iOS 11 UI design.

[Feyl]

I’m sad that the vast majority of people are too phlegmatic or don't care enough to be angry about the direction that Apple went after they lost Steve Jobs Scott Forstall. Since 2013 I don’t love my Apple devices nearly as much as I did. Yes, their products still works the best and from the general perspective they are still the best on the market. To the people that can’t understand why some of us are so mad about current design language, let me tell you a short story.

I’m 24 years old now and I’ve been interacting with computers since I was born basically. My dad was working in IT so we always had the latest and greatest computer at home and I learned all the elementary things about computers and how to built my own PC. I first heard about Apple when I was in high school. Till then I only used and knew Windows machines.

There was this guy at high school, his name was Daniel. We weren’t friends but we shared the same love for music. He approached me one day and we started talking about music. Later, he pulled up from his pocket his iPhone 3GS. In that moment I totally forget about everything and I just couldn’t stop look at this “alien” phone. It was nothing like anything I saw at that time and nobody had a phone like this. He was able to scroll between albums in this mind blowing 3D interface (Cover Flow) that looked like he had all these records in his phone like you would have your collection on the shelf. It was so realistic, smooth and somehow familiar. I was absolutely blown away. Since that moment I started digging about a company called Apple and later I started to admire Steve Jobs for his incredible sense of taste and rebel spirit.

Long story short, I went to T-Mobile store to look at the brand new iPhone 4. Since I slided to unlock, as the phone said, I was blown away. It was so different and satisfying like nothing else. Until this time I didn’t give a **** about how I unlock my phone. Then I opened photos app. That animation when I deleted a picture absolutely fascinated me. The picture flew in to the trash, like I was throwing it in to the real trash can. So satisfying and fun! I also couldn't stop starring on the home screen. Oh boy, how beautiful these icons with incredible details and smooth fonts looked.

Then, 6 months later I finally got my first iPhone the iPhone 4. Unboxing this thing was nothing like any other product unboxing I did before. I hooked it up to the charger and obsessively admire beautiful big charging battery on the lock screen. Man, I was so happy and proud to have an Apple product. At that time, basically nobody had an iPhone in my country, because people weren’t used to pay such money for just a phone. Everybody wanted to touch my phone and play with it and girls thought that I’m rich Exciting teenage times!

After I finally got my iPhone, I started building my first Hackintosh. When I finally got that working I was blown away again. After all these years with Windows machines, OS X was so friendly and fun. I remember when I first installed an app. On Windows the installing process was long with many steps and clicking. On OS X I just moved the app into the applications folder and that was it! And who didn’t like the welcoming intro movie after the Snow Leopard finished installation. So friendly… I think I don’t have to tell you that I got my first MacBook a year after.

Since 2013 Apple products are cold, heartless and without a soul. Using Apple and Microsoft product feels very similar now. It seems to me that Apple is not about combining technology with liberal arts anymore. It’s funny, that I was so happy about yesterday’s release of iOS 11.1 beta 2 with the 3D Touch Multitasking gesture. It’s funny and sad at the same time, because I was freaking out about a feature that was taken away from me and now they’re giving it back like I finally deserve it. This stupid thing made me more happy than any new product release from them in years.

So here’s a story how friendly and fun UI and UX can make you fell in love with a machine. You can think what you want about their previous design efforts, but you can't deny that this is the thing that Apple was founded on and it makes me sad, that some of you are denying it.

 

[Tozovac]

I’m sad that the vast majority of people are too phlegmatic or don't care enough to be angry about the direction that Apple went after they lost Steve Jobs Scott Forstall. Since 2013 I don’t love my Apple devices nearly as much as I did.

...

You can think what you want about their previous design efforts, but you can't deny that this is the thing that Apple was founded on and it makes me sad, that some of you are denying it.

