I'm gonna wager that "flat" will mean something akin to the google iOS maps app -- very subtle affordances, gradients, etc, without being overkill.
Apple’s Jony Ive Pushing iOS Interface Team For ‘Flat’ Design
41–50 of 95 posts
Re: Apple’s Jony Ive Pushing iOS Interface Team For ‘Flat’ Design
#42Earlier quoted context omitted.
Possibly because they'll do it right and not have the amorphous mess that is Windows 8? There's sparks of brilliance in Metro, but it's too goddamn flat. It's not obvious what parts of the UI can be clicked and manipulated. Apple is also hailed as genius for "inventing the tablet" even though Microsoft tried to make tablets happen for a decade before the iPad. It's just an example of execution having more impact than…
Dismissing Microsoft's metro design by calling Windows 8 is a typical example of a straw man that you get to see here on HN. Flat design as it is done in the Metro UI on Windows 8 is gorgeous particularly on touch based machines. The fact that there also exists an older UI is because of the legacy that Microsoft has to support It's the price you have to pay for being in business for 30 years. I clearly see the need t…
I'm talking about Metro. It's very pretty, but it's not all that functional. It uses space poorly and it's hard to distinguish what is manipulable and what is not. It's particularly problematic on WP8, because at least on a larger screen the physical separation of the UI elements gives some clue to what does what. E.g. the "people" app on WP8 is quite a mess. It's not at all clear how to get around in it.
Re: Apple’s Jony Ive Pushing iOS Interface Team For ‘Flat’ Design
#43Why do I have the impression that if they go flat, they'll be hailed as geniuses and Microsoft will be forgotten forever? (This comment guaranteed 100% conspirationist and crazy)
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Re: Apple’s Jony Ive Pushing iOS Interface Team For ‘Flat’ Design
#44Why do I have the impression that if they go flat, they'll be hailed as geniuses and Microsoft will be forgotten forever? (This comment guaranteed 100% conspirationist and crazy)
Why do you think Microsoft invented flat UI design? I for one will miss the current iOS design. I'm 1 year into Android and I'm still way faster on iOS. There is a clear distinction between what is interaction vs. what is not and my eye instantly maps out the interactive elements on the screen.
Using my Dad's iPhone tonight was absolutely infuriating. I finally gave it back and told him to figure it out himself. That interface, the lack of a back button, it's so damn frustrating.
The IM button with my old email address magically taking me to Facebook was one thing, still no freaking clue why it took me to Facebook. And then I couldn't go "Back", because there is no "Back". I tried the in-app back button - no, that was a huge mistake. So I double-tapped the home key and choose Phone or Contacts or whatever it is... and guess what? It was a completely different contact. What the hell? How am I supposed to get back to where I just was?
Re: Apple’s Jony Ive Pushing iOS Interface Team For ‘Flat’ Design
#45Earlier quoted context omitted.
Hate to be a fanboy, but probably because they'd do an awesome job of it (where MS certainly has not).
Apple can really do no wrong. It's impossible to think of any proposal Apple could have which would not receive this response, unless it was inoculating orphans with polio or something.
Not only does Apple get criticized all the time, they get criticized the most by their own fans, as five minutes spent on any popular Apple forum would illustrate. Anyone who thinks that they get a pass for everything is intentionally ignoring both the media and the users.
Re: Apple’s Jony Ive Pushing iOS Interface Team For ‘Flat’ Design
#46Earlier quoted context omitted.
Why do you think Microsoft invented flat UI design? I for one will miss the current iOS design. I'm 1 year into Android and I'm still way faster on iOS. There is a clear distinction between what is interaction vs. what is not and my eye instantly maps out the interactive elements on the screen.
Using my Dad's iPhone tonight was absolutely infuriating. I finally gave it back and told him to figure it out himself. That interface, the lack of a back button, it's so damn frustrating. The IM button with my old email address magically taking me to Facebook was one thing, still no freaking clue why it took me to Facebook. And then I couldn't go "Back", because there is no "Back". I tried the in-app back button - n…
Don't even get me started on the Android "back button". I am still regularly baffled by its behaviour. Especially when combined with the "app within an app" you get when one app launches into another. Except not really.
