7 ms·

"Perfection is Achieved Not When There Is Nothing More to Add, But When There Is Nothing Left to Take Away" I installed the new iTunes for my friends dad this

by mentos 11y ago

"Perfection is Achieved Not When There Is Nothing More to Add, But When There Is Nothing Left to Take Away" I installed the new iTunes for my friends dad this weekend when I was helping him with his computer troubles. It took me way too long to find the file menu and it occurred to me in that moment that UI/UX designers have gone too far. In the pursuit of simplicity the marble nose has been chipped off the sculpture.

wlesieutre 11y ago
"Let me push Alt just in case a secret UI shows up" is up there with XKCD's famous "change the screen resolution" troubleshooting strip [1]. It should not be a thing. But here we are. And unfortunately, while the "change the screen resolution" is becoming less common, burying features in undiscoverable places is getting worse and worse. What I hate the most about this is that (unlike aforementioned off-screen dialog bugs) designers/developers are doing it on purpose. Please stop! Other people have to use your software! [1] http://www.xkcd.com/1479/ http://www.xkcd.com/1479/
- Stratoscope 11y ago
  In a funny coincidence, just a few minutes ago I got an email indicating that an off-screen dialog bug I reported on Windows 8 almost three years ago has been fixed. (Actually I think it was fixed early last year in a Windows Technical Preview build - two years after I reported it!) I had my ThinkPad and an external monitor positioned like this, with their arrangement set in the Display control panel to match: +----------------+ | | | | | External | | | +--------------+ | | | | +----------------+ | ThinkPad | | | +--------------+ When Windows 8 introduced the new file copy/move/delete dialogs, it also introduced a bug. With this monitor arrangement, the dialog would be displayed offscreen: +----------------+ | | | | [Dialog] | External | | | +--------------+ | | | | +----------------+ | ThinkPad | | | +--------------+ Oops. Just like in the XKCD, the modal dialog locked up the File Explorer window that had opened the dialog. After running into this many times I figured out a workaround using keyboard shortcuts to move the dialog back onscreen. http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/windows_8-files/file-copydelete-dialog-is-offscreen-in-a-staggered/74cd289c-bbca-4740-8d13-93fca47a3ebb http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/windows_8-f...
  - TazeTSchnitzel 11y ago
    Knowing about Alt+Spacebar has been invaluable.
    - J_Darnley 11y ago
      Can you summarize what that does for those of us who don't know?
      - wlesieutre 11y ago
        Pops up a menu in the corner of the active window with Restore, Move, Size, Minimize, Maximize, Close. If the window is off screen, the menu should pop up within screen bounds anyway. Also accessible by right clicking a titlebar, for anybody who's familiar with that one.
starshadowx2 11y ago
I still use iTunes 10.7 because it was the last version before they (in my opinion) ruined the navigation and menus.
- mbcrower 11y ago
  IMHO Apple's user interfaces have been getting less intuitive and more buggy with every release. I actually had to use Google to figure out how to disable shuffle on my iPhone. Another annoyance with iTunes is that they removed the border. If it's placed over a white background, you can't tell where the iTunes window ends. Minimalism done right can be a beautiful thing. When it's done wrong (it's very difficult to get right), it's a disaster.
digikata 11y ago
hiding != taking away Or put longer: hiding functionality with out actually taking away the need to manually interact with the function is a superficial design utility improvement.

by mentos 11y ago

wlesieutre 11y ago

"Let me push Alt just in case a secret UI shows up" is up there with XKCD's famous "change the screen resolution" troubleshooting strip [1]. It should not be a thing. But here we are. And unfortunately, while the "change the screen resolution" is becoming less common, burying features in undiscoverable places is getting worse and worse. What I hate the most about this is that (unlike aforementioned off-screen dialog bugs) designers/developers are doing it on purpose. Please stop! Other people have to use your software! [1] http://www.xkcd.com/1479/ http://www.xkcd.com/1479/

Stratoscope 11y ago
In a funny coincidence, just a few minutes ago I got an email indicating that an off-screen dialog bug I reported on Windows 8 almost three years ago has been fixed. (Actually I think it was fixed early last year in a Windows Technical Preview build - two years after I reported it!) I had my ThinkPad and an external monitor positioned like this, with their arrangement set in the Display control panel to match: +----------------+ | | | | | External | | | +--------------+ | | | | +----------------+ | ThinkPad | | | +--------------+ When Windows 8 introduced the new file copy/move/delete dialogs, it also introduced a bug. With this monitor arrangement, the dialog would be displayed offscreen: +----------------+ | | | | [Dialog] | External | | | +--------------+ | | | | +----------------+ | ThinkPad | | | +--------------+ Oops. Just like in the XKCD, the modal dialog locked up the File Explorer window that had opened the dialog. After running into this many times I figured out a workaround using keyboard shortcuts to move the dialog back onscreen. http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/windows_8-files/file-copydelete-dialog-is-offscreen-in-a-staggered/74cd289c-bbca-4740-8d13-93fca47a3ebb http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/windows_8-f...
- TazeTSchnitzel 11y ago
  Knowing about Alt+Spacebar has been invaluable.
  - J_Darnley 11y ago
    Can you summarize what that does for those of us who don't know?
    - wlesieutre 11y ago
      Pops up a menu in the corner of the active window with Restore, Move, Size, Minimize, Maximize, Close. If the window is off screen, the menu should pop up within screen bounds anyway. Also accessible by right clicking a titlebar, for anybody who's familiar with that one.

starshadowx2 11y ago

I still use iTunes 10.7 because it was the last version before they (in my opinion) ruined the navigation and menus.

mbcrower 11y ago
IMHO Apple's user interfaces have been getting less intuitive and more buggy with every release. I actually had to use Google to figure out how to disable shuffle on my iPhone. Another annoyance with iTunes is that they removed the border. If it's placed over a white background, you can't tell where the iTunes window ends. Minimalism done right can be a beautiful thing. When it's done wrong (it's very difficult to get right), it's a disaster.

digikata 11y ago

hiding != taking away Or put longer: hiding functionality with out actually taking away the need to manually interact with the function is a superficial design utility improvement.