So well put. I've said it before, but I think quite a few users just don't have it in them to recognize what they're missing and/or what they want. And/or they'll take what they're given and fail to acknowledge that others may have a point about something that could significantly help others' experiences even if it imperceptivity helps or changes their own experience. That's not a criticism or insult, too, it's just an observation that's hard to not call a fact. It's how I personally think about coffee, as an example; even though I'd prefer coffee from, say, Starbucks or a fine restaurant, I'll make due with drop coffee from the 20 year old Mr. Coffee machine in the dirty kitchen of the manufacturing plant I work at, and it won't ruin my morning one bit while for others with much different expectations and/or priorities and/or willingness to let something half-assed slide, they'll complain daily about it like I/you/others here do about Apple.

But the difference is, I don't criticize them for their opinions about coffee, I can see where they're coming from, I'd be super happy for them if someone dropped in a Starbucks machine in the plant (they'd see the biggest benefit and I'd see something I would be OK with), and when I really think about it, they're kinda very much correct. There is such a thing as universally good/better coffee and universally bad/worse coffee. I wouldn't tell them they're wrong, like surprisingly happens here by others who are perfectly fine with the iOS11-7 UI that's unarguably cold, minimalist, impersonal, sterile, and too often unintuitive/clumsy compared to what it replaced.

The "picky" coffee drinkers are "right" about what's a better coffee in an A/B comparison. Ignoring aspects of appearance fun-to-use for now, throughout this thread, others and I have given many A/B examples of how the current UI is too often confusing & unintuitive, and I have yet to read one example of how the prior UI was confusing & unintuitive when compared to what we have today. So until anyone can clearly deny this paragraph and show as many examples of the pre-2013 Apple software/UI being confusing & unintuitive as some of us have shown iOS11-7 as being functionally worse, I'll continue to contend that others and I are in the "right." (appearance/personal tastes are an entire different story and rather unarguable as to who's right vs. wrong)

Until 2013 I valued Jony's design efforts which centered on simple & pretty hardware that didn't distract and let the UI/software experience shine. Even small things like: I loved how the computers were free from stickers like the "intel," "NVidia," and "energy star" stickers that cheapen the look of PC laptops. Jony's minimalist tendencies were well-balanced by SJ's and Scott F's user experience-focused tendencies. But it's still absolutely stunning to me that nobody (including Jony himself) has realized that reacting to complaints of "needing something new" and the stripping out of the thing that users really connect with & touch (the UI/software) was such an unnecessarily bad move in many ways, both for joy of use and ease of use. Same for the unnecessarily radical & overly-complex reinventions of UI and apps (such as iTunes 12, the iOS11 podcasts app, and any Music app since iOS7) as well as the 12-month reinventions of key UI/interface elements that make Apple software designers look like they have no idea what they're doing and/or trying too hard to make an ugly square peg fit into the round hole instead of going back closer to the round peg that worked pretty darn well.

I can't criticize those whose personal tastes & tolerances allow them to not recognize what was better, but it's fascinating to hear from those who say that the current UI is hands-down better than before and/or that the prior UI's/software were "bad." Just stunningly fascinating, and perhaps a sign of why things like the current UI can happen at Apple...the wrong people are steering the ship.

 

[tkermit]

I have yet to read one example of how the prior UI was confusing & unintuitive when compared to what we have today.

I'd contend that the tab overview in Safari has become much more usable with iOS 7. Of course, arguably the same could have been realized using the old design language if Apple had wanted to do so...

 

[Tozovac]

I'd contend that the tab overview in Safari has become much more usable with iOS 7. Of course, arguably the same could have been realized using the old design language if Apple had wanted to do so...

View attachment 724713 View attachment 724716

Yep exactly. This & many things have improved (as they should) but are still constrained in their current skin. Improved & much more usable now, yes. Confusing before? No.

Still astounding to me iOS11 has no "close all apps" button and still requires one to swipe incessantly just to close everything out. Has anyone read of any justification for that?

FWIW, when iOS7's method came out and then was massaged over time to what iOS11 has today, I often wondered why they didn't just show a representation closer to what you see in the "normal" view of apps, i.e.: show icons or mini-screen-views of open apps in a 4x5 grid (or whatever size grid is shown on the phone), so you can fit more on the screen. If that view of icons is good enough for unopened apps, why not for opened apps? Much more efficient use of space, but less opportunity to showoff some new animation or cool representation to appease those needing to see something new, maybe?

