iOS 11 UI design.

[throAU]

Let’s see... would you prefer a phone made of plastic, or a phone made of metal and glass? In my eyes, iOS 7 is the cheap plastic phone and 6 is the high end metal and glass phone. iOS 7 feels cheap, nothing in it makes me feel like I got what I paid for. If I buy a $700+ phone, I want a good user experience that makes me feel like I got my money’s worth. My 6S and iOS 9-11 hasn’t given me the fulfillment I expected after I switched from my iOS 6 4S. My 6S just feels pathetic.

OK.

This isn't plastic vs. metal.

This is "covered in branding stickers and useless details" vs. "sleek and minimalist".

Look at every single thing apple makes.

There is nothing there that does not need to be there. Other than a discreet Apple logo.

Everything else is only there for a reason.


Iconography should be the same.

 

[Tozovac]

OK.

This isn't plastic vs. metal.

This is "covered in branding stickers and useless details" vs. "sleek and minimalist".

Look at every single thing apple makes.

There is nothing there that does not need to be there. Other than a discreet Apple logo.

Everything else is only there for a reason.


Iconography should be the same.

Oh man.

It's clear iOS7-11 is meant for uber-minimalist customers like you.

Happy for you while many of the rest of us weep.

Point taken for your preference but I have yet to read one objective explanation why "as little as possible" is better. Why do we have thousands of paint colors to choose from, as well as hardwood floor colors & textures? Give me a break about "nothing is there that should not be there."

The problem that most Jony/iOS7/flat/minimalist fans jump to Dieter's rule 10 while ignoring or downplaying #'s 1-9.

1 Good design is innovative
(iOS1 was innovative and then iOS2-6 were refinements. ios7 attempted to be innovative but really it was just different)

2 Good design makes a product useful
(ios7-11 is useful like iOS1-6 were useful. Just one set worked and looked better than the other, depending upon which "side" you're on. Personal preference wins, there is no objective winner.)

3 Good design is aesthetic
(nearly impossible for something to be acceptably aesthetic to everyone...one man's horrible miniminalst Jony-minimal-ego-fest is another man's least-is-more perfection)

4 Good design makes a product understandable
(given that ios7-11 removed many intuitive cues, I fail to see how the majority of iOS7-11 is more understandable than before)

5 Good design is unobtrusive
(this is a hard one to apply objectively. what about those who want to see a beautiful & engaging interface with well thought-out details instead of a white-washed stripped-down draft-looking interface, and vice versa. there is no winner here, so picking just one for all customers is a bad design choice)

6 Good design is honest
(this is maybe just thinking a bit too hard...Dieter should have gone for more mountain bike rides instead of eating white bread and warm water for breakfast, lunch, and dinner day after day...)

7 Good design is long-lasting
(in today's "must see something new every 5 years" world, I don't think this can be applied to iOS. iOS1-6 lasted ~7 years. Ios7-11 is now 4 years old. check back in 3-4 years after this minimalist UI fad is deemed "old" and "in need of freshening" by the masses. all fads come and go, and ios7-11 will also)

8 Good design is thorough down to the last detail
(I could list dozens of inconsistencies with iOS7-11 and blown details from Jony's attempts at being different from a pretty well-working prior iOS...)

9 Good design is environmentally friendly
(Jony's easy-to-shatter too-jewelry-like iPhones truly fail here. Thank God Jony is not in charge of designing automotive tires & bumpers)

10 Good design is as little design as possible
(This is Jony's calling card and what fans of our current stripped-down iOS point to most often, too often, attention @throAU... )

Well, this flat minimalistic white on white on white unintuitive flat fad is your time to shine. Once customers and designers tire of this fad and morph back to a more artful & intuitive & detail-heavy fad, the rest of us can rejoice.

 

[throAU]

i seriously think most of the whining about the new ui is purely because people were familiar with the old one and people dislike change.

if your icons are really good, they should still work in a single colour silhouette. they shouldn't need to be photo realistic level of detail to work. the opposite. e.g. the red cross logo, traffic signs, etc. they still work even if reduced to monochrome.


i'm approaching this from a philosophical standpoint, not specifically analysing ios here. ios needs work, however i would suggest that going back to the ios 6 style is not moving forward.

ios 7+ is imho the "right" direction. but it's not there yet.

as to parallax effect... it helps the icons stand out from the background. i have no issue with it.

