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I'm actually surprised by this. I've never liked the extra hardware buttons: they're in different orders on different phones, developers use them inconsistently

by cletus 15y ago

I'm actually surprised by this. I've never liked the extra hardware buttons: they're in different orders on different phones, developers use them inconsistently and (IMHO) they lead to an inconsistent experience (eg in a browser you press the "back" hardware button to go back but a "soft" button to go forwards). Oh and discovery is more difficult (eg compare the iOS Settings app vs Menu -> Settings). That all being said, I see ICS as a watershed moment for Android. I personally still prefer iOS but with ICS (at least with the native Google experience rather than the crapware layers most handset makers put over it) I think it's reached a point where I think it's a reasonable choice for, say, (non-techie) friends and family. This all reminds me of the mouse a little. The Mac famously persevered with one buttons but the Windows two button mouse clearly won (even OSX has context menus). Even so, I have a hard time explaining to people about right-clicking so it's problematic. On iOS at least I think the single button is just fine, even preferable, and certainly far easier to understand and more consistent.

bane 15y ago
On iOS at least I think the single button is just fine, even preferable, and certainly far easier to understand and more consistent. I don't disagree that the right mouse button can take new users a while to come to grips with. The trade off of course is that even in moderately complex tools, a single button can't provide all of the actions a user would likely want to do. In the Mac world this was historically resolved by burying functions under layers of unmemorable keyboard combinations...e.g. command+shift+t or some such or in menus in the menu bar. So the question then becomes, who do you optimize your interface for? The new user that can barely understand the abstraction of moving a physical device that's loosely mapped to screen coordinates? Or the user that needs to get-stuff-done-and-after-all-won't-be-a-new-user-all-that-long. I personally think this move away from the menu button in Android land is a mistake. I already have issues with it on my Tab. With the software button showing up all over the screen or not at all.

by cletus 15y ago

bane 15y ago

On iOS at least I think the single button is just fine, even preferable, and certainly far easier to understand and more consistent. I don't disagree that the right mouse button can take new users a while to come to grips with. The trade off of course is that even in moderately complex tools, a single button can't provide all of the actions a user would likely want to do. In the Mac world this was historically resolved by burying functions under layers of unmemorable keyboard combinations...e.g. command+shift+t or some such or in menus in the menu bar. So the question then becomes, who do you optimize your interface for? The new user that can barely understand the abstraction of moving a physical device that's loosely mapped to screen coordinates? Or the user that needs to get-stuff-done-and-after-all-won't-be-a-new-user-all-that-long. I personally think this move away from the menu button in Android land is a mistake. I already have issues with it on my Tab. With the software button showing up all over the screen or not at all.