iTunes 11: the convergence of iOS and OS X design • Hacker News Board

Re: iTunes 11: the convergence of iOS and OS X design

#51

Post by yen223 » Sat, Dec 01, 2012, 2:37 AM UTC

ComputerGuru wrote: post #5

purephase wrote: post #2

Funny, the one thing that is making we more and more wary of using Mac OSX in the future is the convergence of iOS. Different strokes, I guess. It just seems odd to celebrate it.

Absolutely agreed. Snow Leopard was the last "true" desktop OS. I really don't see the need for Launchpad and co. when everything is and always has been a cmd+space away. EDIT In response to the heated discussion below, it's not just the launchpad that has me a little peeved about Lion and ML (I'm on ML now). Some of things that are being taken from iOS that I don't necessarily feel belong on the desktop: natural scr…

> But my biggest pet peeve is just the sheer dumbing down of things. iTunes 11 is pretty, but why put everything a click away? What was so bad about a sidebar that makes everything instantly accessible and only takes 80px? Why does the app now prefer to be run in full screen?

Is "number-of-clicks" really the best metric to measure usability? I can't imagine something like this being considered a good interface, even though everything is one double-click away: http://it.sheridanc.on.ca/images/cluttered-desktop.jpg

Re: iTunes 11: the convergence of iOS and OS X design

#52

Post by ComputerGuru » Sat, Dec 01, 2012, 6:09 AM UTC

Osmium wrote: post #18

ComputerGuru wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Absolutely agreed. Snow Leopard was the last "true" desktop OS. I really don't see the need for Launchpad and co. when everything is and always has been a cmd+space away. EDIT In response to the heated discussion below, it's not just the launchpad that has me a little peeved about Lion and ML (I'm on ML now). Some of things that are being taken from iOS that I don't necessarily feel belong on the desktop: natural scr…

You can ignore features like Launchpad if you don't want them; I do. You can also revert scrolling behaviour, disable word suggestions and autocorrect, disable "all my files", simply not enable social media integration. These aren't hidden preferences, they're just a second away in system preferences. Meanwhile, by sticking to Snow Leopard, you miss out on: * Robust full disk encryption (and the underlying filesystem…

Apparently you missed the part where I said I'm on ML (and have done pretty much exactly what you suggest). I'm merely observing that I do not like the direction that OS X is taking in terms of UI/UX.

Re: iTunes 11: the convergence of iOS and OS X design

#53

Post by brainsqueezer » Sun, Dec 02, 2012, 10:20 AM UTC

yen223 wrote: post #51

ComputerGuru wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Absolutely agreed. Snow Leopard was the last "true" desktop OS. I really don't see the need for Launchpad and co. when everything is and always has been a cmd+space away. EDIT In response to the heated discussion below, it's not just the launchpad that has me a little peeved about Lion and ML (I'm on ML now). Some of things that are being taken from iOS that I don't necessarily feel belong on the desktop: natural scr…

> But my biggest pet peeve is just the sheer dumbing down of things. iTunes 11 is pretty, but why put everything a click away? What was so bad about a sidebar that makes everything instantly accessible and only takes 80px? Why does the app now prefer to be run in full screen? Is "number-of-clicks" really the best metric to measure usability? I can't imagine something like this being considered a good interface, even…

Good point. But can you find a better metric or pattern for this?

Re: iTunes 11: the convergence of iOS and OS X design

#54

Post by brainsqueezer » Sun, Dec 02, 2012, 10:24 AM UTC

pavlov wrote: post #23

roc wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I can't see Apple following Microsoft into a UI language that dispatches with affordance to the point that users are confused as to what's an actionable UI element and what isn't. I agree they're going that way ; to a definitely more-modern, understated look. But I think the big difference is going to be that they hold onto visual contrast precisely where Microsoft has let it go and/or confused it.

I'm not sure. In the new iTunes, almost all on-screen elements are now actionable, but only some of them have traditional visual indicators like button outlines or pop-up menu arrows. (For example, a playlist can be renamed by clicking on the large title which looks just like a static header.) The new iTunes UI doesn't have any mouse-hover effects either, apart from those that are part of the OS X standard window dec…

Good point. Hover is dead.