 

[tkermit]

Still astounding to me iOS11 has no "close all apps" button and still requires one to swipe incessantly just to close everything out. Has anyone read of any justification for that?

Apple probably doesn't want to encourage users to "close" all apps because it's both unnecessary and even counterproductive on iOS. Plus, my impression is that the people who do the swiping on all of the app cards actually seem to perversely enjoy that very action, so why should Apple deprive them of that pleasure?

 

[Tozovac]

Apple probably doesn't want to encourage users to "close" all apps because it's both unnecessary and even counterproductive on iOS. Plus, my impression is that the people who do the swiping on all of the app cards actually seem to perversely enjoy that very action, so why should Apple deprive them of that pleasure?

Cool, if you have some insight - are you speaking on behalf of the user or on behalf of the iOS operating system when you speak of "unnecessary & counterproductive?" If it's on behalf of the iOS, is that because there's virtually zero RAM/memory use for open apps? I.e., there's no imperceptive hit to the user to have every single app open from the last time it was accessed? And, even more interestingly, is there a functional "hit" to the OS operation for a user to close everything rather than leave things open (where, you have to admit, that would mean Apple would prefer every single app be left open over time).

Related, how is it counterproductive for the user and/or the iOS itself? I'm asking to try to learn, and not to poke, as honestly I've never hard a defense for why it's bad practice to close all open apps at times to "clean house." Thinking only about me the user myself for a moment (which today's Apple seems to do less and less of than before 2013...sorry I had to throw that jab in at Apple), I absolutely often feel a need to close all open apps from the past week and start "fresh," both from a mindset level and from a functional level, as there are times I'm switching between 2-3 key apps and I'd rather use the open apps switch feature than close what I'm doing and go searching for the icon or rather than go to the app view and then flick between 20+ open apps just to find the one I want.

 

[tkermit]

Cool, if you have some insight - are you speaking on behalf of the user or on behalf of the iOS operating system when you speak of "unnecessary & counterproductive?" If it's on behalf of the iOS, is that because there's virtually zero RAM/memory use for open apps? I.e., there's no imperceptive hit to the user to have every single app open from the last time it was accessed? And, even more interestingly, is there a functional "hit" to the OS operation for a user to close everything rather than leave things open (where, you have to admit, that would mean Apple would prefer every single app be left open over time).

Related, how is it counterproductive for the user and/or the iOS itself? I'm asking to try to learn, and not to poke, as honestly I've never hard a defense for why it's bad practice to close all open apps at times to "clean house." Thinking only about me the user myself for a moment (which today's Apple seems to do less and less of than before 2013...sorry I had to throw that jab in at Apple), I absolutely often feel a need to close all open apps from the past week and start "fresh," both from a mindset level and from a functional level, as there are times I'm switching between 2-3 key apps and I'd rather use the open apps switch feature than close what I'm doing and go searching for the icon or rather than go to the app view and then flick between 20+ open apps just to find the one I want.

From a technical perspective, I could try to put it in my own words but probably wouldn't be able to do better than what's already explained here: https://daringfireball.net/2017/07/you_should_not_force_quit_apps

Of course, the "mindset" perspective is a slightly different one, so that would probably be another discussion. But it's best to think of the cards in iOS as simply a limitless overview of your most recently used and not necessarily "running" apps.

 

[Tozovac]

From a technical perspective, I could try to put it in my own words but probably wouldn't be able to do better than what's already explained here: https://daringfireball.net/2017/07/you_should_not_force_quit_apps

Of course, the "mindset" perspective is a slightly different one, so that would probably be another discussion. But it's best to think of the cards in iOS as simply a limitless overview of your most recently used and not necessarily "running" apps.

Fantastic!! Thanks. Never saw that before. I foresee adjusting my way of doing things and look at them as just cards/placeholders. Plus if leaving them "open" is better for battery life, that's good to know also.

Thanks.