Android Police has a great writeup on Android design weirdness with a section titled 'The Back Button - Let's Just Rename It "Shuffle" '
http://www.androidpolice.com/2013/02/04/stock-android-isnt-p...
Re: Apple’s Jony Ive Pushing iOS Interface Team For ‘Flat’ Design
#47Why do I have the impression that if they go flat, they'll be hailed as geniuses and Microsoft will be forgotten forever? (This comment guaranteed 100% conspirationist and crazy)
Metro flat results in poor UX, because we aren't conditioned to consider squares interactive objects; they have to be either underlined or round. It will probably be closer to Google's newer designs: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/id585027354?mt=8 .
Exactly. This is the problem.
Android exasperates the problem by occasionally having interactive elements which look exactly identical to non-interactive elements. In "Settings>About>Phone Identity" I see 6 cells in a table. None of them look interactive. I would be 83% correct. One of them is. What is its behaviour? Tap to find out! Tapping "Phone name" results in a dialog with keyboard entry.
Also, in some menus the cells have a switch on the right side. Tapping the switch of course toggles it. But for some of them, tapping the cell that contains the switch will toggle the switch and for others, there's an entirely other context hidden behind that cell! Tapping the cell brings you to another screen, instead of toggling the switch. How are these discoverable? This is insane.
Re: Apple’s Jony Ive Pushing iOS Interface Team For ‘Flat’ Design
#48Earlier quoted context omitted.
Yes, this. Look at the new podcast app that was just updated.
the old one, for anyone who never saw it, was made to look like a reel-to-reel magnetic tape player.
Wow, I've been using the new update all day and never noticed that they changed the look until just now after reading your comment and looking directly at it.
Re: Apple’s Jony Ive Pushing iOS Interface Team For ‘Flat’ Design
#49Earlier quoted context omitted.
Using my Dad's iPhone tonight was absolutely infuriating. I finally gave it back and told him to figure it out himself. That interface, the lack of a back button, it's so damn frustrating. The IM button with my old email address magically taking me to Facebook was one thing, still no freaking clue why it took me to Facebook. And then I couldn't go "Back", because there is no "Back". I tried the in-app back button - n…
Don't even get me started on the Android "back button". I am still regularly baffled by its behaviour. Especially when combined with the "app within an app" you get when one app launches into another. Except not really. Android Police has a great writeup on Android design weirdness with a section titled 'The Back Button - Let's Just Rename It "Shuffle" ' http://www.androidpolice.com/2013/02/04/stock-android-isnt-p...
It goes backward. It goes wherever you just were, unless it takes you up a level, and if you just press it again, it takes you back to the app you were in. It's really not hard.
Contact app -> app an email address -> Gmail Compose window -BACK-> Contact app on the contact you were just on.
It takes you backward, it is what makes intents and app interaction work. I can understand why its confusing to an Apple user because there is no equivalent functionality in iOS.
Here, pretend there is no back button, yay! Android works like iOS and I'd go freaking insane. It sure as hell beats what happened to me in iOS tonight, who on Earth finds that usable? Every time one app invokes another I'm expected to go back to the homescreen and drill back down into the original app? Just shoot me.
Re: Apple’s Jony Ive Pushing iOS Interface Team For ‘Flat’ Design
#50Why do I have the impression that if they go flat, they'll be hailed as geniuses and Microsoft will be forgotten forever? (This comment guaranteed 100% conspirationist and crazy)
Possibly because they'll do it right and not have the amorphous mess that is Windows 8? There's sparks of brilliance in Metro, but it's too goddamn flat. It's not obvious what parts of the UI can be clicked and manipulated. Apple is also hailed as genius for "inventing the tablet" even though Microsoft tried to make tablets happen for a decade before the iPad. It's just an example of execution having more impact than…
>Apple is also hailed as genius for "inventing the tablet" even though Microsoft tried to make tablets happen for a decade before the iPad
The iPad has more in common with the Newton, which came years before the Tablet PC.
Tablet PCs, while great (I liked them anyway, especially with OneNote) might have been called a tablet, but it had little in common with the tablet concepts as presented in the iPad. Tablet PCs didn't even get capacitive touch until after iOS devices came out. They were wholly stylus-based until then -- no pinches or swipes.