6 ms·

It's really interesting that Google seems to be at times able to pull off wonderful UI design bordering on genius (Chrome, Google Maps) and at other times just

by zmmmmm 16y ago

It's really interesting that Google seems to be at times able to pull off wonderful UI design bordering on genius (Chrome, Google Maps) and at other times just barely able to be at par (most of Android with select exceptions). I guess this just reflects different teams within Google, but it's a shame they can't apply their best UI talent across all their products (and particularly, the products that most need it, like Android).

nodata 16y ago
like Android Huh? Works for me. Consistent? Perhaps not. Bad design? Hardly, and it's getting better with each release.
- zmmmmm 16y ago
  I didn't (and wouldn't) say Android is badly designed. It's OK, and I'd even say certain parts are beautiful, but it's quite uneven and some parts do actually border on ugly. It is certainly good enough for me, but for most people I think the bar has been raised to stratospheric levels by Apple and people now have really high expectations of the visual experience they should get from phone OSes.
  - asnyder 16y ago
    I don't know about you, but Android 2.2 is pretty beautiful. I had an iPhone for a while and personally feel the design of Android is significantly more natural to me. Best of all if you don't like how something behaves, you can usually swap it out.
- jrockway 16y ago
  I find Android a lot easier to use than iOS. What I've noticed when using an iOS device is that I often can't figure out how to do something. Then I research it and discover that it simply can't be done. Easy to learn, but unusable. Android, on the other hand, trades discoverability for usability. I have heard that some Android users don't even know that they can pull down the notification bar. But once you learn to do that, it's a wonderfully usable system. (Same for long-press. What to do something with a thing you see? Press and hold. Works every time, but not something you would necessarily think to do.) I think when people say "Android is unusable" they really mean, "Apple's icons are prettier", which is absolutely true. iOS devices look stunning on billboards and on TV. Android devices? Meh. (I blame the tastelessness of the carriers, though. A big fucking robot eyeball as the background? NASCAR and Sprint logos all over the place? Fuck off and die. AOSP is nice looking, though.) (Want to see the biggest software disaster ever in the history of humanity? The Nook Color with Android. B&N's effort to cripple Android was so half-hearted that they unintentionally created the worst computing device ever made. Examples: you can select text and choose "copy", but they removed "paste" from the long-tap menu on text fields. You can copy, but not paste. They also made their own "buttons" that work like Android's; Back (which is an undiscoverable gesture, not a button), Menu, Home. But sometimes, you also get the normal Android buttons. So you have two menus (that work alike, but have different items), two back buttons (that work differently, sometimes), and so on. WHAT WERE THEY ON WHEN THEY DESIGNED THIS. I'm going to be honest. I've never been so upset by anything ever. Using one of these things made me want to strangle the life out of everyone involved with the project and then go buy an iPad. And oh yeah, the fucking screen flickers like a dying fluorescent light. HOW CAN YOU FAIL SO BADLY. The one good thing is that they do not advertise that they are using Android. But I digress.)
  - pbz 16y ago
    I've been using vanilla Android for almost a year now. The more I use it the more I dislike it. By far my number one complaint is bugs. Some of them are so apparent and easily reproducible is simply inexcusable that they're still there (all reported btw). I haven't rooted my Nexus One, so I don't have that to blame either. It gets tiring to click the same message-contact shortcut and sometimes to be taken to the right place and sometimes to the list of users, or trying to attach an image and not be sure if the gallery application will crash or not (and having to manually close it), or after N text messages sent and getting a lovely "Message could not be sent" error not knowing if it's the messaging app misbehaving or my carrier (almost always a force close of the messaging application fixes the issue), or the scrolling in the browser acting up while locking and unlocking the screen miraculously fixes it... There's also the focus on fancy features like navigation while neglecting the basics like the phone part. I had more control / features on the phone side with my ancient Sony Ericsson dumb phone than on my "superphone" The potential is there though...
    - jrockway 16y ago