 

[Tozovac]

i seriously think most of the whining about the new ui is purely because people were familiar with the old one and people dislike change.

Meant with respect: This is wrong and weakens my opinion of your ability to really judge opinions like mine. I moved to an iPhone 4 in 2010 from a Palm Treo. Before my iPhone, I liked my Treo because of all it let me do -- it sort of had "apps" that were really clunky to use, not very intuitive, offerred limited (and slowww) functions on a small low-res screen, and had virtual no continuity across apps (even to copy/paste). I loved it, as it was among the best of what we had to pick from in the early 00's. Then I got something different - the iPhone 4 with iOS 4 or 5 probably. It was different and intuitive and engaging and just amazing. No looking back. Change is good when the product is good and caters to the various users instead of catering to the limited whims of the creators. I suggest you let go of this "people are fearful of change" notion or else it will hamstring your logical thinking in life.

if your icons are really good, they should still work in a single colour silhouette. they shouldn't need to be photo realistic level of detail to work. the opposite. e.g. the red cross logo, traffic signs, etc. they still work even if reduced to monochrome.

Ok but, why does this matter in the practical world? If the use of colors & textures in an iOS had negative impacts onto the environment or user, like say oil or greenhouse gasses or accumulated human trash/waste can have, that'd be one thing. But come on. In a world where a 5" screen offers miraculously brilliant resolution, colors, speed, and processing power, who are we kidding to use such lofty theoretical laboratory-specific thoughts as justification for consumer product design decisions. Is there any risk of a fire-fighter's iPhone losing functionality in the middle of an intense situation where he's using his phone and would need to know he can still differentiate icons in black-and-white? It's one thing in a creative workshop or educational environment, trying to "design for effectiveness in various mediums," but to push for such minimalization at the risk of often trading off intuitivity, uniqueness, and engaging/creative design is being so...I don't know. It's self-centered or limiting or short-range-thinking. I have yet to read a valid rationale and would love to have somebody try to offer one that's not rooted in subjective preference.

i'm approaching this from a philosophical standpoint, not specifically analysing ios here. ios needs work, however i would suggest that going back to the ios 6 style is not moving forward.

ios 7+ is imho the "right" direction. but it's not there yet.

Once again, respectfully: philosophical is one thing, but limiting the real-world implementations to such minimalism is showing too many limitations. This swinging far to the one side needs to keep swinging back to a happy medium, which I see you agree with to some extent!

as to parallax effect... it helps the icons stand out from the background. i have no issue with it.

I'd very, very respectfully ask - do you have issue with how it was done before? I.e., some gloss-like "button look" and/or a border on the icon suggesting it's different from the background wallpaper? Of the two ways Apple's offered for differentiating an icon from the background so it's "pressable"....you have parallax, which might be critiqued because it requires you to move your head or the phone itself to see the effect and requires more processing power (a hit on battery life), and you could use a more "button-like" appearance and not require such movement as well as require less processing power. One caters to a certain minimalistic bend, vs. another leaning towards a richer-detail bend. Would you personally prefer parallax if given a choice, and if so, why would you prefer it over the prior option?

 

[Tozovac]

There is nothing there that does not need to be there. Other than a discreet Apple logo.

One more thought. For all this "nothing there that's not needed" no-button all-white flat-design-featureless stuff.

When tech companies fall for those minimalistic follies as a next step after having such a rich UI like iOS6 in order to to appease those clamoring for something new & fresh.....well, the clamorers got what they asked for. A stripped-down "fresh and modern" looking UI devoid of almost any "extras." Similar thought to where many automakers introduce something "new" by either stripping down all details into an almost plain-Jane caricature of the current design (think: Cadillac and Aston Martin whose current designs are minimalized versions of their product 15-20 years ago. Or consider makers rehashing 1960's muslcecar designs but with smoothed lines and a reduction in detail...Camaro, Challenger, Mustang, Cooper Mini, etc.)

