61–70 of 165 posts
So how hard was it for the developers to support iOS 7? If they used the correct core UI elements, the transition was seamless[~], right? Because with Android (until recent versions) such a major update in UI would have been a disaster (not that develoeprs care much, there aren't even strict UI guidelines). [~] edit: -smoothless | +seamless
Most of these look MUCH better after the redesign. And, surprisingly, they look a lot like Android apps. For years and years Apple was way ahead of Android on app design, but now I think an app that follows the iOS 7 design guidelines and the Android design guidelines will look about the same.
Everything looks a lot more like Android now. I am interested to see if Kit-Kat makes any significant stylistic changes.
Regardless, I think both iOS7 and Android both look very pleasant now.
Wow. Hipmunk is a great example, in my opinion, of how flat can be bad by removing so many visual cues. The old one is easy to see, understand, and instantaneously "grok", because of the depth cues and shading. The new one is a mess of plain colored boxes, where you have to spend time figuring out what is a header, what is a row, etc. -- it's not instantly obvious. The prices are clearly clickable on the left, on the…
Good UE is memorable and intuitive - and is often lacking in the many flat designs I've been seeing lately.
I really fear that flat design trend is making products less emotional, memorable and usable.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
The issue with "swiping" gestures in general is that most users will never learn about them. Even if you introduce them visually in some kind of intro walkthough, they're too easy to forget. The underlying problem that makes them a bad interaction paradigm, in my opinion, is that they have no affordances whatsoever. You just can't tell by looking at the UI that swiping left/right/up/down is going to have an effect.
For one thing, they're shown in Apple's promotional videos. How are users supposed to learn about any feature not represented by a button on screen? I'm thinking of the notification tray, control center, double-tap home button for multitasking, press home+power for screenshot, hold home button for Siri, and even older features like pinch to zoom and rotate.
The "after" screenshots don't seem to have anything in common anymore. Some of the apps look like Android, some look like Windows Phone, some look like Palm webOS. The previous iterations at least shared a few button styles and navigation bar styles, but now it seems like everyone has taken the opportunity to reinvent those too. It's certainly ok by me that app developers are taking more liberties in making their app…
To be fair it's a new style language. It's going to take time for people to normalize on designs. Eventually I think that there will be a more homogeneous experience, but right now everyone is trying to feel it out and explore. Design follows trends, but right now there aren't any trends to follow in ios7.
The "after" screenshots don't seem to have anything in common anymore. Some of the apps look like Android, some look like Windows Phone, some look like Palm webOS. The previous iterations at least shared a few button styles and navigation bar styles, but now it seems like everyone has taken the opportunity to reinvent those too. It's certainly ok by me that app developers are taking more liberties in making their app…
Most of these look MUCH better after the redesign. And, surprisingly, they look a lot like Android apps. For years and years Apple was way ahead of Android on app design, but now I think an app that follows the iOS 7 design guidelines and the Android design guidelines will look about the same.
Apple used to set the standard. It is sad to see them falling into derivative design, yet I do love the 1950's cosmonaut spaceship concept behind it.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
I noticed that too. Lots of the new apps have a distinctly "Android" feel to them, even to the point of Fancy having what looks clearly like an Android menu button (though not in the standard Android location). A fun flame war to start (i.e. let's please not) would be to argue whether this is due to app designers feeling an increasing need to target Android or whether it's because the truth is that iOS's "new look" s…
The simple truth probably is the company that made the app designed their Android version first and didn't bother to come up with a complete new app design for iOS, so they just kinda ported it. You can also find a lot of Android apps that seem to be directly ported from its iOS incarnations, instead of using native UI conventions.
I think another thing that is true is that mobile visual vocabulary is stabilizing, much as the desktop visual vocobulary of menu bars, window title bars, etc. did. That makes for a more boring app world, perhaps, but one users can potentially find more predictable and useful.