Apple introduces a universal design across platforms • Hacker News Board

Re: Apple introduces a universal design across platforms

#621

Post by wvenable » Tue, Jun 10, 2025, 1:06 AM UTC

sakesun wrote: post #620

The Liquid Glass terrified me as someone started in green monochrome CRT days. Software people really have endless creative ways to spend hardware resource quota. Perhaps human should be less obsessed in twisting nature to serve our comfort, and just adapt ourselves more to what nature provides.

> Software people really have endless creative ways to spend hardware resource quota.

If we have the hardware then not using it is wasteful. My iPhone doesn't get cheaper if I don't use all the power it provides.

Re: Apple introduces a universal design across platforms

#622

Post by amlib » Tue, Jun 10, 2025, 1:07 AM UTC

whatever1 wrote: post #124

bluSCALE4 wrote: post #84

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Window's problem has always been their legacy systems. I believe to this day you can bring up windows 95 era dialogs somehow in Windows 11?

It’s also a much deeper and broader ui. In the past 20 years of using windows I don’t recall one time that I needed to bring up the command line to do something. Linux on the other hand is a constant battle with random commands with close to zero discoverability. macOS sits somewhere in between, but definitely a way more ui friendly system compared to the various Linux desktop distros

You seem out of touch with the current trends, as it is right now you have to open a command line window during the installation of windows and run some commands just so you have the privillege of being able to install the system without the requirement of an online account. (And it's now a mandatory procedure if you have no internet access! You are locked up from even proceeding with installation until supplying access to the internet, unless you do that CLI kung-fu) Also, make sure you have the correct incantation because Microsoft keeps changing it from time to time!

I've also noticed a lot of solutions to issues in windows now adopting the usage of power shell one liners as an easy way to fix it, and some times even the only way to change a setting or disable something in the system.

Meanwhile in Linux land with the more recent distros running Gnome I've noticed less and less need to use the command line. Can still be annoying though, but I guess it's the price to pay when you roll the OS of your choice on a system that wasn't really validated for it. (it's amazing it works as well as it does honestly)

Re: Apple introduces a universal design across platforms

#623

Post by veqq » Tue, Jun 10, 2025, 1:09 AM UTC

rubslopes wrote: post #609

seemaze wrote: post #525

Earlier quoted context omitted.

oomph, looks like this might finally be (my) year of the linux desktop..

Not yet for me, still waiting for a 8-hour battery...

I get 30 hours on a 2017 Dell, using Linux mint. auto-cpufreq or even just making an alias to disable some cores let you push it very far

Re: Apple introduces a universal design across platforms

#624

Post by sakesun » Tue, Jun 10, 2025, 1:12 AM UTC

wvenable wrote: post #621

sakesun wrote: post #620

The Liquid Glass terrified me as someone started in green monochrome CRT days. Software people really have endless creative ways to spend hardware resource quota. Perhaps human should be less obsessed in twisting nature to serve our comfort, and just adapt ourselves more to what nature provides.

> Software people really have endless creative ways to spend hardware resource quota. If we have the hardware then not using it is wasteful. My iPhone doesn't get cheaper if I don't use all the power it provides.

Perhaps, use more affordable hardware instead, and reserve resources for those who are less fortunate.

Plus your battery will thank you for this.

Re: Apple introduces a universal design across platforms

#625

Post by pseudalopex » Tue, Jun 10, 2025, 1:13 AM UTC

dylan604 wrote: post #314

burntalmonds wrote: post #258

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm hoping that's true and there's still an option for a flat, minimal look.

so all they had to do to get people to quit bitching about the flat look was to introduce the translucent look! updating ticket to closed

Did burntalmonds bitch about the flat look before? Or was this the fallacy where people assume everyone else is 1 person?

Re: Apple introduces a universal design across platforms

#626

Post by karel-3d » Tue, Jun 10, 2025, 1:14 AM UTC

ksec wrote: post #214

The whole thing is Windows Vista Aero Glass and iOS 7 all over again. Repeating all the SAME mistakes with 3D translucent design. Right now I really want skeuomorphism back. Much like iOS 7 they will have to spend another 2 - 3 years "tweaking" or basically walking back some of these design decisions. I believe the problem is when Tim Cook decided to merge "Design" under one umbrella. So the Design team now takes ove…

iOS 7 made sense though, they really did need an upgrade back then. the design showed its age. even compared with Android at that time.

this... I don't understand the reasoning. Nobody is complaining about iOS design? Nobody asked for this? This is just bad?

