4 ms·

> Remember the round cornered buttons? Yeah, I remember too. The only way it's okay for a designer to use them now is if it's #ironic. So keep it functional, no

> Remember the round cornered buttons? Yeah, I remember too. The only way it's okay for a designer to use them now is if it's #ironic. So keep it functional, not decorative. The round corners were never suiting any purpose. But you have to choose some shape for them to be; why is square the default/baseline, and round the modification (the one with 'something added')? You could equally well say to, "just use round corners, keep it functional, not decorative—we austere users of the internet don't require any flashy straight-edged ornamentation." I'm sure someone can give me an argument about how the straight edges make it easier for the eyes to associate aligned items or something like that, but if you're just slightly rounding some rectangles, not using ovals or something, the difference will be negligible. The problem isn't introducing aesthetic qualities for their own sake—it's only a problem when you exchange something with a concrete purpose because you give higher value to the purely aesthetic thing. (The quote uses the term 'decorate,' which ordinarily I think is a good choice, since in the case of decorations, you're adding content, which can lead to useless clutter—but! my opening argument here is basically that choosing round over square is not decorative in that sense.) So, I'm left with the feeling that the quote really just comes down to justifying the newer bandwagon.

TylerE 8y ago
Because squares are much easier to draw than circles.
- westoncb 8y ago
  I think you're right that that has led to people's thinking of rectangles as 'default' (and because they're more traditional, probably for the same reason)—but it's an irrelevant fact now. However you're drawing button these days, it's generally a choice between drawRect(...) or drawRoundRect(...); or of course in CSS you just add one line to define the border-radius.
- flukus 8y ago
  There's the old story about Steve Jobs and Bill Atkinson where jobs points out rounded corners everywhere: http://www.folklore.org/StoryView.py?story=Round_Rects_Are_Everywhere.txt http://www.folklore.org/StoryView.py?story=Round_Rects_Are_E... It do wonder how much CPU power, electricity and carbon emissions have gone into rounded corners over the years, only to have square rectangles came back into fashion.
- kps 8y ago
  But round holes are easier to drill than square ones.
Grue3 8y ago
>the round corners were never suiting any purpose. The round corners were serving a very important purpose: to signify that this UI element is a button as opposed to a random square div. Now it's become very hard to tell what's a button and what's not on many websites.

TylerE 8y ago

Because squares are much easier to draw than circles.

westoncb 8y ago
I think you're right that that has led to people's thinking of rectangles as 'default' (and because they're more traditional, probably for the same reason)—but it's an irrelevant fact now. However you're drawing button these days, it's generally a choice between drawRect(...) or drawRoundRect(...); or of course in CSS you just add one line to define the border-radius.
flukus 8y ago
There's the old story about Steve Jobs and Bill Atkinson where jobs points out rounded corners everywhere: http://www.folklore.org/StoryView.py?story=Round_Rects_Are_Everywhere.txt http://www.folklore.org/StoryView.py?story=Round_Rects_Are_E... It do wonder how much CPU power, electricity and carbon emissions have gone into rounded corners over the years, only to have square rectangles came back into fashion.
kps 8y ago
But round holes are easier to drill than square ones.

Grue3 8y ago

>the round corners were never suiting any purpose. The round corners were serving a very important purpose: to signify that this UI element is a button as opposed to a random square div. Now it's become very hard to tell what's a button and what's not on many websites.