281–290 of 307 posts
Will my apps work on it? What architecture is this thing supposed to work with? Is it for smartphones or PC's? etc.
Pictures are pretty, btw (so I don't sound all negative ;p )
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As a matter of fact, I wrote that very program, Switchboard. It's getting late and I don't want to write a whole book about it's design (though I could), but basically here's the story: I saw some mockups Daniel Fore (the project's founder and lead designer) created for a hypothetical system settings app. Here's an example: http://danrabbit.deviantart.com/art/User-Accounts-Plug-19860... I set about coding the app. I…
The settings dashboard design with icons and text goes back a long way, including Windows 3.1 and Windows 95: http://www.guidebookgallery.org/pics/gui/settings/menu/win31... http://www.guidebookgallery.org/pics/gui/settings/menu/win95... I think it's still a clean, elegant way to present OS settings on modern computers (large display, mouse input). The best way "discovered" to date. So if anyone is copying anyone, it…
God MS screwed 95 up so badly.
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Let's see if I have that right: * The designer did it, not me! * I argued with him for months and ended up saying "ah, screw it". * Ubuntu and Gnome do it too! I don't see any of these as exculpatory. Not that what you've done is necessarily wrong per se , I'd just rather you come by it honestly. I don't think any of these designs (or for example some of the icons - or even the decision to group elements into these c…
This is one thing that frustrates me about Hacker News, and why I am considering just not bothering with this site in the future. Anytime I am honest about my reactions to stuff, along come the downvoters. You cannot justifiably call people on bullshit, vacuousness, "buck-passing", intellectual laziness, or anything like that. You just have to let everybody else's bullshit slide, or pad your criticism with passive ag…
> Did we actively intend for it to be reminiscent of OS X? Absolutely not
This statement is a total lie.
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It looks like it's a Darwin/GTK3 open source OS and desktop environment. Previous release "Jupiter" of 2011 was based on Linux. Has its own development library, "Granite". I'm surprised I haven't heard of it before, it does look interesting. About the move from Linux to Darwin: http://elementaryos.org/journal/changes-coming-elementary-os
so that post is clearly an April fools joke. it even says it is at the bottom. They kept the name Luna and I suspect is not based on Darwin either.
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> Do I change the settings app JUST to look different than OS X, and lose out on the well-established excellence of Apple's design? I want to single that statement out and go on from there. I'm a bit hesitant to write this comment because, well, I'm about to criticize you and Apple, and at least the latter tends to invite downvotes and a not so nice discussion. But I think it is important to try to get that message a…
> Take the global menu Ubuntu copied. It sacrifices visibility and therefore discoverability of the menu items for visual appeal. I think you are missing some context. Early Apple experiments in GUI design initially used multiple menu bars anchored to the tops of windows, but this was quickly dropped in favor of the current arrangement,[1] as it proved slower to use (in accordance with Fitts's law). The idea of separ…
PS: Hiding the items has nothing to do with Fitts Law, it even destroys its applicability...
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OS X System Preferences screenshot: http://imgur.com/RLB8JZp ElementaryOS settings screenshot: http://i.imgur.com/vnjmHrQ.png It's got the same left-aligned, bolded categories, in the same order, with almost identical text. It even senselessly copied the choice of the Apple Magic Mouse as the mouse icon. That tiny smudge at the bottom represents the Apple logo! I don't mean to suggest that an ElementaryOS designer is…
As a matter of fact, I wrote that very program, Switchboard. It's getting late and I don't want to write a whole book about it's design (though I could), but basically here's the story: I saw some mockups Daniel Fore (the project's founder and lead designer) created for a hypothetical system settings app. Here's an example: http://danrabbit.deviantart.com/art/User-Accounts-Plug-19860... I set about coding the app. I…
However, you didn't comment on the mouse icon. Maybe the inspiration from OS X's in this particular (and very minor) case went overboard. I think that things like this give lots of ammunition to naysayers and people who are destructively critic in nature.
Maybe it would be a good idea to make sure there are no isolated UI elements (like icons) that draw a high amount of verbatim visual inspiration from Apple's. ;-)
I have been a developer for elementary for 3 years, and I am part of the elementary core team. I am also personally close friends with much of the design and development team, including the project's founder and lead designer, Daniel Foré. There seems to be a lot of feedback here which basically says "this trying to rip off OS X". I would like to offer you some insight into our internal assessment of these claims. Is…
I don't have nearly the problem of an OSX-lookalike as some. I used OSX for years because it was basically the prettiest POSIX system available. And like you say, a lot is simply good design. Apple didn't invent nearly as much as their marketing department (and legal) would have us believe. Tangentially, I've fallen in love with tiling WMs, but they all seem mediocre at best. @aroman it'd be awesome if you guys made…
I still switch to Windows occasionally for gaming (although I try to limit my gaming habit). Another reason for using Windows for me would be screen capture software (Webcammax [best], Manycam, more...) which is completely absent from Linux (hint hint, elementary. I think this could be revolutionary).
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All I can say in response to this is that design is easier said than done. We didn't copy, we came to the same conclusions. I'm not saying those are the only conclusions, but we're not human-computer interaction theorists, we build practical things. Sometimes practicality trumps purity, and sometimes purity trumps idealism. If you're criticizing us for not being perfect and not innovating enough, I can't argue. But d…
And that there are exactly four of them so it turned out like the well-established excellence of Apples design is an happy accident as well? ;) Come on - it is highly unlikely you (=the project) would've arrived at the current result without some form of OSX influence. Anyway, that's beside the point, and if you find that insulting I won't repeat it here - probably enough comments in that direction for now. Trying to…
I might have older icons because I'm running Lion on this hard drive (I've got Mountain Lion on my other drive, I don't recall any icon differences) but their icons do not look the same as mine.
Your previous comment was a slew of accusations that they have copied OSX (with few examples of such copying), along with ranting about how unspectacular Apple is. They never stated there was no influence from OSX; it's obvious there is, and there is nothing wrong with that.
To the devs, congratulations on a truly stunning OS, I think I will be swapping out my Linux Mint install very soon.
Does it play mp3 and movies without requiring anything to do?
Very valid question. Every 6 years or so, I install a Linux just out of curiosity, to see the progress it has made over the years. Each time, I am disappointed some essential piece of hardware need a crazy amount of compiling and googling before being able to use them (sound card, microphone, etc...). I will give this one a try.