5 ms·

Looks like it's more suitable for making games, since it "uses its own high-performance rendering engine to draw widgets" -- non-games typically don't reinvent

Looks like it's more suitable for making games, since it "uses its own high-performance rendering engine to draw widgets" -- non-games typically don't reinvent widgets.

robbrown451 11y ago
Well, it's Google that is reinventing the widgets, not the app developer. They say it is especially good for Material Design apps, which would seem to indicate non-game apps. Admittedly it might look a bit out of place on iOS, but hopefully they've done a reasonably good job at making widgets that look at home on iOS.
- declan 11y ago
  >Admittedly it might look a bit out of place on iOS Since last year, Google's iOS apps have gradually adopted more and more elements of Material Design, including the color palette, the app bar menu, the MD iconset, the floating action button. And they typically remain best in class; it turns out that Material Design works well on iOS too. (Note Google's implementation is not necessarily consistent--just look at the different button tap effects for Calendar vs. YouTube on iOS. Sigh.) We've also borrowed MD concepts for the iOS version of our new app (https://recent.io/ https://recent.io/) without user complaints.
  - bluthru 11y ago
    >And they typically remain best in class; it turns out that iOS users enjoy Material Design too. Ugh, no thanks. Please keep the low information density, searing color blocks with white text, FAB covering content, drop shadows, and overdone animation away.
    - declan 11y ago
      Not only are you right, but Google realized you're right. They've removed some of the overdone animations--tap on some of the buttons on iOS Hangouts and you'll see. And the color blocks aren't quite as searing anymore (didn't the original version of the spec call for FABs in a contrasting accent color, like bright yellow?). I view the YouTube iOS app as a good example of the direction Material Design is headed; it's even dropped the hamburger menu, which was a big part of the original spec.
      - zghst 11y ago
        Only if the navigation would condense while scrolling... Hate that 25% of the UI is blinding me with color/space and distracting away from what I'm interacting with.
fsloth 11y ago
And to me this is a great shame. Unique industrial design adds appeal to a product and can improve its user experience. Kai's power tools were a fantastic experiment in visual UI design. I'm left wondering why games are the only brand of software where ui innovation "is ok".
- steveax 11y ago
  Kai's Power Tools, well that's a blast from the past! So many great graphics tools - remember Convolver [1] [1]: http://www.mprove.de/script/99/kai/2Software.html http://www.mprove.de/script/99/kai/2Software.html
- 72deluxe 11y ago
  True, but sometimes the UI does not need innovation. iOS had problems where they suddenly made a button look like text and nobody could tell what was a button, and what was text. It didn't need innovation - it wasn't broken. In the case of custom GUI elements sometimes things don't need fixing. The audio industry always makes control panels etc. look different to the common UI and this is one area you still see it. But for the most part, having a consistent UI means the system is easier to use. I wouldn't want my fork mutating every time I had a different meal, in the interests of innovation.
  - fsloth 11y ago
    "I wouldn't want my fork mutating every time I had a different meal, in the interests of innovation." The meal is a good analogy. For prolonged activity a local minima of utility that is 'good enough' can be achieved. This would correspond with a single app. The fork, however, is not necessarily the best tool for 3D modeling, composing music or some new entirely new activity.
    - 72deluxe 11y ago
      In this instance though, the fork is the method by which you interact with the food. In GUIs, the GUI elements are the ways you interact with the underlying concepts in the program (the food). The fork is basically a GUI element, eg. a button. Buttons appearing to be anything but buttons is as useful as a fork being shaped like a playing card - it isn't useful at all, and I could not easily shovel food into my fat face with aplomb. I am not saying that custom GUI controls/widgets shouldn't be invented where needed, just that the basics being reinvented just for the sake of reinvention is unnecessary, and confusing.

Looks like it's more suitable for making games, since it "uses its own high-performance rendering engine to draw widgets" -- non-games typically don't reinvent widgets.

robbrown451 11y ago

Well, it's Google that is reinventing the widgets, not the app developer. They say it is especially good for Material Design apps, which would seem to indicate non-game apps. Admittedly it might look a bit out of place on iOS, but hopefully they've done a reasonably good job at making widgets that look at home on iOS.

declan 11y ago
>Admittedly it might look a bit out of place on iOS Since last year, Google's iOS apps have gradually adopted more and more elements of Material Design, including the color palette, the app bar menu, the MD iconset, the floating action button. And they typically remain best in class; it turns out that Material Design works well on iOS too. (Note Google's implementation is not necessarily consistent--just look at the different button tap effects for Calendar vs. YouTube on iOS. Sigh.) We've also borrowed MD concepts for the iOS version of our new app (https://recent.io/ https://recent.io/) without user complaints.
- bluthru 11y ago
  >And they typically remain best in class; it turns out that iOS users enjoy Material Design too. Ugh, no thanks. Please keep the low information density, searing color blocks with white text, FAB covering content, drop shadows, and overdone animation away.
  - declan 11y ago
    Not only are you right, but Google realized you're right. They've removed some of the overdone animations--tap on some of the buttons on iOS Hangouts and you'll see. And the color blocks aren't quite as searing anymore (didn't the original version of the spec call for FABs in a contrasting accent color, like bright yellow?). I view the YouTube iOS app as a good example of the direction Material Design is headed; it's even dropped the hamburger menu, which was a big part of the original spec.
    - zghst 11y ago
      Only if the navigation would condense while scrolling... Hate that 25% of the UI is blinding me with color/space and distracting away from what I'm interacting with.

fsloth 11y ago

And to me this is a great shame. Unique industrial design adds appeal to a product and can improve its user experience. Kai's power tools were a fantastic experiment in visual UI design. I'm left wondering why games are the only brand of software where ui innovation "is ok".

steveax 11y ago
Kai's Power Tools, well that's a blast from the past! So many great graphics tools - remember Convolver [1] [1]: http://www.mprove.de/script/99/kai/2Software.html http://www.mprove.de/script/99/kai/2Software.html
72deluxe 11y ago
True, but sometimes the UI does not need innovation. iOS had problems where they suddenly made a button look like text and nobody could tell what was a button, and what was text. It didn't need innovation - it wasn't broken. In the case of custom GUI elements sometimes things don't need fixing. The audio industry always makes control panels etc. look different to the common UI and this is one area you still see it. But for the most part, having a consistent UI means the system is easier to use. I wouldn't want my fork mutating every time I had a different meal, in the interests of innovation.
- fsloth 11y ago
  "I wouldn't want my fork mutating every time I had a different meal, in the interests of innovation." The meal is a good analogy. For prolonged activity a local minima of utility that is 'good enough' can be achieved. This would correspond with a single app. The fork, however, is not necessarily the best tool for 3D modeling, composing music or some new entirely new activity.
  - 72deluxe 11y ago
    In this instance though, the fork is the method by which you interact with the food. In GUIs, the GUI elements are the ways you interact with the underlying concepts in the program (the food). The fork is basically a GUI element, eg. a button. Buttons appearing to be anything but buttons is as useful as a fork being shaped like a playing card - it isn't useful at all, and I could not easily shovel food into my fat face with aplomb. I am not saying that custom GUI controls/widgets shouldn't be invented where needed, just that the basics being reinvented just for the sake of reinvention is unnecessary, and confusing.