Though - and this I find extremely odd - if it's better to leave them open and worse to close them, I'm somewhat astounded that Apple gives the option to close them. To me there are so many things Apple should be doing to better benefit the user that it's kind of surprising for them to allow the user to do something that's ultimately worse for their battery experience.

 

[MEJHarrison]

Though - and this I find extremely odd - if it's better to leave them open and worse to close them, I'm somewhat astounded that Apple gives the option to close them. To me there are so many things Apple should be doing to better benefit the user that it's kind of surprising for them to allow the user to do something that's ultimately worse for their battery experience.

If you have no power to close them, you also have no power to kill a misbehaving app. Sometimes things go horribly wrong and you just need to kill it and start over. A game stuck on the login screen? Kill it and start over. The app isn't responding to input? Kill it and start over.

It's all quite logical if you think about it.

 

[Tozovac]

If you have no power to close them, you also have no power to kill a misbehaving app. Sometimes things go horribly wrong and you just need to kill it and start over. A game stuck on the login screen? Kill it and start over. The app isn't responding to input? Kill it and start over.

It's all quite logical if you think about it.

I agree, it would be logical if it was better-advertised by Apple and non-Apple sources that an "open" app is really not "open," but I've never seen the "flick to close" feature in the multi-tasking switcher as being couched/sold to be only for misbehaving apps. Every/any instance I'd seen was sold as an easier way "close" apps, as if apps should be closed.

https://www.pcmag.com/feature/316056/how-to-multitask-in-ios-7

That article clearly discusses background apps being updated in a way to minimize battery use, and clearly states (seemingly incorrectly) that "Remember, shutting down apps you're not using will help save battery life."

But then there's this, which agrees with the Daring Fireball article.

http://www.businessinsider.com/apple-closing-multitasking-apps-battery-life-2017-7

If I had unlimited free time, I'd look for a keynote video to see whether any Apple exec playfully flicked away "open" apps as if it's a good thing to do. But why bother.

Thanks again for the info.

 

[Feyl]

From the user experience point of view, I honestly can't understand why would anyone want to keep like 20+ apps open all the time. Imagine to scroll through that mess everytime you want to switch apps. I only leave apps that I know I'll be using everyday constantly through my day. At the end of my day, I close all my apps and go to bed, so I can start fresh in the morning.

Apple says that you don't have to close apps to get better battery life, but how come there are some apps like Facebook that violates iOS restrictions and drain battery life anyway...

 

[tkermit]

From the user experience point of view, I honestly can't understand why would anyone want to keep like 20+ apps open all the time. Imagine to scroll through that mess everytime you want to switch apps.

I only use the app switcher if I remember having recently used the app, in which case it's probably near the top. Realistically, even though my app switcher has now accumulated a card for every single app on my phone because I don't bother "closing" any, it would probably suffice to have the 10 or so most recently used apps in there. I'd be surprised if I scrolled beyond that very often if ever.

 

[Tozovac]

From the user experience point of view, I honestly can't understand why would anyone want to keep like 20+ apps open all the time. Imagine to scroll through that mess everytime you want to switch apps. I only leave apps that I know I'll be using everyday constantly through my day. At the end of my day, I close all my apps and go to bed, so I can start fresh in the morning.

From my personal standpoint, I agree completely. That's how I tend to use the multi-tasking view. If I chose to never close an opened app, it'd be a pretty inefficient way to access an app unless I only looked to access ones opened within the last few hours, and otherwise bought into Apple wanting you to only otherwise use it to close misbehaving apps.

Apple says that you don't have to close apps to get better battery life, but how come there are some apps like Facebook that violates iOS restrictions and drain battery life anyway...

Is that true for Facebook when the app is not even open (and it's not shown in the multi-tasking view)?

Now that I've had a chance to think about it, does anyone know whether "Background App Refresh" applies only to apps "opened" recently and appearing in the multi-tasking view? On that screen in "General" settings, it even says: "Allow apps to refresh their content when on wi-fi or cellular in the background. Turning off apps may help preserve battery life"

So is that for any/all apps even if all are "closed" in the multi-tasking view, or only for apps appearing in the multi-tasking view/decks?

