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Stop Changing UIs for No Good Reason

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Re: Stop Changing UIs for No Good Reason

#221

Post by chetanahuja »

meepmorp wrote: post #143
pbhjpbhj wrote: post #124

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> why is removing the key separators a good idea? // I've a suggestion for this one - key separators support a paradigm of key presses , following the [traditional] keyboard metaphor. However with swipe-able keyboards it doesn't really make sense, you only need to approximate the position of the letter during your swipe - no "barriers" helps to enforce that new paradigm. If most people swipe, then it makes sense to m…

> If most people swipe, then it makes sense to move away from representing the keyboard as a layout of switches (a key-board). reply Do most people swipe? I honestly have no idea, and I'm not an Android user. I'm wondering if there are any stats on that. Particularly for older or less techno-phile users, swiping keyboards might be difficult to get into using.

A large fraction of Android users around me use one of the swype type keyboards... but that could be because I've been evangelizing it for close to 5 years now to anybody who'll listen... it really is a genuinely better and faster way to input on the mobile.

Re: Stop Changing UIs for No Good Reason

#222

Post by shekhar101 »

smackfu wrote: post #158
shekhar101 wrote: post #122

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Man! Move on. Start using Here maps. I don't know why people are stuck with GMpas when far more superior alternative is available. They have a new android app as well!

Looks like Here maps isn't available for iOS.

Well yeah but at least it's better than both web and Android app of GMaps. Hope they release an iOS version soon.

Re: Stop Changing UIs for No Good Reason

#223

Post by hackmiester »

Mikeb85 wrote: post #174
hackmiester wrote: post #118

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't think users should have to tick the "behave in a less broken way" box.

Except the new way works better, and casual users who are used to the concept of 'an app for everything' won't mind...

I don't agree. Users understand a browser, and that it contains tabs. I'm sure people will get used to the new way, probably, but it's not something that was in need of innovation. It was well understood.

The new behavior is surprising to people who have used any phone browser before, and it will continue to be surprising to people who use their desktop browsers as a point of reference.

Re: Stop Changing UIs for No Good Reason

#224

Post by archagon »

protomyth wrote: post #198

Yosemite should be the case study right behind Windows 8 on how not to change a UI. Spotlight is horrible and harder to use (pop up away from mouse, UI smaller and harder to click). I still want to have a transcript from the meeting that decided the tabs on Safari should now "scrunch" to the right of the active tab instead of all the way to the right. It makes selecting the next tab without closing the current tab a…

You don't like the new Safari tabs? Have you tried using your trackpad or mouse wheel to scroll them horizontally?

To me, it's the best solution out of all the browsers. Firefox has a scrolling list, but all the tabs are the same size so they go off the screen. Chrome shrinks tabs down until they're illegible. Safari kind of does both, but you can spread them out in an analog way just by using your mouse. To me, it feels great.

Re: Stop Changing UIs for No Good Reason

#225

Post by shekhar101 »

rhblake wrote: post #155
shekhar101 wrote: post #116

Started switching to alternatives after Gmail redesign fiasco. Last nail in the coffin was Google maps 'redesign'. I loved both these products but have now moved on. Luckily for us Here maps is alive and kicking and it's so much better than GMaps! Why are people still stuck with Google Maps, I don't know. Here has everything and more. Real offline navigation! And they have an Android app too!

This needs more attention. I was pleasantly surprised to discover that Nokia's HERE recently became available in beta for all Android users (free): http://here.com/beta/android/?lang=en-US Having used a Windows Phone for some time before switching back to Android, the HERE maps app was the one thing I missed the most. Offline support is a must for me and Google Maps' offline 'support' is a joke. (I'm currently in Par…

Totally agreed. I don't why it isn't getting fraction of publicity that other less useful and I dare say stupid apps are getting. HERE simply rocks! I will never switch back to crappy web version of GMaps. HERE beats it in both web and Android version. Love it!