So just like "what's old is new again" goes...what does anyone think is going to happen in a few years when the know-it-all customers start clamoring again for something new? No matter what anyone thinks, it's going to happen...something new will be needed, driven either externally by the customers or internally by the busybody marketers and minimalistic design chiefs. For iOS...there's not much more you can strip away, so what direction do they possibly have to go but to add back in some details? Similar: For the automakers whose versions of "new ideas" are either de-detailed smoothed down versions of their current line or rehashed 50-year old retro designs, what options do they have but to add details or create something new? They already kicked the can down the road avoided trying to create something new by rehashing the old designs and/or stripping away the current designs.

Thus, this is to me further exampling that all these minimalistic follies are a poor choice....just stopgap bandaids that will come back to haunt today's "design geniuses" who put fashion first instead of an overall good, advancing design.

 

[ke-iron]

Why not? iPhone 8 is the 10th anniversary iPhone. If the rumors are true, and they are going to the iPhone 4's design, they should match iOS with it. If it's an anniversary, then they should really go all out and match everything to the time period, especially if this turns into a big tribute to Steve Jobs, which it probably will. I've said it once, I'll say it again. I hate iOS 7-10's UI and UX... It absolutely sucks! iOS 7+ just isn't fit for the iPhone 4's premium glass and metallic properties, it just doesn't work. This over-simplification period is getting a little out of hand.
Sometimes too simple is too far. I'm a person that still thinks this is a killer user experience even though this stuff is old:

View attachment 671822

You must be coming down with a fever because it makes absolutely no sense to go back to a previous design that is less attractive just because it’s an anniversary device.

 

[Tozovac]

Wow look at these jailbroken screens but with UI elements from before 2013 that to me make you want to use the screen!



From here:

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/post-your-jailbroken-home-screen-part-4.1300122/

 

[DNichter]

Wow look at these jailbroken screens but with UI elements from before 2013 that to me make you want to use the screen!

View attachment 716842 View attachment 716843 View attachment 716844

From here:

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/post-your-jailbroken-home-screen-part-4.1300122/

Just looks super dated to me. I wouldn't want to go back.

 

[Feenician]

Just looks super dated to me. I wouldn't want to go back.

Yep, looks like crap. Like wading through UI treacle.

 

[Tozovac]

Just looks super dated to me. I wouldn't want to go back.

Oh come on now. Not suggesting returning to this 1:1. But sensing a difference instantly between what's pressable and what's information-only, as well as icons that don't look like a South Park cartoon are very pleasing to me vs. seeing flat-everything.

 

[DNichter]

Oh come on now. Not suggesting returning to this 1:1. But sensing a difference instantly between what's pressable and what's information-only, as well as icons that don't look like a South Park cartoon are very pleasing to me vs. seeing flat-everything.

I can only speak for myself, but I like the direction Apple went with their software and I never had a problem with understanding what is "pressable". I guess I am a little more tech savvy than some though.

 

[Tozovac]

I can only speak for myself, but I like the direction Apple went with their software and I never had a problem with understanding what is "pressable". I guess I am a little more tech savvy than some though.

I'd put myself right up there with the "more tech savvy," but it's instances where 100% of any semblance of "button" or "actionable" has been eradicated are frustrating and I'm often left to be later surprised that something is actionable.

I dislike Apple's ios10 Music app that looks too like the News app and doesn't function as well as older Music apps from when before Apple started trying too hard, so I started using an Audyssey Music Player app after reading how its interface seemed made for efficient music-listening and was more intuitive/pleasing to some, free from all the "whiteout" and uber-minimalist treadle. You learn eventually in post-ios6 that some non-button-looking items are actionable, like below where is "Playlists" up top is not actionable. What's unique here though is that "Now Playing" is very obviously actionable while the music clef may or may not be, so you take the time to explore and figure it out. I.e., taking up time learning for yourself what the designer should have made intuitive so it seemed to "just work." But that's another story. In fact, the Playlist word feels like it should be actionable since it's darker than other on-screen text since light grey used to mean unavailable, but that too is another story.



Then at the play screen below, I assumed the "Audyssey" up top was an info-only item, only to accidentally learn after using this app for months that it was actually pressable, for EQ settings custom to various headphone models.