But it's best to think of the cards in iOS as simply a limitless overview of your most recently used and not necessarily "running" apps.

Boy, now I'm wondering asking why would Apple call this "multi-tasking" if an app shown in this multi-tasking view isn't really running and is just a representation/listing of recently-used apps?

Then, if (if) Apple's main intent was to provide a way to close misbehaving apps, and if it was preferable to always leave apps running, then by extension it's fair to assume Apple would prefer you leave all apps "open" in the multi-task view. Geez, how much sense does it make to expect the user to take time flipping thru potentially 60+, 100+ recently-opened apps not in alphabetical order, just to find the one that you wish to close, instead of, say, have a Force Close area within the Settings app?

I'm trying to think of how multi-tasking was first introduced around ios4 (right?) and what switching between recently-opened apps was like before. Even back then there were multiple apps "opened" at the same time, where you could double-click the home button and then see the "open" apps at the bottom instead of in "cover view."

 

[Feyl]

From my personal standpoint, I agree completely. That's how I tend to use the multi-tasking view. Otherwise it'd be an inefficient secondary way to access all my apps that I would have opened at least once. Unless I buy into the fact that Apple wants you to only use it to close misbehaving apps or switch between the last few recently-opened apps if you find yourself bouncing between them.



Is that true for Facebook when the app is not even open (and it's not shown in the multi-tasking view)?

Now that I've had a chance to think about it, does anyone know whether "Background App Refresh" applies only to apps "opened" recently and appearing in the multi-tasking view? On that screen in "General" settings, it even says: "Allow apps to refresh their content when on wi-fi or cellular in the background. Turning off apps may help preserve battery life"

So is that for any/all apps even if all are "closed" in the multi-tasking view, or only for apps appearing in the multi-tasking view/decks?"

Yes it's true even if the app is not open. I'm not using background app refresh and apps like Twitter still runs in the background. It's happening for years and Apple doesn't seem like they want to do something with it.

 

[Tozovac]

Ok gotcha.

Well, back to the post topic: iOS11 UI design. I'd say so far any improvements via the iOS11 UI design is not worth the painfully obvious increase in battery life consumption for my iPad 2 Air. I'm rather shocked how quickly my battery is draining now.

Hey Apple: less big fonts, more battery life.

 

[Feyl]

Ok gotcha.

Well, back to the post topic: iOS11 UI design. I'd say so far any improvements via the iOS11 UI design is not worth the painfully obvious increase in battery life consumption for my iPad 2 Air. I'm rather shocked how quickly my battery is draining now.

Hey Apple: less big fonts, more battery life.

I personally rarely have problems with battery life, but I definitely agree about the big fonts. Ugly and completely unnecessary change. I’ve been using the stock podcast app for years, but I had to delete it and install Overcast instead. It’s not beautiful but at least it doesn’t have three bold headings on the screen at the same time that screams “I don’t belong here!”. Podcast app in iOS 11 is literally the worst app I’ve ever used.

 

[tgwaste]

I’m quite astonished by how poorly designed iOS 11 is. Ill get used to it I guess except the big font headers. Those are completely disgusting.

 

[Tozovac]

I’m quite astonished by how poorly designed iOS 11 is. Ill get used to it I guess except the big font headers. Those are completely disgusting.

In regards to this new UI "theme," I'd love to read directly from Apple, say in a 3rd party article, what problem they were seeking to fix. I still contend it's purely the result of misguided marketing & design management who do not realize how it's sometimes OK to put pencils-down and focus energies in other emergent technologies and/or other areas not as well-refined as iOS was back around 2012. The worrisome thing about all this unnecessary plastic surgery is wondering what will they unnecessarily redesign (and likely worsen) in iOS12, since this seems to be a recurring theme that's not slowing anytime soon with today's Apple.
[doublepost=1507741096][/doublepost]

https://www.slashgear.com/apples-jony-ive-blasts-misguided-design-rivals-12217930/

“If we can’t make something that is better,” Ive says, “we won’t do it.” J. Ive

“Most of our competitors are interested in doing something different, or want to appear new — I think those are completely the wrong goals. A product has to be genuinely better. This requires real discipline, and that’s what drives us — a sincere, genuine appetite to do something that is better." J. Ive

Does anyone think Jony once truly believed these, but he just somehow strayed from the plot? Or he never really meant what he said above and just: Steve reigned him in better, unlike Timmy?

