32 ms·

Apple hasn't had a significant iOS UI change in too long. I know people who have left the iPhone just for that reason. About time.

Samuel_Michon 14y ago
If it ain’t broken, don’t fix it. I know some people will always look for something new, but just because it’s new doesn’t mean it’s better. Every major version of Windows looks completely different, while OS X receives UI tweaks in smaller increments. I do think it would be good to simplify the look of some apps, like Find Friends and Game Center on iPhone, and Calendar and Contacts on iPad. I believe the recent redesign of the Podcasts app[1] shows what we should expect from iOS 7: less textures, less color, dark gradients – but nothing that could be described as ‘flat design’. [1] http://arstechnica.com/apple/2013/03/hands-on-apples-podcasts-app-loses-reel-animation-gains-playlists/ http://arstechnica.com/apple/2013/03/hands-on-apples-podcast...
- FireBeyond 14y ago
  "Every major version of Windows looks completely different" Except for XP to Vista... Except for Vista to 7... 7 to 8... I'll somewhat grant you, but a lot less so after you hit the desktop.
  - Samuel_Michon 14y ago
    XP and Vista look completely different. Not only was Aero introduced in Vista, the taskbar and Start menu were redesigned. Vista and 7 look very different. The UI was cleaned up a lot, the taskbar was redesigned again, Live Thumbnails and multitouch support were added. Let's compare that to OS X: most people won't be able to tell Mountain Lion (released 8 months a go) from Leopard (released in 2007), just by looking at the desktop. Here are two screenshots. One is Mountain Lion, the other is Leopard. See if you can tell which one is which. http://i.imgur.com/VDVPvV2.jpg http://i.imgur.com/VDVPvV2.jpg http://i.imgur.com/0fG7xNu.jpg http://i.imgur.com/0fG7xNu.jpg
    - rkudeshi 14y ago
      Wow, I didn't realize how little the basic interface has changed. I mean, I know there's been no radical changes, but I still didn't expect it to take me nearly as long as it did to tell the difference between a 1-year-old and 6-year-old OS. Amazing how much they've improved "under-the-hood" while keeping the basic interface the same. PS. If you can't tell the difference between the two, look at the dock - the only way I could figure it out is spotting the new/changed app icons (Launchpad, iTunes, etc).
    - FireBeyond 14y ago
      It'd be a lot easier if there was any real UI on the screen at all in your examples. Of course "just looking at the desktop" is not going to provide much hint. Not sure what relevance multitouch has to the appearance of the UI. That's like saying that there's almost no difference between XP and 7, mere polishing, because of http://i.imgur.com/yZcifMF.jpg http://i.imgur.com/yZcifMF.jpg vs http://i.imgur.com/Z4TqGSV.png http://i.imgur.com/Z4TqGSV.png Vista and XP looked pretty close. The real difference was the Gadgets: http://i.imgur.com/kYt9Xqm.jpg http://i.imgur.com/kYt9Xqm.jpg which can be turned off (and if that's a big difference, well, "Mission Control" and "Launchpad" mean a big difference for OS X).
anotherbadlogin 14y ago
Apple's GUIs have looked dated for quite a while. Come on, the multicolored gumdrops are a vestige of the acrylic-G4 era. Not to mention the late-'80s inverse color scheme that the Mac OS forces on you, while other OSes have let you create your own color scheme for over 20 years. Why keep pretending that it's a good idea to read black text off the surface of a glaring light bulb all day? And that's not getting into the functional design errors in the Mac OS. iOS works well, but the look was dated from day one. And WTF is up with the only buttons available to developers being the crap-ass flat, rounded rectangle circa OS 7? "will also apparently make rich-texture-loving designers sad." YAY YAY YAY! Down with horseshit skeuomorphs that never made sense in the first place.
hayksaakian 14y ago
This seems like a disadvantage in the medium-term, but imagine what happens if the iOS UI reaches appliance level of familiarity. I don't know if it's possible, but if they're constantly making changes it certainly won't be.
- george88b 14y ago
  I would argue it already has reached appliance level familiarity. Do you know anyone between the ages of 7 to 60 that doesn't know how to use an iPhone (or iPod, or iPad) with ease? Probably not many. But the UI feels stale after a while. I would argue that a significant UI refresh that peaks the interest of your users and excites them to upgrade is better than appliance level familiarity. If the familiarity is the measure of success then why do car companies constantly redesign their interiors, or why do appliances change their colors or button layouts from year to year?
  - mblakele 14y ago
    Are they wise to do that? I recently replaced a broken microwave with as similar a model as I could find, from the same company. But I would have paid more to avoid continuously stubbing my fingers on their design regressions.
    - george88b 14y ago
      That is a good point. New is not always better but consumer products need to be "new and improved!" in order to give the customer a sense they are buying something better than the model from five years ago. But at the same time I can't help but feel that progress can only be made with change and at this point Apple can't keep relying on minimal hardware advances to keep their marketshare.
      - gurkendoktor 14y ago
        > consumer products need to be "new and improved!" in order to give the customer a sense they are buying something better than the model from five years ago Where is the proof of that? I feel that it's an "internet truth" where early adopters have the loudest voice. Yet Apple is full of cash earned on machines that look almost like their predecessors (iPad 1-4, iPhone 1-3GS & 4-5, similar for the Mac).
MrFoof 14y ago
In all honesty, my guess is the "flat" design for iOS is going to be no different than the evolution of OS X. Compare 10.2 to 10.8. Gone are the pinstripes, much of the jewel-like gleams and candy coating, as well as many gradients and brushed metal. Mountain Lion is far more "flat" than when I started out with Jaguar. You can walk through the past 12 years of OS X to see how the design language has evolved since the turn of the century: http://www.iotechie.com/macintosh-2/the-12-year-evolution-of-os-x-on-the-macintosh/ http://www.iotechie.com/macintosh-2/the-12-year-evolution-of...