Even tho this app is better than the default music app, it reflects aspects of post-ios7 UI that are too often not nearly as efficient and intuitive/friendly to the user as things seemed before.

Oh, and those progress/repeat/shuffle controls? As usual per post-ios6 I had to enact them with yet another tap on the two horizontal grey bars because, you know, it would seem too dated to present those controls by default on the Now Playing screen. Much better hide them and to require the user to tap again for what should be a default tool. Because you know, it's not that seeing screen art is much more important than controls, it's that this iOS's UI is different than how Scott Forstall and Tony Fadell did and would have done it.

 

[MEJHarrison]

I don't believe you can really use the Audyssey app to make a point about Apple's bad design. The fact that "Audyssey" is clickable while "Playlists" isn't only proves that Audyssey made some poor UI decisions when they designed their app for a post iOS-6 world. There are no reasons, technical or otherwise, that prevented them from putting that menu in a more obvious spot. To place the blame for that at Apple's feet is something I can't quite wrap my head around. I understand what you're saying about the buttons and such. I just don't think your example is the least bit valid since Apple played no part in that design. And unless I'm mistaken, this is a thread about Apple's design, not about the poor designs found in third party applications.

That said, I'm also in the camp of those who have never had an issue finding the buttons. Neither pre- or post- the iOS 7 redesign. I never even realized I could potentially have an issue figuring out what is a button and what isn't until this year.

 

[ThunderMasterMind]

How can you like a design if it doesn't even exist. I honestly don't know how Apple even classifies the current iOS design as a design. There's nothing in it at all, just white everywhere and icons that can literally be made in 1 minute, maybe less.

You think this is a good design, you're crazy. This is just hideous.




Honestly, what's the point of having a UI if it doesn't feel like one. UIs are meant to be interacted with, there's no getting away from them unless you use a straight up command line. When were UIs supposed to be about making something that barely works just so you can say that it's done. If you know how to work a 3D/skeuomorphic UI properly, you can make one hell of a UI and UX, the problem is, no one is trying hard enough. Granted there are exceptions and some companies are doing a tremendous job with the tools that they are limited to thanks to flat UIs in OSes. The point of "content is key" is to keep the UI out of the way for the content being viewed at the current moment, but it shouldn't ever limit how a UI functions and how it looks for the sake of getting it out of the way. Buttons should be easy to make out by defining shapes and/or shadows to make it appear like it's protruding from the background or element it's paired with. You can probably put the pieces together for other elements as well.

iOS 6 inspires me a lot, in fact I recently came back to a notification concept that I deferred a while back. The beauty of the UI in 6 is just how flexible it really is. Everything is so open, it's like an open concept house, it feels free and can be manipulated to do many things. Unfortunately the design never stuck around to show just what it could do and how far it could be taken. Were some things of the skeuomorphic style overdone? Yes, were they understandable? Yes. Since the design in some areas were taken to the max, it could easily be tuned down to a more subtle approach, but not limit the beauty and functionality of it. This is the point where the creativity of your mind must fly and shine through.
Creativity... creativity... where did it go?

 

[marvz]

How can you like a design if it doesn't even exist. I honestly don't know how Apple even classifies the current iOS design as a design. There's nothing in it at all, just white everywhere and icons that can literally be made in 1 minute, maybe less.

You think this is a good design, you're crazy. This is just hideous.

View attachment 716940


Honestly, what's the point of having a UI if it doesn't feel like one. UIs are meant to be interacted with, there's no getting away from them unless you use a straight up command line. When were UIs supposed to be about making something that barely works just so you can say that it's done. If you know how to work a 3D/skeuomorphic UI properly, you can make one hell of a UI and UX, the problem is, no one is trying hard enough. Granted there are exceptions and some companies are doing a tremendous job with the tools that they are limited to thanks to flat UIs in OSes. The point of "content is key" is to keep the UI out of the way for the content being viewed at the current moment, but it shouldn't ever limit how a UI functions and how it looks for the sake of getting it out of the way. Buttons should be easy to make out by defining shapes and/or shadows to make it appear like it's protruding from the background or element it's paired with. You can probably put the pieces together for other elements as well.

iOS 6 inspires me a lot, in fact I recently came back to a notification concept that I deferred a while back. The beauty of the UI in 6 is just how flexible it really is. Everything is so open, it's like an open concept house, it feels free and can be manipulated to do many things. Unfortunately the design never stuck around to show just what it could do and how far it could be taken. Were some things of the skeuomorphic style overdone? Yes, were they understandable? Yes. Since the design in some areas were taken to the max, it could easily be tuned down to a more subtle approach, but not limit the beauty and functionality of it. This is the point where the creativity of your mind must fly and shine through.
Creativity... creativity... where did it go?

