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What is this obsession with trying to stick the same UI on lots of completely different things? Every time I hear someone advocating this kind of "convergence"

by Gormo 13y ago

What is this obsession with trying to stick the same UI on lots of completely different things? Every time I hear someone advocating this kind of "convergence", I imagine the dashboard of a Toyota Corolla installed in the cockpit of a 747, or the control panel from a blender transplanted onto an air conditioner. Why do devices that do different things in different ways need to be interacted with in the same manner?

mindcrime 13y ago
Why do devices that do different things in different ways need to be interacted with in the same manner? I came here to say basically the same thing, except you put it much better than I would have. I love the Corolla / 747 comparison. That really gets to the essence of it. Here's a thought... how about vendors of desktop OS's focus on creating the best possible desktop experience, vendors of tablet OS's focus on creating the best possible tablet experience, etc.? And where there's a happy bit of confluence between those two goals, then exploit it - otherwise, embrace difference and make the best experience for the people who are actually using your product at a moment in time, as opposed to the best experience for "people who are using this and people we hypothetically think might also use this, but on a different device"? I've always had the mindset that Fogbeam Labs would probably not ever get into the OS business, thinking "Red Hat, Canonical and Novell do a good enough job as Linux vendors" but I swear, sometimes, I find myself wishing we had the resources to throw at a desktop Linux distro.
mtgx 13y ago
I agree. Every UI should have maximum optimization for the form factor and type of device it serves. With that accomplished, though, it should also have as many elements of familiarity as possible in the same ecosystem or family of products. The problem is some are trying to use the exact same interface everywhere, and that can be a problem. It could work well enough on one type of device, but be very frustrating on another. I'm not sure which category Ubuntu represents yet, because while the article says one interface, from the videos I've seen Ubuntu Touch kind of has its own UI. The only thing that is exactly the same is the icon bar.
pilgrim689 13y ago
Have you seen the Ubuntu mobile/edge/phone videos? It's not the same UI. They have the same "feel", but the UI is definitely different when you dock the phone compared to when you're using your phone directly. I think they're aiming for a convergent piece of hardware (phone that is also your desktop), but only a pseudo-convergent UI (ie. same look & feel, but reasonable compromises to adapt to the different form factors.)
pedalpete 13y ago
Do you complain that your tablet interface is the same as your phone (assuming you've got ios/ios, android/andriod, other/other)? These are very different devices, and yet they use the same interface, meaning that you don't think about what you want to do, you just do it. For MOST people, that same mentality can scale upto their desktop, onto their television, etc. etc.

by Gormo 13y ago

mindcrime 13y ago

Why do devices that do different things in different ways need to be interacted with in the same manner? I came here to say basically the same thing, except you put it much better than I would have. I love the Corolla / 747 comparison. That really gets to the essence of it. Here's a thought... how about vendors of desktop OS's focus on creating the best possible desktop experience, vendors of tablet OS's focus on creating the best possible tablet experience, etc.? And where there's a happy bit of confluence between those two goals, then exploit it - otherwise, embrace difference and make the best experience for the people who are actually using your product at a moment in time, as opposed to the best experience for "people who are using this and people we hypothetically think might also use this, but on a different device"? I've always had the mindset that Fogbeam Labs would probably not ever get into the OS business, thinking "Red Hat, Canonical and Novell do a good enough job as Linux vendors" but I swear, sometimes, I find myself wishing we had the resources to throw at a desktop Linux distro.

mtgx 13y ago

I agree. Every UI should have maximum optimization for the form factor and type of device it serves. With that accomplished, though, it should also have as many elements of familiarity as possible in the same ecosystem or family of products. The problem is some are trying to use the exact same interface everywhere, and that can be a problem. It could work well enough on one type of device, but be very frustrating on another. I'm not sure which category Ubuntu represents yet, because while the article says one interface, from the videos I've seen Ubuntu Touch kind of has its own UI. The only thing that is exactly the same is the icon bar.

pilgrim689 13y ago

Have you seen the Ubuntu mobile/edge/phone videos? It's not the same UI. They have the same "feel", but the UI is definitely different when you dock the phone compared to when you're using your phone directly. I think they're aiming for a convergent piece of hardware (phone that is also your desktop), but only a pseudo-convergent UI (ie. same look & feel, but reasonable compromises to adapt to the different form factors.)

pedalpete 13y ago

Do you complain that your tablet interface is the same as your phone (assuming you've got ios/ios, android/andriod, other/other)? These are very different devices, and yet they use the same interface, meaning that you don't think about what you want to do, you just do it. For MOST people, that same mentality can scale upto their desktop, onto their television, etc. etc.