 

[Falhófnir]

I quite like the look of 11 with bolder font and big headings, I know they did start to move away from the ultra thin fonts in iOS 10, but it looks more complete now. I quite like the control centre now feels more uniform with the rest of the design too (though why remove the on/off toggles? :/)

I guess I would probably welcome a complete ground-up redesign for iOS 12; it feels like time to move away from the iOS 7 era now the X is out of the gate, and the new way of doing things is being introduced. I guess they might wait for the design to move from that model into the mainstream first though?

 

[tgwaste]

In regards to this new UI "theme," I'd love to read directly from Apple, say in a 3rd party article, what problem they were seeking to fix. I still contend it's purely the result of misguided marketing & design management who do not realize how it's sometimes OK to put pencils-down and focus energies in other emergent technologies and/or other areas not as well-refined as iOS was back around 2012. The worrisome thing about all this unnecessary plastic surgery is wondering what will they unnecessarily redesign (and likely worsen) in iOS12, since this seems to be a recurring theme that's not slowing anytime soon with today's Apple.
[doublepost=1507741096][/doublepost]Does anyone think he once truly believed these quotes but somehow strayed from the script? Or he never really meant what he said below and just that Steve reigned him in unlike Timmy?

https://www.slashgear.com/apples-jony-ive-blasts-misguided-design-rivals-12217930/

“If we can’t make something that is better,” Ive says, “we won’t do it.” J. Ive

“Most of our competitors are interested in doing something different, or want to appear new — I think those are completely the wrong goals. A product has to be genuinely better. This requires real discipline, and that’s what drives us — a sincere, genuine appetite to do something that is better." J. Ive

He never meant what he said. Apple is a 'sound-byte' company now with no real direction. iOS is terrible. It went from being one of the best OSs to one of the worst. Its completely visionless, lacks any innovation and is just plain ugly to look at now. I cant believe we have to look at the same boring home-screen for yet another year because 'Apple knows best'. Apple sucks. The management team sucks. Its products have become Android rip-offs. Its to bad they arent ripping off some OS design elements as well.

Having said that its still hard to leave (*cough* Messages).
[doublepost=1507741518][/doublepost]

I quite like the look of 11 with bolder font and big headings, I know they did start to move away from the ultra thin fonts in iOS 10, but it looks more complete now. I quite like the control centre now feels more uniform with the rest of the design too (though why remove the on/off toggles? :/)

I guess I would probably welcome a complete ground-up redesign for iOS 12; it feels like time to move away from the iOS 7 era now the X is out of the gate, and the new way of doing things is being introduced. I guess they might wait for the design to move from that model into the mainstream first though?

I guess I don't understand the point of a big gorgeous screen when I still cant see my wallpaper. Where everything is just magnified instead of getting more out of the realestate.

 

[Tozovac]

I quite like the look of 11 with bolder font and big headings, I know they did start to move away from the ultra thin fonts in iOS 10, but it looks more complete now. I quite like the control centre now feels more uniform with the rest of the design too (though why remove the on/off toggles? :/)

I guess I would probably welcome a complete ground-up redesign for iOS 12; it feels like time to move away from the iOS 7 era now the X is out of the gate, and the new way of doing things is being introduced. I guess they might wait for the design to move from that model into the mainstream first though?

Hopefully without offending you or anyone: The idea that an OS/UI "needs" a ground-up redesign is absolutely fascinating to me.

When I think of things that "need" to be redesigned, I think of situations involving efficiency, safety, economics, conservation of natural resources, impact to the environment, etc. I.e., where there's a true need and where the pros involved with such changes far outweigh any cons. Then there are things "needing" redesigned that often don't significantly make things better but are just the unavoidable result of human nature: fashion, architecture, entertainment, art, etc. But some things just seem unnecessary and even counter-productive if redesigned, such as changing the side of the road to drive on, the QWERTY keyboard layout, the color/configuration of traffic lights & signs, the hindu-Arabic numbering system in favor of roman numerals...

