from the essentially conservative press and public.

I completely agree, but this is what frustrates me so much.

Re: iOS 7

#57

Post by rogerbraun » Wed, Jun 12, 2013, 6:17 PM UTC

bcks wrote: post #2

Why yes, I would like to enhance text legibility: http://i.imgur.com/5XhQsM9.png

This seems like a compromise. Someone knew that the standard text was somewhat hard to read, so he tried to change the standard setting, but someone with more power wanted to keep it. So they implemented the larger size as an option.

Re: iOS 7

#58

Post by daughart » Wed, Jun 12, 2013, 6:18 PM UTC

ryanstout wrote: post #5

Hopefully I'm not the only one that thinks this is going to kill usability. The reason old people can figure their way around This article seems to sum up some of my other complaints fairly well: http://wolfslittlestore.be/tasteless/

Linked article is one of the worst offenders I've seen for unsubstantiated whining.

I'm sorry I just don't see why many of these things are so terrible. It's like every designer thinks their personal taste is an objective standard...

Re: iOS 7

#59

Post by tolmasky » Wed, Jun 12, 2013, 6:19 PM UTC

You will, however, probably find that it feels more fluid, responsive and modern.

Sounds like someone who hasn't actually installed it yet. Perhaps it will feel more fluid and responsive when it ships, but that is not the case today.

Re: iOS 7

#60

Post by dylangs1030 » Wed, Jun 12, 2013, 6:19 PM UTC

jmduke wrote: post #34

Man, iOS 7 feedback is incredibly frustrating for no reason that actually matters. I feel like I spent the past few years falling in love with flat design, on mobile and on the web -- and I read article after article from historically pro-Apple bloggers/authors explaining that no, flat design was fundamentally a bad move: the strongest metaphor is that of the phone as a tool -- that we needed skeumorphism, we need hi…

This is not a fair response to the industry in my opinion.

iOS 7 is not just "flat" - at the risk of sounding like a fanboy, it's so much more than that. You're judging it based on the most obvious first impression - the icons and such.

Those can be improved, yes (especially Safari's...) but you're not reviewing the actual interface. I'm typing this comment on iOS 7 and I assure you it feels smoother. There are kinks to be worked out but the operating system's interface is more intuitive, which allows for more usable space and memory dedicated to features.

You sound kind of bitter about bloggers being fickle; getting past that, I think the design's interface actually looks very polished. It's "smarter" and only has a very small learning curve. Even apps like news:yc (what I'm using now) feel faster and "lighter" despite not yet being optimized for the iOS yet.

The whole thing feels like a more lightweight, versatile experience. I encourage you to download iOS 7's beta and try it out if you can.