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It is interesting how Apple's accessibility menu is growing to control so many aspects of UI. I still have this notion that "accessibility" are mostly settings

It is interesting how Apple's accessibility menu is growing to control so many aspects of UI. I still have this notion that "accessibility" are mostly settings for people with special needs, not with different UI preferences

Stratoscope 6y ago
It's the same on Android and Windows 10. Some of my favorite settings on both systems are hidden away in the Accessibility (Android) or Ease of Access (Windows) panels. In particular, each system has a setting to turn off animations for a calmer experience. On Windows you can make the text cursor thicker so it's easier to see on a high-DPI display, and select a black mouse pointer instead of the default white. There are a bunch more - worth a look around even if you don't think you have any accessibility needs.
- Kliment 6y ago
  The non-stupid behaviour for the printscreen key is also only switchable from W10's accessibility settings
jasonjayr 6y ago
I'm not sure if it's deliberate or not, but it seems like a subtle way of reducing the stigma of standing out when needing accessible accommodations to work effectively with computers. Keeping tweaks to UI behaviors to accommodate ways folks have to work along side with ways folks like to work blends them all together.
- gowld 6y ago
  It's not "political", it's devs realizing that real humans have different interface needs. We're all "disabled" from the point of view of a computer: computers have no need for silly mouse and keyboard and monitor for getting work done.
  - sneak 6y ago
    All art is political, it turns out.
WhyNotHugo 6y ago
The feature was probably added to suit people with some visual impairment, and not really for those with different taste. The fact that others can used it is just a side effect. (At least that's what I'd guess given Apple's usual approach to UX)
mathnmusic 6y ago
Or that "people with special needs" are not so different from the rest of us.
lazyjones 6y ago
It's probably a subtle, arrogant hint that if you have other UI preferences than the gods at Apple, you're "special". ;-)
sneak 6y ago
I think this perhaps comes from the decades-long use of “accessibility” as euphemism for “application preference settings needed by handicapped people”. It never really meant “accessibility” alone without the euphemistic baggage. It seems to me that the gradient from “application state” to “color scheme/theme” to “preferences” to “accessibility” is a continuous one, and we are still treating it from a mental model standpoint as discrete buckets. Now it’s back to being used in the literal meaning of the term, which, as you pointed out, is basis for confusion. This is one reason why I try hard to avoid euphemism in general; imprecision that results in context-specific definition drift makes for needlessly messy communication.

Stratoscope 6y ago

It's the same on Android and Windows 10. Some of my favorite settings on both systems are hidden away in the Accessibility (Android) or Ease of Access (Windows) panels. In particular, each system has a setting to turn off animations for a calmer experience. On Windows you can make the text cursor thicker so it's easier to see on a high-DPI display, and select a black mouse pointer instead of the default white. There are a bunch more - worth a look around even if you don't think you have any accessibility needs.

Kliment 6y ago
The non-stupid behaviour for the printscreen key is also only switchable from W10's accessibility settings

jasonjayr 6y ago

I'm not sure if it's deliberate or not, but it seems like a subtle way of reducing the stigma of standing out when needing accessible accommodations to work effectively with computers. Keeping tweaks to UI behaviors to accommodate ways folks have to work along side with ways folks like to work blends them all together.

gowld 6y ago
It's not "political", it's devs realizing that real humans have different interface needs. We're all "disabled" from the point of view of a computer: computers have no need for silly mouse and keyboard and monitor for getting work done.
- sneak 6y ago
  All art is political, it turns out.

WhyNotHugo 6y ago

The feature was probably added to suit people with some visual impairment, and not really for those with different taste. The fact that others can used it is just a side effect. (At least that's what I'd guess given Apple's usual approach to UX)

mathnmusic 6y ago

Or that "people with special needs" are not so different from the rest of us.

lazyjones 6y ago

It's probably a subtle, arrogant hint that if you have other UI preferences than the gods at Apple, you're "special". ;-)

sneak 6y ago

I think this perhaps comes from the decades-long use of “accessibility” as euphemism for “application preference settings needed by handicapped people”. It never really meant “accessibility” alone without the euphemistic baggage. It seems to me that the gradient from “application state” to “color scheme/theme” to “preferences” to “accessibility” is a continuous one, and we are still treating it from a mental model standpoint as discrete buckets. Now it’s back to being used in the literal meaning of the term, which, as you pointed out, is basis for confusion. This is one reason why I try hard to avoid euphemism in general; imprecision that results in context-specific definition drift makes for needlessly messy communication.