Re: Stop Changing UIs for No Good Reason

#226

Post by tormeh »

Al-Khwarizmi wrote: post #4
TeeWEE wrote: post #2

I thinks this guy is missing the point. Google did uix research and come up with a more usable design philosophy, which makes all apps more consistent. They are now executing those grand-design rules. In the end, apps should be more familiar, and easier to use. The change itself is always frustrating, people who are used to an uix (by learning it), hate change, even if the new uix is simpler.

How does eliminating the limits between keys improve the keyboard? How does eliminating the small symbols overlayed on the keys (for example I can type "!" by holding the A key) improve the keyboard? I think the guy has valid points, and your post is just an appeal to authority. Sadly it's not only google, it's also Microsoft (Windows 8), Gnome (3), Ubuntu (Unity), etc. This UI minimalism consisting in removing featu…

I think Unity's brilliant. My new test for desktop environments is to press the super/win key and then type the first three letters of an app I want and press enter. If a DE can't respond by opening the intended app then I don't use that DE. I don't know about OSX, but Windows, Unity and Gnome 3 all work that way. KDE Plasma and Gnome 2 don't.

Re: Stop Changing UIs for No Good Reason

#227

Post by VieElm »

Mikeb85 wrote: post #202
VieElm wrote: post #190

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't want joy, I want to be able to see my schedule this month and my schedule today, at a glance, so I don't lose my job.

You can change the view to give you a summary of all the events for each month... You click the top right menu button, and select 'schedule' instead of 'day' or '5 day'.

That's not even close to a month at a glance, that's a lengthy list of hour long intervals. If you had as much scheduled as I do you would see how worthless this view is. I'm in a meeting and my boss asked me when something is free for next week and I'm scrolling and swiping around looking pretty much incompetent while the client is on the phone.

Re: Stop Changing UIs for No Good Reason

#228

Post by 9point6 »

Someone1234 wrote: post #180
kaizendc wrote: post #145

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Exactly, it's mostly busywork.

I'd maybe agree regarding the UI/animation. But L has brought some significant improvements (ART, Project Volta, background batching API, et al). So it is a good release inspite of the UI/animation updates. Google Maps and Windows Search are two products that have been over-worked to death. Both were better in older iterations (Windows Search pre-Vista, Google Maps before they went all minimalism-stupid). Google Maps…

I would say Windows search pre-Vista was unusable in general due to the poor/non-existent indexing and poor support of non-ASCII formats or anything beyond basic file metadata. Microsoft's solution to the not being able to support every file-type under the sun was to allow plugins to provide new types, which work quite well IMO.

See: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IFilter

Re: Stop Changing UIs for No Good Reason

#229

Post by mdwrigh2 »

yuriks wrote: post #123
hyperpape wrote: post #45

"There are a bunch of new ‘transitions’ between elements. I don’t know what the battery cost actually is for this, but as a user I just don’t care about cute transitions between elements. I want fast interaction with my mobile device." This is poorly phrased at best. Transitions exist to make it obvious what is happening: e.g. you minimize a window and it zooms into the taskbar/dock, as a visual reminder that it's no…

The transitions the author is probably complaining about are menu transitions: Every time you tap on a menu item you get a outward radial animation thing. It looks tacky but, more importantly, adds a half-second delay to every menu interaction .

> It looks tacky but, more importantly, adds a half-second delay to every menu interaction.

No, it really doesn't. It's just an animation running in the RenderThread while the new Activity is loading on the UI (main) thread.

Re: Stop Changing UIs for No Good Reason

#230

Post by shawnwall »

asgard1024 wrote: post #65
shawnwall wrote: post #30

Google is making a huge amount of progress in UI and UX; the company has historically been rather mediocre in terms of it's UI and UX, while Apple was always the star. Over the past year or so the roles have reversed, and Google continues making strides towards unifying their applications in a single user experience and ui paradigm that allows for simpler app use, particularly for new users. It's easy to get upset wh…

> allows for simpler app use, particularly for new users Are you kidding me? So called "flat design", with nondescript icons indistinguishable from the surrounding text, is the worst thing ever for new users. How am I supposed to know that I can click (er, I mean, touch) something?

I'm not saying every choice they made is perfect. One of my qualms is the lack of backgrounds for button selection in areas with 'ok' and 'cancel' - which is one of the most important areas to give the user clear direction.
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