Re: Apple introduces a universal design across platforms

#627

Post by nyarlathotep_ » Tue, Jun 10, 2025, 1:14 AM UTC

austinl wrote: post #265

dimal wrote: post #148

Oh no. It looks like every button and menu is now a translucent layer, so that any noise from the background shows through and muddles the text. This seems like an accessibility nightmare. Translucent layers generally make software unusable for me. In the video, I saw several instances that would be really really bad for me, where I’d be straining to understand the text. Looks really cool and futuristic though. Just…

This is also likely a performance nightmare. Funny that they mention that "new hardware has enabled us to..." which means that this will perform poorly on old devices. At a previous company, we were forbidden from using translucency (with a few exceptions) because of the performance cost of blending. There are debugging tools we'd use fairly often to confirm that all layers were opaque.

> At a previous company, we were forbidden from using translucency (with a few exceptions) because of the performance cost of blending. There are debugging tools we'd use fairly often to confirm that all layers were opaque.

I feel like a few years back when I still used an Intel macbook i noticed an increase in battery life and less frames dropping (like during 'Expose' animations) by disabling transparency in Accessibility settings.

I think this was after the BIg Sur update.

Re: Apple introduces a universal design across platforms

#628

Post by Gigachad » Tue, Jun 10, 2025, 1:15 AM UTC

lxgr wrote: post #577

raydev wrote: post #539

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> this will perform poorly on old devices I don't know how long you've been following Apple but with previous "high cost on old hardware" features they just disabled them for old hardware. Apple loves their battery life numbers, they won't purposefully ship a UI feature that meaningfully reduces them. Now bugs that drop framerates and cause hangs, they love shipping those.

> Apple loves their battery life numbers For devices currently being sold, primarily.

Maybe in the past, but my iPhone 13 still has pretty good battery life considering the battery has physically degraded over the years. No update felt like it killed the battery.

Re: Apple introduces a universal design across platforms

#629

Post by heartbreak » Tue, Jun 10, 2025, 1:18 AM UTC

dimal wrote: post #552

rollcat wrote: post #255

Earlier quoted context omitted.

macOS (I'm still on Sonoma tho): System Settings -> Accessibility -> Display -> Reduce Transparency. (I also recommend Reduce Motion, but YMMV - some animations are really helpful.) iOS: Settings -> Accessibility -> Display & Text Size -> Reduce Transparency. You're welcome.

Everyone affected by this will know to look for those deeply nested setting, right? Or will the 70 year old with bad eyesight just stop being able to use their phone? Or use it a lot less, or be frustrated and stressed by it? A lot of people don’t bother fiddling with their settings and just take what they’re given. I’m not just thinking of myself here. I’m concerned that a lot of people who don’t consider themselves…

My 70 year old relatives seem to have no problem finding the setting that makes everything on the phone 2x bigger. Probably because Apple is good at this and offers it up as an option in the OS onboarding and after every major update.

It’ll be fine.

Re: Apple introduces a universal design across platforms

#630

Post by bsder » Tue, Jun 10, 2025, 1:19 AM UTC

monkeyelite wrote: post #598

bsder wrote: post #380

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I think optimizing for VisionOS Yeah, this really looks like an Apple temper tantrum of "Nobody wants to program for the Vision Pro? Fine. We'll MAKE you program the iPhone like the Vision Pro. Take that developers. Now get back to doing our job for us, you lazy slobs."

What is the reasoning behind this comment?

This UI "update" is so obviously detrimental to anyone who doesn't have great 20ish-year-old eyesight, that it is going to negatively impact customer support costs, sales, engagement, etc.

So, you can either assume that Apple are blundering, incompetent dolts who have completely lost the plot (certainly possible) or that Apple has an actual purpose behind this.

If you ask for the purpose and the look at the GUI, you see Apple cramming a UI update targeted with the design language from AR (transparency behind everything, motion cues to activate orienting reflex, etc.) down the throats of all developers as opposed to just those on the Vision.