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Liquid Glass Is Cracked, and Usability Suffers in iOS 26

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511–520 of 538 posts

Re: Liquid Glass Is Cracked, and Usability Suffers in iOS 26

#511
post #240

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Beyond that, it’s buggy and inconsistent. In dark mode, text boxes suddenly become light mode when they expand to add a second entry line. Buttons aren’t aligned within their containers properly. Some times buttons are in light mode when my phone is in dark mode, or if I open an app, it starts out in light mode and then suddenly switches to dark mode after a second or two. There is a noticeable lag when I back out of…

Sounds like it was QAd by AI.

And not just any AI, probably Apple Intelligence given the level of quality.

Re: Liquid Glass Is Cracked, and Usability Suffers in iOS 26

#512
post #501

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I guess that’s my problem. At this point I don’t trust that they DO have an endgame. I think this WAS it and they just ignored all the problems. I’m sure we’ll all get used to it. Just like we got used to a lot of the problems that the iOS 7 redesign brought. But that doesn’t mean we’re actually moving forward and getting better. We seem to be finding new ways to get worse. You can look at screenshots of OS X 10.4 or…

I agree, from all the directions to make their UX foundation evolve that’s the weirdest one. If they don’t have anything else that make sense for it all then it’s the start of the decline for them I guess. I hate android UX, I tried and I hate it, Samsung is the worst for me.

I don’t have a ton of exposure to android but I wasn’t a fan of what I have used. I can’t remember if it was the Samsung version or not but it doesn’t really matter I don’t think I “think like” Google so I don’t think it will ever be a fit for me.

Similarly I’m not a Windows fan. I used it for decades but I’m happier with the way the Mac works. I’ve used Linux, the various GUIs are fine and just like Windows I could live with them. But the Mac works better for me.

So as they destroy both platforms I’m stuck with nowhere to go. It’s not like Windows is getting better.

Though I would probably go to Linux first, just for the Unix guts.

Re: Liquid Glass Is Cracked, and Usability Suffers in iOS 26

#513
I’m using a very stable iPhone 11, and was very content. I upgraded to iOS 18.7.1, anfter checking online feedback, then I started having a Carplay issue when on phone calls. Support suggested updating to iOS 26, and boy was that a mistake: glitchy, latency, and UI annoyances. Where is the DeLorean!

Re: Liquid Glass Is Cracked, and Usability Suffers in iOS 26

#514
The worse thing is that they managed to use even more white space in some place. In recent iOS (and macOS) it was already becoming very dumb, people got bigger displays only to show more space instead of content but they managed to make it even worse. Information density is at a very low point, this is a clear departure from what made Mac OS X feel like a powerful tool (I missed the compact inspectors so much).

It feels like Apple is catering for the lowest common denominator, people who only use technology to do social media and photos, a bit like those mediocre books with a gigantic font size that end up being a gazillions pages and a pain to handle even though there isn't much to read after all.

Apple is just trying too hard to be fashionable instead of being a company dedicated to good technology. Bicycle for the mind no more...

Re: Liquid Glass Is Cracked, and Usability Suffers in iOS 26

#515
post #454
post #280

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The recently presented ChatGPT apps are what Apple Intelligence (and Siri) should've been. Some chat/voice interface, that can access data from installed apps and trigger actions. It should've been a home run for Apple. ChatGPT starts with zero existing apps, Apple has one of the biggest app ecosystem, and with (Siri) Shortcuts they already have most of the necessary interfaces available for years.

I think this will be an Apple Maps situation. Embarrassing initially, but a few years later, there’ll be a perfectly usable product.

Well it's useable sure but also not very good/useful. From a directions/routing standpoint it's pretty decent and I'm OK with how the route planning works. But they miss many POIs and the data they have is often stale, and their version of street view, while smoother, is not up to snuff at all.

I think it's really annoying and a major reason I have stopped using it even though I was an advocate at first. Apple can't be bothered to invest as much as Google did to have a proper open map system, with a good web version where people/business can post/add data easily. At this point the privacy stick is tiring because we don't get anything from it and they will comply/sell the data the minute they can profit from it anyway (as they have shown).

