4 ms·

But the home screen can be made symmetrical while maintaining the same distance between icons. So the question is why not do that? Also as far as the outer mar

by seabee 15y ago

But the home screen can be made symmetrical while maintaining the same distance between icons. So the question is why not do that? Also as far as the outer margins are concerned, the badge extends the right side of the icon, so having the right margin wider was reasonable.

rkudeshi 15y ago
I suspect because they're trying to align to some type of grid. (Even spacing between icons would require 39px of separation, and the odd numbering probably throws something off.)
- naz 15y ago
  Right, on iPhone 4 it would be 39 pixels but on iPhone 3GS and lower it would be 19.5 pixels, which would require the icons to be aliased and blurry.
- gcb 15y ago
  Uh? Just normalize 35 on the borders and keep 38 on icons. What am I missing for this to be more complicated?
- buddydvd 15y ago
  You mean 37 pixels? (640-(4*114))/5 = 36.8 pixels. I wonder why they didn't choose this instead: 38+36+36+36+38 That would be most evenly spaced, symmetrical, and compatible with non-retina displays.
  - sirn 15y ago
    App titles. You can have less margin on the edge since you don't have to considers the app title length from the other side.
    - buddydvd 15y ago
      Ah, that makes perfect sense. I guess, this would be pointless: 36+38+36+38+36 (18+19+18+19+18) since the 2nd and 3rd icon wouldn't get the benefit of the extra spacing. So the reasonable option would be: 34+38+40+38+34 (17+19+20+19+17)
sirn 15y ago
I think it is a lot clearer if you compared the margin using 3GS screen sizes: iPhone 3GS screen resolution (480x320) iOS4 17+19+19+19+18px iOS5 17+19+20+19+17px iPhone 4 screen resolution (960x640) iOS4 34+38+38+38+36px iOS5 34+38+40+38+34px Before iOS5, they were trying to maintain consistent spacing between icons while in iOS5 they changed the home screen margin to be asymmetric while maintaining the same margin ratio between non-Retina and Retina displays. They can't use 35+38+38+38+35 because that would leave non-Retina at 17.5 pixels for left and right margin.
- deleted 15y ago
  [deleted]
- pyrtsa 15y ago
  It's not impossible to make it symmetric for both, though. With consistent spacings. E.g. 19+18+18+18+19 (iPhone 3GS) 38+36+36+36+38 (iPhone 4)
  - sirn 15y ago
    As I've said below[1], less margin on the edge will make more room for app title for the 2nd and 3rd icons. [1]: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3171496 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3171496
    - pyrtsa 15y ago
      Oh true, missed that. Finally pulled out the phone to realize this. And then the other option 16+20+20+20+16 / 32+40+40+40+32 already has too big a difference between the margins on the edges compared to the ones between the icons. Makes perfect sense now.

by seabee 15y ago

rkudeshi 15y ago

I suspect because they're trying to align to some type of grid. (Even spacing between icons would require 39px of separation, and the odd numbering probably throws something off.)

naz 15y ago
Right, on iPhone 4 it would be 39 pixels but on iPhone 3GS and lower it would be 19.5 pixels, which would require the icons to be aliased and blurry.
gcb 15y ago
Uh? Just normalize 35 on the borders and keep 38 on icons. What am I missing for this to be more complicated?
buddydvd 15y ago
You mean 37 pixels? (640-(4*114))/5 = 36.8 pixels. I wonder why they didn't choose this instead: 38+36+36+36+38 That would be most evenly spaced, symmetrical, and compatible with non-retina displays.
- sirn 15y ago
  App titles. You can have less margin on the edge since you don't have to considers the app title length from the other side.
  - buddydvd 15y ago
    Ah, that makes perfect sense. I guess, this would be pointless: 36+38+36+38+36 (18+19+18+19+18) since the 2nd and 3rd icon wouldn't get the benefit of the extra spacing. So the reasonable option would be: 34+38+40+38+34 (17+19+20+19+17)

sirn 15y ago

I think it is a lot clearer if you compared the margin using 3GS screen sizes: iPhone 3GS screen resolution (480x320) iOS4 17+19+19+19+18px iOS5 17+19+20+19+17px iPhone 4 screen resolution (960x640) iOS4 34+38+38+38+36px iOS5 34+38+40+38+34px Before iOS5, they were trying to maintain consistent spacing between icons while in iOS5 they changed the home screen margin to be asymmetric while maintaining the same margin ratio between non-Retina and Retina displays. They can't use 35+38+38+38+35 because that would leave non-Retina at 17.5 pixels for left and right margin.

deleted 15y ago
[deleted]
pyrtsa 15y ago
It's not impossible to make it symmetric for both, though. With consistent spacings. E.g. 19+18+18+18+19 (iPhone 3GS) 38+36+36+36+38 (iPhone 4)
- sirn 15y ago
  As I've said below[1], less margin on the edge will make more room for app title for the 2nd and 3rd icons. [1]: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3171496 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3171496
  - pyrtsa 15y ago
    Oh true, missed that. Finally pulled out the phone to realize this. And then the other option 16+20+20+20+16 / 32+40+40+40+32 already has too big a difference between the margins on the edges compared to the ones between the icons. Makes perfect sense now.