That's the problem with all your (others too of course) talking. UIs are meant to present the user information. The iOS 1-6 UI was cluttered with unnecessary elements to "explain" users what what is. We are over this point now everybody knows touch screens and how to manipulate them and what a smartphone is. With real AR and VR applications coming the UI will get even more simpler and non-existent (hello AI and speech output). And that's also why skeuomorphic UIs will probably never come back.

 

[baldgye3000]

I've read through this thread a fair bit, as for me the iPhone 4 was the perfect phone. That said, I wouldn't want to go back to the skeuomorphism design.

Oh man.

4 Good design makes a product understandable
(given that ios7-11 removed many intuitive cues, I fail to see how the majority of iOS7-11 is more understandable than before)

5 Good design is unobtrusive
(this is a hard one to apply objectively. what about those who want to see a beautiful & engaging interface with well thought-out details instead of a white-washed stripped-down draft-looking interface, and vice versa. there is no winner here, so picking just one for all customers is a bad design choice)

However these two points are two issues I have with the current iOS;

-The iconography for Safari is pretty horrible, why, for example is the page settings info accessible with a box and an upward pointing arrow? I know how to make the page display in desktop mode though using that icon, but I'm not sure what that icon is suppose to mean. Why is my History under the book icon?
These icons that where brought in with the update are kind of horrible and don't achieve points 4 or 5 in anyway. You only learn through digging around, over and over.

-Another problem is the Music app, settings for songs are also now hidden, when once they were all on display. You now have to click the options menu, which for Music is three dots... why is it three dots? Then there is the pyramid radio tower so I can choose where the sound comes from?


There are other examples but these two are the worst offenders by a country mile in my book and I wish that some of the things learnt in the older iOS's that you love so much was carried forward instead of just discarded.

 

[mixel]

Hmm, it’s interesting seeing the people thinking of the UI as a product in its own right that needs refreshing every ~5 years. I see it more as a path toward achieving certain goals.

There’s no reason to think it will change drastically. We’re reaching maturity in the device sector, we know what handhelds and tablets are for now, while they were learning in the early years.. How much has osX/MacOS changed? Not much! It lost some texture and colour too, but it’s a tool - and it’s functional.

They’re building a consistent, minimalist, iconic design language.. Of course things will change slightly over time but anyone expecting a massive overhaul are going to be disappointed imo.. Unless there’s a significant user interaction change that forces them to change things for some reason.

Simplified iconography is easier for a global market too, I’d imagine. Different cultures having totally different aesthetic ideas and meanings. The less design noise the better.

 

[ke-iron]

That's the problem with all your (others too of course) talking. UIs are meant to present the user information. The iOS 1-6 UI was cluttered with unnecessary elements to "explain" users what what is. We are over this point now everybody knows touch screens and how to manipulate them and what a smartphone is. With real AR and VR applications coming the UI will get even more simpler and non-existent (hello AI and speech output). And that's also why skeuomorphic UIs will probably never come back.

Well said. I Don’t see why people feel that UI or GUI needs to be overloaded with visuals and unnecessary complexity.

 

[Tozovac]

I don't believe you can really use the Audyssey app to make a point about Apple's bad design. The fact that "Audyssey" is clickable while "Playlists" isn't only proves that Audyssey made some poor UI decisions when they designed their app for a post iOS-6 world. There are no reasons, technical or otherwise, that prevented them from putting that menu in a more obvious spot. To place the blame for that at Apple's feet is something I can't quite wrap my head around. I understand what you're saying about the buttons and such. I just don't think your example is the least bit valid since Apple played no part in that design. And unless I'm mistaken, this is a thread about Apple's design, not about the poor designs found in third party applications.

