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Stop Changing UIs for No Good Reason

lobste.rs

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Re: Stop Changing UIs for No Good Reason

#11

Post by xienze »

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.

> 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.

That's all well and good, but they seem to do this every two years or so.

Re: Stop Changing UIs for No Good Reason

#12

Post by tomp »

ShonM wrote: post #6
DontBeADick wrote: post #5

I stopped updating all my Google apps ~2 years ago because there were so many asinine, unintuitive UI changes with each new version. A lot of their changes didn't even conform to the standards recommended by Google (e.g. menu button locations). It's almost as if the UI team gets bored and decides to make changes just because they need to occupy themselves. And then instead of testing them with actual users, they just…

At the very least, now it seems Google is making all their applications fairly standardized in their UI/UX. I think that's Material Design at work, but I'm far from a UI/UX person.

Unfortunately, in about 3-5 years, there will be a new trend, the Immaterial design, that every company will just have to follow!

Re: Stop Changing UIs for No Good Reason

#13

Post by jbb555 »

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.

> Google did uix research and come up with a more usable design philosophy, which makes all apps more consistent.

It will be like everywhere else. Someone wanted to change stuff to make their mark and found a way to get survey results that confirmed their decision.

Re: Stop Changing UIs for No Good Reason

#16

Post by jbb555 »

spindritf wrote: post #3

I'm rarely if ever troubled by UI changes but it took me a good moment before I figured out how to rerfresh your inbox in new Gmail. It's pretty obvious that you need to drag down when there are messages but without any (inbox zero) acting as an indicator, I went through all the options, and only picked the right move by accident. If you're just starting out and don't have a feel for the mobile paradigm, those gestur…

The new gmail is ok although it has absolutely no advantages over the old one so it's merely irritating they changed it just because they could. Except for the compose button over the top of my text which is really awful and I hate it so much

Re: Stop Changing UIs for No Good Reason

#17

Post by _lce0 »

pilsetnieks wrote: post #10
_lce0 wrote: post #7

I was anxiously expecting the update, but man that keyword is a deal breaker. Can it be configured as dark themed? The keyboard is a central point for UX, I've already moved away from Samsung for the same reason, and will hold the update if I'm forced to use that keyword

There are four themes for the builtin keyboard now: - Material Light (the default, the one that's shown in the article); - Material Dark (the same but dark); - Holo White (the old one); - Holo Blue (the old one with blue accents)

sweet! can you post a shot?

Re: Stop Changing UIs for No Good Reason

#18

Post by profinger »

I'm so glad someone finally said it! I'm tired of this crap.

This applies to physical products too. These companies change their labels so much.. It just makes it more difficult to find and leaves me, as a consumer, confused when shopping unsure that I'm buying the correct product. Yes, things needs to be updated and kept "pretty" but can we keep a base? Or can we agree, at least, to pick something and stick to it?!

Re: Stop Changing UIs for No Good Reason

#19

Post by sp332 »

ShonM wrote: post #6
DontBeADick wrote: post #5

I stopped updating all my Google apps ~2 years ago because there were so many asinine, unintuitive UI changes with each new version. A lot of their changes didn't even conform to the standards recommended by Google (e.g. menu button locations). It's almost as if the UI team gets bored and decides to make changes just because they need to occupy themselves. And then instead of testing them with actual users, they just…

At the very least, now it seems Google is making all their applications fairly standardized in their UI/UX. I think that's Material Design at work, but I'm far from a UI/UX person.

Ars Technica just published an article complaining about Google not following their own design rules in Lollipop. https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2014/11/the-nexus-10-lollipo...

Re: Stop Changing UIs for No Good Reason

#20

Post by therealmarv »

I really like the new design and it did not changed too often in my opinion. UI design is like fashion for me and when it changes for good (I thing I like the Lollipop design) every 3-5 years this is a good thing.

When speaking about productivity and design:

So we should all stay on Windows XP because everybody knows it and how to use it?

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