      I couldn't find your bug report or patch anywhere. Do you think people can magically fix bugs you experience without you even telling them what the bug is? (I personally have never seen any of these issues. The main problem I have with Android is the culture of low-quality ad-supported apps, and sadly, that's something a bug report isn't going to fix.)
      - thasmin 16y ago
        They should "magically" fix bugs so I never experience them.
      - pbz 16y ago
        Did you really search?! One of the issues I mentioned is on the first page of bug reports: http://code.google.com/p/android/issues/detail?id=6296&colspec=ID%20Type%20Status%20Owner%20Summary%20Stars http://code.google.com/p/android/issues/detail?id=6296&c... Here's the contact shortcut one: http://code.google.com/p/android/issues/detail?id=10663&q=shortcut%20contact&colspec=ID%20Type%20Status%20Owner%20Summary%20Stars http://code.google.com/p/android/issues/detail?id=10663&... For the gallery crashing since I don't know exactly what causes it I can't point to a specific bug report, but there are over 100 unsolved issues with the gallery application. I don't have time to search for the other bug reports, but they're there.
boucher 16y ago
Google does an above average, and often good job, at actual usability challenges. But they are pretty universally bad at making things that people would consider beautiful. Chrome gets usability issues right. Things like their tab closing behavior, the almost total lack of dialogues, one click bookmarking, etc. are all really great. But Chrome is not a beautiful app. Its toolbar icons are fairly childish, its tabs just a bit off. I'd say that trend holds through most of their products.
- zmmmmm 16y ago
  > But Chrome is not a beautiful app I guess it's totally subjective and therefore fairly meaningless, but I think Chrome is the most visually appealing of any browser right now. This is partly, I guess, because its primary virtue is minimalism, but the parts that are there are beautiful, I think.
  - deleted 16y ago
    [deleted]
  - drivebyacct2 16y ago
    Couldn't agree more. The tabs and buttons fit perfectly into my operating system (http://i.imgur.com/DO5SQ.png http://i.imgur.com/DO5SQ.png reusing this image from a few threads back). I don't even use the "Use GTK+ Theme" option (though I do use system titlebar because it looks hot).
    - allenp 16y ago
      What OS and theme/toolbar/etc is this? It looks great.
      - drivebyacct2 16y ago
        This is stock Ubuntu 10.10 Ambiance theme: Unstable Docky from PPA (The stable version is basically identical). Docky is pure butter. It is a few features down from AWN but it's MUCH more consistent (had problems with clicks registering in AWN in weird places) and is gorgeous. It really takes advantage of the SVG icons from Faenza. * ppa:docky-core/ppa The toolbar at the top is standard gnome-panel with Cardapio replacing the standard GNOME Main Menu. Cardapio is easily my favorite main menu of any OS. I have the ability to change the identifier for it, search the menu, see everything grouped nicely, AND resize the menu itself. Awesome stuff. * ppa:cardapio-team/unstable * screenshot of Cardapio: http://i.min.us/i9sRs.png http://i.min.us/i9sRs.png I'm using Faenza icons: * http://tiheum.deviantart.com/art/Faenza-Icons-173323228 http://tiheum.deviantart.com/art/Faenza-Icons-173323228 * ppa:tiheum/equinox Note, there is a conflict caused by Faenza's author overwriting PNGs in /usr/share/dockmanager which is used by the Docky DEB. I used DPKG and --force-overwrite to get them to install properly. A bit of a pain when there are updates, but really it's only one command and it's well worth it. (The only other thing I could add is, I use dockbarx when I remote in because it doesn't require compositing where Docky does. When I do that, my setup looks like this: http://i.min.us/iErSa.png http://i.min.us/iErSa.png)
joelhaus 16y ago
Related: They're trying (sort of): http://code.google.com/closure/library/ http://code.google.com/closure/library/ Here's a talk once about their process: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=697KX4Ciiws#t=02m40s http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=697KX4Ciiws#t=02m40s and a blog post: http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2008/04/what-makes-design-googley.html http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2008/04/what-makes-design-goo... P.S. Anyone know an easy Maps API trick for setting zoom level to display each of the U.S. states (which vary dramatically in size)?
- InnocentB 16y ago
  I'm not familiar with the Maps API, but the site does it for you: http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=texas&sll=42.138968,44.857178&sspn=2.814501,5.817261&ie=UTF8&hq=&hnear=Texas&z=6 http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&#38... (from searching Texas)
  - joelhaus 16y ago
    Doh! On second thought, actually think I tried that, but was unhappy with the results.
- albertsun 16y ago
  Try using the fitBounds method to set the map to a LatLngBounds object.