That said, I'm also in the camp of those who have never had an issue finding the buttons. Neither pre- or post- the iOS 7 redesign. I never even realized I could potentially have an issue figuring out what is a button and what isn't until this year.

Apple provides the architecture and UI principles for 3rd party developers, so why can't they be blamed? Even if I too got a chuckle from leather stitching and analog cassette player elements, I never had a complaint towards Apple or 3rd party apps before iOS7, as Apple created an architecture that was easy to clearly implement and then use. Putting out a minimalistic and often vague UI with often counter-intuitive elements in the hands of developers who may not be as experienced as Apple who they themselves put out horribly vague app elements often is a recipe for frustration. (a light grey text item which may or may not be actionable is an available option while other light grey text items are not available at the moment? Some text is actionable while some text is not? headers & footers are to blend in with the screen area? gridlines & "zones" are to be minimimized if not completely devoid?)

That's the problem with all your (others too of course) talking. UIs are meant to present the user information. The iOS 1-6 UI was cluttered with unnecessary elements to "explain" users what what is. We are over this point now everybody knows touch screens and how to manipulate them and what a smartphone is. With real AR and VR applications coming the UI will get even more simpler and non-existent (hello AI and speech output). And that's also why skeuomorphic UIs will probably never come back.

I think it'd help if you explained further what you count as being unnecessary, just to help us on the other side understand (because this is a good discussion, I feel). I personally don't think anyone can come up with a single valid rationale for the things I find most reprehensible and the cause of a diminished user experience.* Why should light grey text be the norm espeically on a phone as hard to use outdoors as an iPhone? Why should actionable items be text-based and blend in with non-actionable items? Why should gridlines be avoided (iOS calendar), why should base options for certain apps be hidden behind menus instead of instantly out front (like Music & Podcast app player controls), why are white (or all black) backgrounds the norm even when not the best for an application (think: Photos app which is white except for when you finally select a picture and the background thankfully turns to black), why is low-contrast text & overall presention such a good idea (think: iOS timer/stopwatch app that's impossible to read outdoors and where the stopwatch stop/start controls appear shaded-out as if they were non-pickable options for the at screen. Why should the phone dialer buttons be small circles that my fingers cover completely when pressed to the point that I really am unsure whether I pressed it or not? It's even worse at times when a text item is a "button" such that you have less area available to press to activate the action, often requiring multiple presses to get it to work. Note that other than hinting that a button representation would be a better method for actionable item than using text, none of my examples are skeumorphism. I mention this because I notice way too many retorts to this thread leapfrog back to critiquing skeumorphism, and the low points of the current ios7-11 UI go way beyond skeumorphism.

* I can honestly think of only three reasons for the white-board nuclear-option complete re-do of iOS in 2013 and the many resulting controversial UI twists:

1) Jony wanted to do things his way rather than Scott Forstall & Tony Fadell's way. The issue here is the designer imparting onto users what he thinks is best (rather than perhaps time-tested well-proven principcles) onto a wide variety of users, including both 3rd party developers & customers.
2) Users demanded something new and marketing agreed. The self-fulfilling prophecy repeat issue here should be quite obvious but in case it's not: what's next when something new is needed? If Apple at least proclaimed they needed something new rather than try to convince that this is a better way to do things, I would have at least better understood their rationale.
3) Everything that was done prior was wrong. EVERYTHING. If it's not obvious why this holds little water, no words may convince someone.

However these two points are two issues I have with the current iOS;

-The iconography for Safari is pretty horrible, why, for example is the page settings info accessible with a box and an upward pointing arrow? I know how to make the page display in desktop mode though using that icon, but I'm not sure what that icon is suppose to mean. Why is my History under the book icon?
These icons that where brought in with the update are kind of horrible and don't achieve points 4 or 5 in anyway. You only learn through digging around, over and over.

-Another problem is the Music app, settings for songs are also now hidden, when once they were all on display. You now have to click the options menu, which for Music is three dots... why is it three dots? Then there is the pyramid radio tower so I can choose where the sound comes from?


There are other examples but these two are the worst offenders by a country mile in my book and I wish that some of the things learnt in the older iOS's that you love so much was carried forward instead of just discarded.

