Apple’s dirty little secret: Sucky software – why Apple’s entire UX/UI team needs to be fired

[Michaelgtrusa]

Francine Hardaway writes.... http://macdailynews.com/2015/11/19/...hy-apples-entire-uxui-team-needs-to-be-fired/

 

[OLDCODGER]

Yes, but the $$$, the $$$!/Tim Cook.

 

[maflynn]

Yes, I see a pattern where Apple's software is not what it used to be. The UI conventions are not being followed, or once accepted conventions in the software are being replaced or dropped. Take how you now need to bold in Pages as opposed to before Apple completely revamped the app.

The WatchOS in the article is another good example, where Apple failed to come up with an intuitive UI.

 

[scott911]

interesting - I just overheard a phone guy in a best buy.

He was telling someone new to the whole smartphone game they should get a x-brand if they wanted the easiest, most intuitive interface, but apple if they were willing to tackle its learning curve.

That was surprising to me, but maybe not too far off target...

 

[orioncrystalice]

We will never again see the days of the first couple iPhones where minimal features lended themselves to a minimal UI and well. It is the way it is. Following iOS 6 and 7, Apple had two choices:

- Stay the course with the simplest UI and minimal features and be buried by Android (and if you don't think that's true you haven't been paying attention to verbal customer demand, which includes jailbreaks and all the rest)
- Add features, which eventually WILL add complexity to the UI, but still do things the Apple way (people complain night and day about the lack of a "proper file system", which ironically would drop the intuitivity level by a great deal if it were a part of iOS)

I just don't see another way to do things. It's almost 2016. Some of their individual software needs to improve, there's absolutely no doubt - eg iWork - but generally I do feel like iOS as a whole is doing a great job considering all the iPhone can now do.

 

[maflynn]

We will never again see the days of the first couple iPhones where minimal features lended themselves to a minimal UI and well. It is the way it is. Following iOS 6 and 7, Apple had two choices:

I disagree, because Apple was known for its simplistic and intuitive interfaces, well before the iPhone hit the streets. Macs have a lot more ability, flexibility, and power then an iPhone yet the interfaces rolling out at apple back when Steve was running the show, were great.

I don't think its a result of iOS8 or anything but the loss of people at apple that were fanatical about the UI, i.e., Steve Jobs and Scott Forstall. This has nothing to do with the increased complexity of the phone but rather Apple's failure to develop an interface that's intuitive.

 

[orioncrystalice]

Well, one thing that always endeared to me about Apple stuff is experiencing an action, and thinking "this is just how I would expect this action to be done". If I attempt to operate something and think "this should be done some other way", that's how, to me, I know something is off. I haven't had that experience with any of the new iOS. WatchOS took some getting used to, for sure. At the same time I just mean that it's hard to think on how can this giant thing be crammed into a certain size screen any easier. I don't have the answer to that.

 

[Tech198]

couldn't u have done a bigger font ?

I agree... we will never see the basic (phone is just a phone). it "was" just a phone,, now days is a complete tracking device with location services...

along with all the features/GUI changes etc, users wanted. and 3D games.

Though Location services was once prone to issues, how do we know there just arn't any more secret ones no one ones about ?

Just saying a phone is no longer just a phone anymore, it's another device we now have to keep updated too.