by zmmmmm 16y ago

nodata 16y ago

like Android Huh? Works for me. Consistent? Perhaps not. Bad design? Hardly, and it's getting better with each release.

zmmmmm 16y ago
I didn't (and wouldn't) say Android is badly designed. It's OK, and I'd even say certain parts are beautiful, but it's quite uneven and some parts do actually border on ugly. It is certainly good enough for me, but for most people I think the bar has been raised to stratospheric levels by Apple and people now have really high expectations of the visual experience they should get from phone OSes.
- asnyder 16y ago
  I don't know about you, but Android 2.2 is pretty beautiful. I had an iPhone for a while and personally feel the design of Android is significantly more natural to me. Best of all if you don't like how something behaves, you can usually swap it out.
jrockway 16y ago
I find Android a lot easier to use than iOS. What I've noticed when using an iOS device is that I often can't figure out how to do something. Then I research it and discover that it simply can't be done. Easy to learn, but unusable. Android, on the other hand, trades discoverability for usability. I have heard that some Android users don't even know that they can pull down the notification bar. But once you learn to do that, it's a wonderfully usable system. (Same for long-press. What to do something with a thing you see? Press and hold. Works every time, but not something you would necessarily think to do.) I think when people say "Android is unusable" they really mean, "Apple's icons are prettier", which is absolutely true. iOS devices look stunning on billboards and on TV. Android devices? Meh. (I blame the tastelessness of the carriers, though. A big fucking robot eyeball as the background? NASCAR and Sprint logos all over the place? Fuck off and die. AOSP is nice looking, though.) (Want to see the biggest software disaster ever in the history of humanity? The Nook Color with Android. B&N's effort to cripple Android was so half-hearted that they unintentionally created the worst computing device ever made. Examples: you can select text and choose "copy", but they removed "paste" from the long-tap menu on text fields. You can copy, but not paste. They also made their own "buttons" that work like Android's; Back (which is an undiscoverable gesture, not a button), Menu, Home. But sometimes, you also get the normal Android buttons. So you have two menus (that work alike, but have different items), two back buttons (that work differently, sometimes), and so on. WHAT WERE THEY ON WHEN THEY DESIGNED THIS. I'm going to be honest. I've never been so upset by anything ever. Using one of these things made me want to strangle the life out of everyone involved with the project and then go buy an iPad. And oh yeah, the fucking screen flickers like a dying fluorescent light. HOW CAN YOU FAIL SO BADLY. The one good thing is that they do not advertise that they are using Android. But I digress.)
- pbz 16y ago
  I've been using vanilla Android for almost a year now. The more I use it the more I dislike it. By far my number one complaint is bugs. Some of them are so apparent and easily reproducible is simply inexcusable that they're still there (all reported btw). I haven't rooted my Nexus One, so I don't have that to blame either. It gets tiring to click the same message-contact shortcut and sometimes to be taken to the right place and sometimes to the list of users, or trying to attach an image and not be sure if the gallery application will crash or not (and having to manually close it), or after N text messages sent and getting a lovely "Message could not be sent" error not knowing if it's the messaging app misbehaving or my carrier (almost always a force close of the messaging application fixes the issue), or the scrolling in the browser acting up while locking and unlocking the screen miraculously fixes it... There's also the focus on fancy features like navigation while neglecting the basics like the phone part. I had more control / features on the phone side with my ancient Sony Ericsson dumb phone than on my "superphone" The potential is there though...
  - jrockway 16y ago
    I couldn't find your bug report or patch anywhere. Do you think people can magically fix bugs you experience without you even telling them what the bug is? (I personally have never seen any of these issues. The main problem I have with Android is the culture of low-quality ad-supported apps, and sadly, that's something a bug report isn't going to fix.)
    - thasmin 16y ago
      They should "magically" fix bugs so I never experience them.
    - pbz 16y ago
      Did you really search?! One of the issues I mentioned is on the first page of bug reports: http://code.google.com/p/android/issues/detail?id=6296&colspec=ID%20Type%20Status%20Owner%20Summary%20Stars http://code.google.com/p/android/issues/detail?id=6296&c... Here's the contact shortcut one: http://code.google.com/p/android/issues/detail?id=10663&q=shortcut%20contact&colspec=ID%20Type%20Status%20Owner%20Summary%20Stars http://code.google.com/p/android/issues/detail?id=10663&... For the gallery crashing since I don't know exactly what causes it I can't point to a specific bug report, but there are over 100 unsolved issues with the gallery application. I don't have time to search for the other bug reports, but they're there.

