On 12 sep 2010, at 03:43, David Patrick Henderson <[email protected]> wrote:
> > On 10 Sep 2010, at 22:17, John Stalberg wrote: > >> >> >> On 11 sep 2010, at 01:53, LuKreme <[email protected]> wrote: >> >>> On 10-Sep-2010, at 10:26, Cesar Alsina wrote: >>>> >>>> On Sep 6, 2010, at 5:31 PM, Mark Smith wrote: >>>> >>>>> traffic lights >>>> >>>> Taking about traffic lights, notice that now the >>>> close/minimize/get-mini-controller buttons now run vertically? I think is >>>> the only occurrence in the entire UI. >>> >>> They have always been vertical in the iTunes mini browser. >>> >>> Well… for certain values of always. >> >> iTunes is often the first application to get a new look that later becomes >> one of a few types used as a system wide solution. I have sometimes >> wondered, or gotten irritated, over Apples constantly difficulties to be >> consistent gui wise. My idea is that bigger changes to the gui shouldn't be >> introduced as some kind of prototype that is tested on one application and >> later gets spread and replaces what was targeted to be replaced by it. This >> makes OS X a bit messy with more or less a constant porototype stage mixed >> in with the other more established looks other applications use. The >> introduction of new gui designs could be set on hold until a certain point >> in time were a syncronized system wide introduction takes place. Typically >> every major cat version would be perfect for this but it could also be done >> sometimes in between the ref version changes. I bet the new iTunes looks is >> soo spread to all/most of the other windows that now looks like iTunes 9 >> did. Why do Apple not do this right away and keep the gui more consistent >> without this kind of prototype testing in the customers products is beyond >> me. Or rather I understand the advantages of tests done like this, I just >> dislikes it since these tests should be done outside the production version >> alteady sold to and in use by the customers! But it seem to be heating up >> the hype surrounding Apple products. > > Sorry John, not really singling you out or picking on you. No probs, I wouldn't even take it as anything but constructive critisism if it were addressed to me only! You do take up matters that is oriented towards the issue at hands here and I opened the door by expressing my personal opinions. > > People need to stop confusing visual design with interaction design. Yes, > Apple regularly exercises and exceeds the boundaries of it application visual > design. While visual design is certainly an element of interaction design, it > is most decidedly not the whole of interaction design; this recognition is > what sets Apple and a very large portion of its developer base apart from > just about every other software shop out there (yes, I'm looking at you > Linux, Windows and Google). All in all I feel very confident about having the best (for me) when reexamining my choise of favourite plattform and the OS X gui is certaintly a major contributor to this. > Interaction design and user experience, despite the visual design changes > that often accompany new releases of especially iTunes, are still consistent > with what came before, menus still behave like menus, keyboard equivalents > are the same, the mouse still behaves as always so what did change mostly the > aesthetics of the visual interface. The question to ask is has the visual > change improved, degraded or had no real effect on the user experience. I often defend or explain my view on pure aeshtetics considerations. If something that is going to be used on a more or less daily basis and good looks doesn't come on the expence over function, then the better looking tool is the one to pick if choise can be made. If it really sets it apart from the rest or most of the rest, it is a feature imo. Regardless of it might shine a light on us humans not being as rational as we might be thinking we are. There is a reason we have (not counting in the poorest regions) a multitude of colors and patterns to chose from when decorating our already full functioning walls inside the buildings we have built to live and do other things in. > Please note that I'm not calling for lots of anecdotal evidence to > demonstrate one's personal feelings, I'm just trying to inject a little > perspective here. For what it's worth, I personally am not fond of the > changes in the UI but suspect that like me, given the real lack of hue and > cry on the web, most iTunes users have seen a degradation in ux. > > Let us state it this way: the GUI remains consistent across the Mac OS X > interface but the visual design does not. In 1984 and for many years after, > it was very much a necessity that the GUI be consistent in interaction and > visual aspect as computer users gained experience and confidence in using > graphical systems in place of textual systems. > But, it is clear by now that Apple introduce these designs with the purpose of letting them replace the older designs on many applications and tools. To give an example by exagerating, Apple doesn't have 5, 10 or even more such differences going on in parallel. They do this in a way one can accept, much because of the reasons you explain. However, I think the original plan (which I think is prooved to be by now) to spread the new looks to several other parts in the system with all that comes with it, could preferably be done in one move. It is not the end if the world or not even without positives, one gets a smoother introduction by getting used to the new in only a limited way for example, but it is never the less hard to explain why iTunes so often must be a version ahead of the other parts so often? The only explanation I can come up wirh is a sort of testing. iTunes is a test area before launcing big scale. It is because of a limited control over the results one test things. It might be a good thing to do this if this control can't be achived in any other way. The best would be if it could be achived in before hand imo. // John Stalberg_______________________________________________ MacOSX-talk mailing list [email protected] http://www.omnigroup.com/mailman/listinfo/macosx-talk
