The GUI is up for grabs these days. We see that some of the most
successful applications are those which create new GUI concepts, not
just those which follow the guidelines. Take a look at any of the big
apps, and notice that they each pioneered some new way of doing things.
There used to be a lot of talk about Apple not following the guidelines.
I think that it is important to take into consideration the current
guidelines, but don't think that you must follow them. If you have some
new way of doing something, and it works well, then do it; you might
just be creating a new standard.
Look at FireFox... that's not native, yet it's popularity is gaining.
Look at iLife... when was the last time they used a "native" control?
Look at Microsoft Office, they create the new standard but don't
necessarily always follow the current standard. iTunes is using a
completely non-standard UI for their main window, yet the iTunes concept
can be seen in at least a dozen of other apps.
Even REALbasic doesn't use very many "native" controls, yet the IDE is
presented in a very easy-to-use and straight-forward way.
The biggest question is not, "Should I use native controls," it's "How
do I present this to the user so they already know how to use it."
Sometimes that means use a standard way, sometimes that means create a
new way.
It isn't just for multi-media, it is for all applications. Our job, as
software developers, is to make software that is easy for people to use.
Sometimes that means doing things in a familiar way, and sometimes it
means doing it in a way the user would "expect," even if that isn't
"standard."
I'm sure there are a lot of mixed-opinions about this, but for the most
part, just focus on what makes your application easy to use and appealing.
- Ryan Dary
Giovanni wrote:
Hello yall,
Just wanted to pick your brains on design practices for multi-platform
GUI's.
Some of you are from the camp native GUI for each platform.
I personally prefer to have the best user experiences possible which as
far as GUIs go, sometimes is neither MAC nor Windows, but a GUI that
works like real life. This is true for some multimedia apps.
So what say you?
Thanks,
Giovanni
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