So, you just end up paying more for a product that is clearly worse and won't become much better because of Apple's ideology and how stingy they are. They generate a lot of cash but are unable to invest it in proper competitive software.

There are many bad things to be said about Google, but at least they manage to serve pretty good software that is open to everyone...

Re: Liquid Glass Is Cracked, and Usability Suffers in iOS 26

#516
post #502

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> No one wants an actual touch screen, but they definitely want a really narrow touchscreen directly above their keyboard. It’s contextual The reason why I don't want an actual touch screen on my laptop (after using two laptops with one) is because it's just not ergonomic. For one thing, operating it strains the arm very quickly. For another, it means covering the screen with fingerprints, although that's less of an…

Just like big screens on phones weren’t ergonomic and a stylus for a tablet meant the tablet interface had failed. It’s a bad idea right until Apple does it. (Which is not to say that Apple might not do it better if/when they decide to do it.) An upright screen that you need to use for lots of input would indeed result in the arm becoming tired quickly. But no one actually uses their touchscreen laptops like that. It…

Yes and for things like manipulating maps/photos (zooming and scrolling around) it's quite convenient. The point is that it's stupid to not have it in laptops that cost this much money anyway. Anyone who doesn't want to use it doesn't have to and for the rest it can only allow more interaction methods.

In any case I think that the MacBook designs are stale and really stuck in the past, for now they only win because of the build quality and the silicon. But competitors are quite close, so if Apple continue with their destruction of macOS there won't many reasons to keep buying.

Re: Liquid Glass Is Cracked, and Usability Suffers in iOS 26

#517

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And what about online tutorials, marketing, user manuals, customer support? You probably want your app to look consistent with that too, right? Do you really expect or even want to sift through multiple different versions of tutorials and guides? As long as an app is easy to use, people prefer a single look. No one cares about "looking like the OS", except maybe 0.1% of users.

> As long as an app is easy to use, people prefer a single look No, people are used to an UI language, which in the case of iOS is quite consistent across applications. You expect certain things to work (e.g. flicking in from the left edge means "go back"). There are platform-specific patterns and I'd rather have the app behave accordingly rather than being consistent with other OS' version. The real 0.1% here are pr…

This just isn't supported by data. Breaking users into two categories: users who develop a universal mental model of software, and users who develop application specific mental models. The latter group is the overwhelming majority. People don't learn iOS, they learn Spotify.

Designing with this in mind annoys the hell out of people in the former group, no doubt. Those people are likely love customizable software so they can make it the same everywhere. It's super common in Linux setups.

Re: Liquid Glass Is Cracked, and Usability Suffers in iOS 26

#518
post #31

This update is one of the rare cases where I really dislike the new version. I’m usually happy with Apple updates, even ones the commentators dislike. This time I’m sorta agreeing with them: I don’t like the new iOS. Same with the Mac and iPad: other than being glitchy, I just don’t like the changes. It feels like my screen real estate isn’t as efficiently used, UI elements feel jumbled and the transparency makes thi…

I suppose an upvote should be sufficient, but I am so unhappy with the new UI I am actually holding off switching to a new M4 MBP and sticking to my old M1 still on Sequoia 15.7.1. I also try to give these things time and I am usually ok with the changes eventually, but the new UI elements are so incredibly distracting it's actually affecting my ability to focus on what I'm actually doing.

If you are a pro user its generally not a good idea to install the latest upgrade immediately.

Re: Liquid Glass Is Cracked, and Usability Suffers in iOS 26

#520

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> On MacOS, it even requires running terminal commands at startup to fix performance regressions. You can't just say that and not share the goods

Sorry about that, caveat that these are commands I found online which I don't honestly entirely know what they do. They seem harmless enough. launchctl setenv CHROME_HEADLESS 1 defaults write -g NSAutoFillHeuristicControllerEnabled -bool false

> security advocate
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