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> The production of beautiful objects is only one > small component of modern design… As the authors say, and as Steve Jobs and Jony Ive have reiterated in

> The production of beautiful objects is only one > small component of modern design… As the authors say, and as Steve Jobs and Jony Ive have reiterated in almost every Apple product launch, how something looks is only a small part of the design Apple focuses on. Historically, the priority is how things _work_. This is probably the most misunderstood aspect of Apple products. A screenshot of software XYZ may look just as thoughtful as an Apple product, but rarely in practice is that true.

bobbyi_settv 11y ago
> Historically, the priority is how things _work_. Right, everyone agrees with this. And as users of their products, we can see that this is no longer the priority today. The question is, how and why did it change? You can see it even in little things like Apple removing the ability to display how much battery time is remaining instead of percentage in OS X. This makes the product work less well, but makes it more consistent with iOS and "simpler".
- rbrcurtis 11y ago
  I'd guess they removed it because it was so inaccurate due to people changing their use habit. If I'm just browsing the web my laptop might last for 7 hours, but as soon as I fire up some youtube it drops dramatically.
look_lookatme 11y ago
What has OP misunderstood? That he or she _should_ prefer iOS over Android because of a demagogoic quote? It's unclear what your point is here. That said, the other day I was using Google Maps for iOS and could not figure out how to switch directions from public transit to car. It seriously took me a few minutes of playing to realize how to do it. I feel like people implementing Material do it in a kind of perfunctory way and that can be lossy usability wise. On the other hand the Google Maps have a history of myopically introducing big UX changes that make the product worse, so why would I expect anything more from the team when implementing Material on iOS?
- jonhohle 11y ago
  OP starts with: > I think Android has surpassed iOS in terms of > design and usability. But then only describes how materials _looks_. Both Windows and Android have been plagued with attempting to make things look a particular way without consideration for how they _work_. Ironically, Apple is often criticized for exactly this, when in my experience they really do sweat the _work_ details. I'm not saying OP should prefer anything over another thing, just that only talking about how devices look is missing the broader goals of design and usability.
  - kuschku 11y ago
    Well, Android with Material started focusing a LOT on how things work, how animations have to seem natural, gives guidelines on language and explains how to structure your app.
radicalbyte 11y ago
> the priority is how things _work_ I really wish that they would apply this to iTunes and with their power/USB cables. They've done a good job with OSX - F3, F4 and the multi-window support all work really well. Multi-windowing is an especially big improvement over windows. But there are easily 10 x as many iTunes users as OSX users so they should really do something about it.
- jonhohle 11y ago
  I've never understood why iTunes is the way that it is, except that was already available on Windows, so it seemed like a good vector for devices. It really is a jumbled bag now though, and seems to go through significant UI changes every release for no good reason (hearts? stars? iTunes has them both!) OS X used to have a separate syncing application, iSync, for PDAs that was simple and generally worked. I was dusappointed when the moved everything into iTunes (really, calendar and photo setting in my music player?) What is the concern with USB and power? I really like lightning and MagSafe.
  - radicalbyte 11y ago
    The lack of stress relief which means that the cables break very quickly. It's a well known design defect in Apple products. I'm very careful with my technology but I'm already on me 2nd MBP power supply and my wife is on her 3rd USB cable for her iPad. This all in 18 months.
    - Bud 11y ago
      Uh, there is strain relief. On every cable. You're probably doing what everyone does, which is to wind that cable on the power supply as tightly as you can around the charger, which is going to eventually break the cable. Instead, make a small loop where the cable begins, then wrap gently. It will last essentially forever. And no. This isn't a "well known design defect". In fact, Apple's cables are inevitably designed and manufactured better than competitors'. Have you even seen the awful mess that passes for PC power supplies lately? At all? Well, I have, since I administer about 200 Macs and around 75 PCs. I can tell you that there is no comparison in design or quality.

bobbyi_settv 11y ago

> Historically, the priority is how things _work_. Right, everyone agrees with this. And as users of their products, we can see that this is no longer the priority today. The question is, how and why did it change? You can see it even in little things like Apple removing the ability to display how much battery time is remaining instead of percentage in OS X. This makes the product work less well, but makes it more consistent with iOS and "simpler".

rbrcurtis 11y ago
I'd guess they removed it because it was so inaccurate due to people changing their use habit. If I'm just browsing the web my laptop might last for 7 hours, but as soon as I fire up some youtube it drops dramatically.

look_lookatme 11y ago

What has OP misunderstood? That he or she _should_ prefer iOS over Android because of a demagogoic quote? It's unclear what your point is here. That said, the other day I was using Google Maps for iOS and could not figure out how to switch directions from public transit to car. It seriously took me a few minutes of playing to realize how to do it. I feel like people implementing Material do it in a kind of perfunctory way and that can be lossy usability wise. On the other hand the Google Maps have a history of myopically introducing big UX changes that make the product worse, so why would I expect anything more from the team when implementing Material on iOS?

jonhohle 11y ago
OP starts with: > I think Android has surpassed iOS in terms of > design and usability. But then only describes how materials _looks_. Both Windows and Android have been plagued with attempting to make things look a particular way without consideration for how they _work_. Ironically, Apple is often criticized for exactly this, when in my experience they really do sweat the _work_ details. I'm not saying OP should prefer anything over another thing, just that only talking about how devices look is missing the broader goals of design and usability.
- kuschku 11y ago
  Well, Android with Material started focusing a LOT on how things work, how animations have to seem natural, gives guidelines on language and explains how to structure your app.

radicalbyte 11y ago

> the priority is how things _work_ I really wish that they would apply this to iTunes and with their power/USB cables. They've done a good job with OSX - F3, F4 and the multi-window support all work really well. Multi-windowing is an especially big improvement over windows. But there are easily 10 x as many iTunes users as OSX users so they should really do something about it.

jonhohle 11y ago
I've never understood why iTunes is the way that it is, except that was already available on Windows, so it seemed like a good vector for devices. It really is a jumbled bag now though, and seems to go through significant UI changes every release for no good reason (hearts? stars? iTunes has them both!) OS X used to have a separate syncing application, iSync, for PDAs that was simple and generally worked. I was dusappointed when the moved everything into iTunes (really, calendar and photo setting in my music player?) What is the concern with USB and power? I really like lightning and MagSafe.
- radicalbyte 11y ago
  The lack of stress relief which means that the cables break very quickly. It's a well known design defect in Apple products. I'm very careful with my technology but I'm already on me 2nd MBP power supply and my wife is on her 3rd USB cable for her iPad. This all in 18 months.
  - Bud 11y ago
    Uh, there is strain relief. On every cable. You're probably doing what everyone does, which is to wind that cable on the power supply as tightly as you can around the charger, which is going to eventually break the cable. Instead, make a small loop where the cable begins, then wrap gently. It will last essentially forever. And no. This isn't a "well known design defect". In fact, Apple's cables are inevitably designed and manufactured better than competitors'. Have you even seen the awful mess that passes for PC power supplies lately? At all? Well, I have, since I administer about 200 Macs and around 75 PCs. I can tell you that there is no comparison in design or quality.