Exactly.
[doublepost=1505223302][/doublepost]

Well said. I Don’t see why people feel that UI or GUI needs to be overloaded with visuals and unnecessary complexity.

Nobody's arguing for unnecessary complexity. I personally am critiquing how so much over-simplification/minimization can result in making the user's experience worse, such as light grey text that's harder to read...using text as buttons so that when you press on it, your finger completely covers the item and you don't have that reassurance that your action was taken. Using borderless "buttons" for things like cut/copy/paste such that when you call that up on a black screen, the buttons blend completely into the black screen area and it sometimes results in having to pause & think. Veering from decades of ingrained learning that a greyed-out text item means not available, but now it usually means available while a light-light grey text item now means unavailable. A lot of unnecessary clean-board reinvention in 2013/iOS7 that's resulted in either more or the same amount of negatives as positives.

 

[baldgye3000]

I've been thinking about this thread and the idea of missing the old iOS look and feel, and I think I know what it is... and it's that tactile feeling that the old UI had.
It's something, on reflection, I felt with the S8+ I had for a short while and I think it will be more relevant with the iPhone X (or what ever it will be called) than it has since the iPhone 4 & 5.


With the newer design language the UI is more abstract, instead of buttons you have symbols. While this can be seen as an improvement for many, by doing so and abstracting the UI away from real world buttons you remove a connection users have with using the screen and I think that as screens get bigger and bigger and more flush with the surface, this connection will be more important.


I still don't want the UI to change in how it looks, but I think it would be a general improvement if the UI had more feedback relating to input.

 

[MEJHarrison]

Apple provides the architecture and UI principles for 3rd party developers, so why can't they be blamed?

I suspect this is a waste of time. But I'm bored waiting on the show to start, so why not? Because they had nothing to do with the design. They provided the tools. They didn't build "the thing" with those tools. They provide the guidelines. But they're not responsible for other people not following them. Unless you think Apple suggests putting menus in non-intuitive places. If so, I'd like a reference please. Otherwise, that's like blaming Craftsman because YOU built a crappy dog house.

 

[Tozovac]

I suspect this is a waste of time. But I'm bored waiting on the show to start, so why not? Because they had nothing to do with the design. They provided the tools. They didn't build "the thing" with those tools. They provide the guidelines. But they're not responsible for other people not following them. Unless you think Apple suggests putting menus in non-intuitive places. If so, I'd like a reference please. Otherwise, that's like blaming Craftsman because YOU built a crappy dog house.

Whatever. Wrong, you just don't get it or are trolling. It'd be as if a designer at Craftsman suddenly took power and redid their tools to look really amateurish/simple, radically different than before, maybe even closing both ends of a wrench for consistency so as to not distract the user by seeing too much detail...removing wrench size labels since users no longer need such cues, etc. It pleased the tool designer to see items made to his preferences and left the users to do what they do within this new environment. Anyway.

I logged into hotmail via a browser on my laptop and noticed they redid the UI, with an optional beta to try. Good God is it awful...more white, more wasted space, more unnecessary tinkering. These folks get it:

https://outlook.uservoice.com/forum...n-is-still-very-unclear-and-is-too-w#comments

And just today I just opened an MSProject file, noticing my company must have "upgraded" to the new 365 version. Virtually the entire screen is white with light blue, grey & low-contrast text & tools/commands. You have to practically squint to see what tool/menu tab is selected. Good God what's going on with all this awful web/app/os/iOS/program design? When is this going to stop?

 

[Feenician]

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[Tozovac]

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You need to add more men. There are more unhappy campers than just me!

PS I added that screenshot of MSProject 365 in a thread about Apple iOS to illustrate a point I made earlier how Apple's awful all-white grey-low-contrast-text design themes are doubly awful because the world's design lemmings follow Apple's lead blindly all too often.

 

[MEJHarrison]

Whatever. Wrong, you just don't get it or are trolling.

Well, as a developer, it's totally a weight off my shoulders to finally understand that I just don't understand how development works. Now I just need to get some time scheduled with Apple to get me that design for my next app.

You're welcome to reply. That's not for me to deny you that. But please don't expect any further feedback on my part.