4 ms·

Mind catching me up on what was wrong with iOS7?

emsy 7y ago
The number one issue that's slowly getting fixed is not knowing which text is clickable or just a label. Then there were slow animations, arguably bad icons and inconsistent font usage. That's what I remember at least, I hope my memory's not failing me.
- sprafa 7y ago
  Some of the very early icons were so garish I remember being astonished by them.
- lonelappde 7y ago
  The main thing was the horrific unreadable Helvetica Neue Ultralight system font.
- samstave 7y ago
  If your memory is failing you, please make an appointment at the Genius Bar and someone will tell you why your memory is out of warranty and you just need to buy a new body. Simple! Also - you may try talking to Peter Thiel to inject your memory with more life essence... Oh wait, that may have been the Skeksis!!!
petilon 7y ago
The most amazing writing on this topic (i.e., how Apple ruined iOS) is by Michael Heilemann, Interface Director at Squarespace. Unfortunately he took down his blog. You can catch pieces of it on web archive though: https://web.archive.org/web/20130724000346/http://binarybonsai.com/blog https://web.archive.org/web/20130724000346/http://binarybons...
- dwaite 7y ago
  While there are good criticisms against iOS 7, it is a bit unfair to quote a criticism timed approximately against beta 1.
UIZealot 7y ago
Objectively, "bland", "confusing". Subjective, "ugly" comes to mind.
brianpgordon 7y ago
Disclaimer: I'm not a designer at all, and I have no design sense whatsoever. HN looks like something I'd design, except there would be no splash of color at the top. For me, the most striking change in iOS 7 was that the icons lost all of their character. I put together some before and after examples: https://i.imgur.com/hg8s50I.png https://i.imgur.com/hg8s50I.png The design was... sterilized. I specifically remember that when I updated my iPad and saw the new Safari icon, I said, out loud, "what the fuck is that?" Again, I don't know anything about usability or- well, I don't even know enough to have the vocabulary to describe what I don't know about design. But I thought the new icons were really dumb.
- corey_moncure 7y ago
  You're right. The new icons were bad and they're still bad. The Photos and Game Center icons in particular don't communicate anything or make use of any visual metaphors at all. It's like something you'd expect from a second year art major. More to the point. Why did they need to be changed? What was so wrong with the way they were that a hundred million users needed to re-learn a user interface?
  - mbrock 7y ago
    The badness of the Photos icons is especially bad when it's used without a label, like in the text message composer.

emsy 7y ago

The number one issue that's slowly getting fixed is not knowing which text is clickable or just a label. Then there were slow animations, arguably bad icons and inconsistent font usage. That's what I remember at least, I hope my memory's not failing me.

sprafa 7y ago
Some of the very early icons were so garish I remember being astonished by them.
lonelappde 7y ago
The main thing was the horrific unreadable Helvetica Neue Ultralight system font.
samstave 7y ago
If your memory is failing you, please make an appointment at the Genius Bar and someone will tell you why your memory is out of warranty and you just need to buy a new body. Simple! Also - you may try talking to Peter Thiel to inject your memory with more life essence... Oh wait, that may have been the Skeksis!!!

petilon 7y ago

The most amazing writing on this topic (i.e., how Apple ruined iOS) is by Michael Heilemann, Interface Director at Squarespace. Unfortunately he took down his blog. You can catch pieces of it on web archive though: https://web.archive.org/web/20130724000346/http://binarybonsai.com/blog https://web.archive.org/web/20130724000346/http://binarybons...

dwaite 7y ago
While there are good criticisms against iOS 7, it is a bit unfair to quote a criticism timed approximately against beta 1.

UIZealot 7y ago

Objectively, "bland", "confusing". Subjective, "ugly" comes to mind.

brianpgordon 7y ago

Disclaimer: I'm not a designer at all, and I have no design sense whatsoever. HN looks like something I'd design, except there would be no splash of color at the top. For me, the most striking change in iOS 7 was that the icons lost all of their character. I put together some before and after examples: https://i.imgur.com/hg8s50I.png https://i.imgur.com/hg8s50I.png The design was... sterilized. I specifically remember that when I updated my iPad and saw the new Safari icon, I said, out loud, "what the fuck is that?" Again, I don't know anything about usability or- well, I don't even know enough to have the vocabulary to describe what I don't know about design. But I thought the new icons were really dumb.

corey_moncure 7y ago
You're right. The new icons were bad and they're still bad. The Photos and Game Center icons in particular don't communicate anything or make use of any visual metaphors at all. It's like something you'd expect from a second year art major. More to the point. Why did they need to be changed? What was so wrong with the way they were that a hundred million users needed to re-learn a user interface?
- mbrock 7y ago
  The badness of the Photos icons is especially bad when it's used without a label, like in the text message composer.