If it should hopefully make no sense to anyone to create an entirely new alphabet, so why did it make sense to create a new UI system from virtually the ground-up back in 2013? I fail to see how major uprootings of certain time-tested UI principles would ever be a good thing, except for appeasing short-sighted customers and keeping Apple/Microsoft/Google Marketing departments employed...and satisfying the ego of a certain uber-minimalist design tyrant at Apple.

Unless I'm truly missing something like the need to conserve pixels, I remain truly disappointed and disgusted with the focus by Apple (and others who all followed Apple's theme) on flat design, minimalist unintuitive buttonless action cues, hidden/buried functions, and whiteout low-contrast borderless/vague/definitionless screen presentations. Every one of those generally involves decreased ease-of-use, be it from UI/understandability or difficulty to read outdoors in the sun. How all that was permitted to escape & stick fascinates me...

It completely disagrees with Jony's quotes from 2012 that I mentioned a few posts above. So what changed for Jony at Apple since 2012?

 

[Feyl]

Hopefully without offending you or anyone: The idea that an OS/UI "needs" a ground-up redesign is absolutely fascinating to me.

When I think of things that "need" to be redesigned, I think of situations involving efficiency, safety, economics, conservation of natural resources, impact to the environment, etc. I.e., where there's a true need and where the pros involved with such changes far outweigh any cons. Then there are things "needing" redesigned that often don't significantly make things better but are just the unavoidable result of human nature: fashion, architecture, entertainment, art, etc. But some things just seem unnecessary and even counter-productive if redesigned, such as changing the side of the road to drive on, the QWERTY keyboard layout, the color/configuration of traffic lights & signs, the hindu-Arabic numbering system in favor of roman numerals...

If it should hopefully make no sense to anyone to create an entirely new alphabet, so why did it make sense to create a new UI system from virtually the ground-up back in 2013? I fail to see how major uprootings of certain time-tested UI principles would ever be a good thing, except for appeasing short-sighted customers and keeping Apple/Microsoft/Google Marketing departments employed...and satisfying the ego of a certain uber-minimalist design tyrant at Apple.

Unless I'm truly missing something like the need to conserve pixels, I remain truly disappointed and disgusted with the focus by Apple (and others who all followed Apple's theme) on flat design, minimalist unintuitive buttonless action cues, hidden/buried functions, and whiteout low-contrast borderless/vague/definitionless screen presentations. Every one of those generally involves decreased ease-of-use, be it from UI/understandability or difficulty to read outdoors in the sun. How all that was permitted to escape & stick fascinates me...

It completely disagrees with Jony's quotes from 2012 that I mentioned a few posts above. So what changed for Jony at Apple since 2012?

What changed for Jony? It's very simple. His curator and mentor Steve Jobs died. I honestly think that there's a void for people like Steve who were highly critical everytime. There's literally nobody in that company that would tell Sir Jony that he's not always right.

 

[BlankSlate]

I regularly search the news for; "themes iOS", hoping we will finally get to install launchers or at the least themes. But nope. Ten years of iPhones and no customization beyond wallpapers. It would be a welcome addition to the AppStore and would make both devs and apple more money, so I have no idea what’s holding them back.

 

[Tozovac]

I regularly search the news for; "themes iOS", hoping we will finally get to install launchers or at the least themes. But nope. Ten years of iPhones and no customization beyond wallpapers. It would be a welcome addition to the AppStore and would make both devs and apple more money, so I have no idea what’s holding them back.

The fact that farthest that Apple's amazing design team has gone towards offering users a customized view has been the oh-so-useful "Invert Colors" option should tell you all you need to know about how much Apple respects a user's desire to make the UI more usable for himself/herself.

 

[Tozovac]

Agree or disagree with my opinions, consider checking this out and making your voice heard.

https://forums.macrumors.com/thread...imalization-and-annually-reworke-uis.2077302/