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I really like the look and feel of this button. Flat design is a poison. It's an accessibility nightmare especially for older users. In a flat product, nothing

I really like the look and feel of this button. Flat design is a poison. It's an accessibility nightmare especially for older users. In a flat product, nothing and everything looks like a button, so nothing and everything looks clickable. Humans obviously use 3D spatial visual queues to process the world around us. Taking that away and removing references to real world items was something Jony Ive could have only poisoned the world with after Steve Jobs died. No hero worship for Jobs, but he led the way in understanding beautiful skeuomorphic design. Apple has started introducing drop shadows and gradients and hinting at 3D elements, such as the new Messages icon on MacOS. The pendulum will swing back, not soon enough.

abraxas 6y ago
Jony just parroted what Microsoft had been doing a couple years prior. We can once again blame Redmond for awfulness that somehow the rest of the industry found very endearing. I'll never understand why.
- StavrosK 6y ago
  Why does copying awfulness instead of coming up with it absolve him of blame?
jmann99999 6y ago
I would disagree. Flat design is not poison. It is simplicity. Simplicity, done well, leads to a good design. Yes, there have to be visual cues to know that it is a button. There has to be contrast. There should be a hover state that changes the contrast/color when hovering over it. The shape can indicate that it is button. While I love the technical accomplishment of the OP and think it is a great thought experiment, I wouldn't want this arcade-button everywhere. I believe skeuomorphic design, when overused makes a website harder to mentally process. If this were the sole button consistently used on a web app, and the 3D button fit with the website's design, then maybe it would be good. However, I would hate for a generation of HN users to see this post and think they should regress to designs reminiscent of 1998/2007.
- jfengel 6y ago
  One problem, I think, is that touchscreens (generally) have no "hover" state. So an important mode of feedback is being lost. There are alternatives, like the Material design ripple or haptic feedback, which at least let you know you're touching it. But it's different than being able to get a visual cue about what's touchable. It's a tough compromise. We want to take advantages of all the dimensions we have to communicate, but we don't want to lose devices that don't have them. And as much as possible we'd like consistency.
  - jmann99999 6y ago
    That's a good point. Touch screens don't have that "hover" indicator. I'm still not sure 3D is the answer... but you bring up a good conundrum.

abraxas 6y ago

Jony just parroted what Microsoft had been doing a couple years prior. We can once again blame Redmond for awfulness that somehow the rest of the industry found very endearing. I'll never understand why.

StavrosK 6y ago
Why does copying awfulness instead of coming up with it absolve him of blame?

jmann99999 6y ago

I would disagree. Flat design is not poison. It is simplicity. Simplicity, done well, leads to a good design. Yes, there have to be visual cues to know that it is a button. There has to be contrast. There should be a hover state that changes the contrast/color when hovering over it. The shape can indicate that it is button. While I love the technical accomplishment of the OP and think it is a great thought experiment, I wouldn't want this arcade-button everywhere. I believe skeuomorphic design, when overused makes a website harder to mentally process. If this were the sole button consistently used on a web app, and the 3D button fit with the website's design, then maybe it would be good. However, I would hate for a generation of HN users to see this post and think they should regress to designs reminiscent of 1998/2007.

jfengel 6y ago
One problem, I think, is that touchscreens (generally) have no "hover" state. So an important mode of feedback is being lost. There are alternatives, like the Material design ripple or haptic feedback, which at least let you know you're touching it. But it's different than being able to get a visual cue about what's touchable. It's a tough compromise. We want to take advantages of all the dimensions we have to communicate, but we don't want to lose devices that don't have them. And as much as possible we'd like consistency.
- jmann99999 6y ago
  That's a good point. Touch screens don't have that "hover" indicator. I'm still not sure 3D is the answer... but you bring up a good conundrum.