boucher 16y ago

Google does an above average, and often good job, at actual usability challenges. But they are pretty universally bad at making things that people would consider beautiful. Chrome gets usability issues right. Things like their tab closing behavior, the almost total lack of dialogues, one click bookmarking, etc. are all really great. But Chrome is not a beautiful app. Its toolbar icons are fairly childish, its tabs just a bit off. I'd say that trend holds through most of their products.

zmmmmm 16y ago
> But Chrome is not a beautiful app I guess it's totally subjective and therefore fairly meaningless, but I think Chrome is the most visually appealing of any browser right now. This is partly, I guess, because its primary virtue is minimalism, but the parts that are there are beautiful, I think.
- deleted 16y ago
  [deleted]
- drivebyacct2 16y ago
  Couldn't agree more. The tabs and buttons fit perfectly into my operating system (http://i.imgur.com/DO5SQ.png http://i.imgur.com/DO5SQ.png reusing this image from a few threads back). I don't even use the "Use GTK+ Theme" option (though I do use system titlebar because it looks hot).
  - allenp 16y ago
    What OS and theme/toolbar/etc is this? It looks great.
    - drivebyacct2 16y ago
      This is stock Ubuntu 10.10 Ambiance theme: Unstable Docky from PPA (The stable version is basically identical). Docky is pure butter. It is a few features down from AWN but it's MUCH more consistent (had problems with clicks registering in AWN in weird places) and is gorgeous. It really takes advantage of the SVG icons from Faenza. * ppa:docky-core/ppa The toolbar at the top is standard gnome-panel with Cardapio replacing the standard GNOME Main Menu. Cardapio is easily my favorite main menu of any OS. I have the ability to change the identifier for it, search the menu, see everything grouped nicely, AND resize the menu itself. Awesome stuff. * ppa:cardapio-team/unstable * screenshot of Cardapio: http://i.min.us/i9sRs.png http://i.min.us/i9sRs.png I'm using Faenza icons: * http://tiheum.deviantart.com/art/Faenza-Icons-173323228 http://tiheum.deviantart.com/art/Faenza-Icons-173323228 * ppa:tiheum/equinox Note, there is a conflict caused by Faenza's author overwriting PNGs in /usr/share/dockmanager which is used by the Docky DEB. I used DPKG and --force-overwrite to get them to install properly. A bit of a pain when there are updates, but really it's only one command and it's well worth it. (The only other thing I could add is, I use dockbarx when I remote in because it doesn't require compositing where Docky does. When I do that, my setup looks like this: http://i.min.us/iErSa.png http://i.min.us/iErSa.png)

joelhaus 16y ago

Related: They're trying (sort of): http://code.google.com/closure/library/ http://code.google.com/closure/library/ Here's a talk once about their process: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=697KX4Ciiws#t=02m40s http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=697KX4Ciiws#t=02m40s and a blog post: http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2008/04/what-makes-design-googley.html http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2008/04/what-makes-design-goo... P.S. Anyone know an easy Maps API trick for setting zoom level to display each of the U.S. states (which vary dramatically in size)?

InnocentB 16y ago
I'm not familiar with the Maps API, but the site does it for you: http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=texas&sll=42.138968,44.857178&sspn=2.814501,5.817261&ie=UTF8&hq=&hnear=Texas&z=6 http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&#38... (from searching Texas)
- joelhaus 16y ago
  Doh! On second thought, actually think I tried that, but was unhappy with the results.
albertsun 16y ago
Try using the fitBounds method to set the map to a LatLngBounds object.