Samuel_Michon 14y ago

If it ain’t broken, don’t fix it. I know some people will always look for something new, but just because it’s new doesn’t mean it’s better. Every major version of Windows looks completely different, while OS X receives UI tweaks in smaller increments. I do think it would be good to simplify the look of some apps, like Find Friends and Game Center on iPhone, and Calendar and Contacts on iPad. I believe the recent redesign of the Podcasts app[1] shows what we should expect from iOS 7: less textures, less color, dark gradients – but nothing that could be described as ‘flat design’. [1] http://arstechnica.com/apple/2013/03/hands-on-apples-podcasts-app-loses-reel-animation-gains-playlists/ http://arstechnica.com/apple/2013/03/hands-on-apples-podcast...

FireBeyond 14y ago
"Every major version of Windows looks completely different" Except for XP to Vista... Except for Vista to 7... 7 to 8... I'll somewhat grant you, but a lot less so after you hit the desktop.
- Samuel_Michon 14y ago
  XP and Vista look completely different. Not only was Aero introduced in Vista, the taskbar and Start menu were redesigned. Vista and 7 look very different. The UI was cleaned up a lot, the taskbar was redesigned again, Live Thumbnails and multitouch support were added. Let's compare that to OS X: most people won't be able to tell Mountain Lion (released 8 months a go) from Leopard (released in 2007), just by looking at the desktop. Here are two screenshots. One is Mountain Lion, the other is Leopard. See if you can tell which one is which. http://i.imgur.com/VDVPvV2.jpg http://i.imgur.com/VDVPvV2.jpg http://i.imgur.com/0fG7xNu.jpg http://i.imgur.com/0fG7xNu.jpg
  - rkudeshi 14y ago
    Wow, I didn't realize how little the basic interface has changed. I mean, I know there's been no radical changes, but I still didn't expect it to take me nearly as long as it did to tell the difference between a 1-year-old and 6-year-old OS. Amazing how much they've improved "under-the-hood" while keeping the basic interface the same. PS. If you can't tell the difference between the two, look at the dock - the only way I could figure it out is spotting the new/changed app icons (Launchpad, iTunes, etc).
  - FireBeyond 14y ago
    It'd be a lot easier if there was any real UI on the screen at all in your examples. Of course "just looking at the desktop" is not going to provide much hint. Not sure what relevance multitouch has to the appearance of the UI. That's like saying that there's almost no difference between XP and 7, mere polishing, because of http://i.imgur.com/yZcifMF.jpg http://i.imgur.com/yZcifMF.jpg vs http://i.imgur.com/Z4TqGSV.png http://i.imgur.com/Z4TqGSV.png Vista and XP looked pretty close. The real difference was the Gadgets: http://i.imgur.com/kYt9Xqm.jpg http://i.imgur.com/kYt9Xqm.jpg which can be turned off (and if that's a big difference, well, "Mission Control" and "Launchpad" mean a big difference for OS X).

anotherbadlogin 14y ago

Apple's GUIs have looked dated for quite a while. Come on, the multicolored gumdrops are a vestige of the acrylic-G4 era. Not to mention the late-'80s inverse color scheme that the Mac OS forces on you, while other OSes have let you create your own color scheme for over 20 years. Why keep pretending that it's a good idea to read black text off the surface of a glaring light bulb all day? And that's not getting into the functional design errors in the Mac OS. iOS works well, but the look was dated from day one. And WTF is up with the only buttons available to developers being the crap-ass flat, rounded rectangle circa OS 7? "will also apparently make rich-texture-loving designers sad." YAY YAY YAY! Down with horseshit skeuomorphs that never made sense in the first place.

hayksaakian 14y ago

This seems like a disadvantage in the medium-term, but imagine what happens if the iOS UI reaches appliance level of familiarity. I don't know if it's possible, but if they're constantly making changes it certainly won't be.

george88b 14y ago
I would argue it already has reached appliance level familiarity. Do you know anyone between the ages of 7 to 60 that doesn't know how to use an iPhone (or iPod, or iPad) with ease? Probably not many. But the UI feels stale after a while. I would argue that a significant UI refresh that peaks the interest of your users and excites them to upgrade is better than appliance level familiarity. If the familiarity is the measure of success then why do car companies constantly redesign their interiors, or why do appliances change their colors or button layouts from year to year?
- mblakele 14y ago
  Are they wise to do that? I recently replaced a broken microwave with as similar a model as I could find, from the same company. But I would have paid more to avoid continuously stubbing my fingers on their design regressions.
  - george88b 14y ago
    That is a good point. New is not always better but consumer products need to be "new and improved!" in order to give the customer a sense they are buying something better than the model from five years ago. But at the same time I can't help but feel that progress can only be made with change and at this point Apple can't keep relying on minimal hardware advances to keep their marketshare.
    - gurkendoktor 14y ago
      > consumer products need to be "new and improved!" in order to give the customer a sense they are buying something better than the model from five years ago Where is the proof of that? I feel that it's an "internet truth" where early adopters have the loudest voice. Yet Apple is full of cash earned on machines that look almost like their predecessors (iPad 1-4, iPhone 1-3GS & 4-5, similar for the Mac).

MrFoof 14y ago

In all honesty, my guess is the "flat" design for iOS is going to be no different than the evolution of OS X. Compare 10.2 to 10.8. Gone are the pinstripes, much of the jewel-like gleams and candy coating, as well as many gradients and brushed metal. Mountain Lion is far more "flat" than when I started out with Jaguar. You can walk through the past 12 years of OS X to see how the design language has evolved since the turn of the century: http://www.iotechie.com/macintosh-2/the-12-year-evolution-of-os-x-on-the-macintosh/ http://www.iotechie.com/macintosh-2/the-12-year-evolution-of...