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"There are a bunch of new ‘transitions’ between elements. I don’t know what the battery cost actually is for this, but as a user I just don’t care about cute tr

"There are a bunch of new ‘transitions’ between elements. I don’t know what the battery cost actually is for this, but as a user I just don’t care about cute transitions between elements. I want fast interaction with my mobile device." This is poorly phrased at best. Transitions exist to make it obvious what is happening: e.g. you minimize a window and it zooms into the taskbar/dock, as a visual reminder that it's not gone, just stored there. This kind of thing is even more important with an unfamiliar interface. Are the particular transitions he's complaining about bad? I have no idea, since he just wrote about transitions in general, without specifying any. Not all transitions are good, but writing like they're all pointless suggests that you just don't understand UI (and I'm not a UI person, just someone who reads a tiny bit about it). Edit: Just looked at the formatdoc. Is there a way to quote text without getting those scrollbars?

Retric 12y ago
At best their training wheels for a UI. As such if you can't turn them off your building a poor UI. Worse, if your UI needs them then clearly your using a bad design.
- hyperpape 12y ago
  OS X and iOS both extensively use transitions. What's your model of a good UI that doesn't exploit transitions?
  - mring33621 12y ago
    How about obvious buttons which change shading when clicked followed by instant operation?
  - Retric 12y ago
    How about the vast majority of games out there. Don't get me wrong there a useful tool and can mask a slow UI, but just becase a cruch is useful to mask problems does not mean you should see more heathy people walking around with them.
    - andybak 12y ago
      Game UIs feature transitions extensively.
      - Retric 12y ago
        "A transition is an animation usually used to move content in or out of view" http://semantic-ui.com/modules/transition.html http://semantic-ui.com/modules/transition.html It's a common element of game Menu systems ex: rolling up an in game paper when closing a menu. But, games rarely add a delay before basic gameplay like walking. Granted, there are built in delays used for balance ex: reloading a gun or to give time for a video to play etc. But, they don't really fit the UI defining for transitions. Which is pure UI window dressing aiding usability. ED: Ok, their also commonly used on game loading screens but again adding more loading screens does not improve a games gameplay.
dbla 12y ago
As a long time Android user I had the same complaint about the transitions that the author did. I've already had plenty of time to figure out how things work, so I don't need those visual cues, and it just makes the whole experience feel more laggy. At the same time I can see your point for new users. Random idea: what if those transitions just sped up over time so that the longer I use the app (and the more experienced I am with it) the more the UI would prioritize speed of use over friendly reminders about how UI elements work (ie. transitions).
yuriks 12y ago
The transitions the author is probably complaining about are menu transitions: Every time you tap on a menu item you get a outward radial animation thing. It looks tacky but, more importantly, adds a half-second delay to every menu interaction.
- mdwrigh2 12y ago
  > It looks tacky but, more importantly, adds a half-second delay to every menu interaction. No, it really doesn't. It's just an animation running in the RenderThread while the new Activity is loading on the UI (main) thread.
  - yuriks 12y ago
    Are you speaking with any authority? I know this is a thing that can be done, but it doesn't seem to me that it is actually what's happening: It's interesting that the delay seems to be always constant, exactly as long as the animation, and was introduced only in this release. Such a coincidence.
    - mdwrigh2 12y ago
      This is actually how it works.
nilkn 12y ago
Yep, as someone who doesn't have Lollipop yet, there's almost nothing I can actually take out of this article. It's too vague and general. For what it's worth, my girlfriend -- decidedly not a tech person -- got the Lollipop update for her Nexus 5 a few days ago. I asked her how she liked it, and she said she could barely even tell what had changed. I don't think the HN demographic is even remotely representative of how most people will feel about the Lollipop changes.
jrobbins 12y ago
TIP: If you enable "Developer options" in the settings app (by "About" tapping 7 times), there are options to eliminate, speed up, or slow down the transition animations. I set mine at 0.5x the normal duration.

Retric 12y ago

At best their training wheels for a UI. As such if you can't turn them off your building a poor UI. Worse, if your UI needs them then clearly your using a bad design.

hyperpape 12y ago
OS X and iOS both extensively use transitions. What's your model of a good UI that doesn't exploit transitions?
- mring33621 12y ago
  How about obvious buttons which change shading when clicked followed by instant operation?
- Retric 12y ago
  How about the vast majority of games out there. Don't get me wrong there a useful tool and can mask a slow UI, but just becase a cruch is useful to mask problems does not mean you should see more heathy people walking around with them.
  - andybak 12y ago
    Game UIs feature transitions extensively.
    - Retric 12y ago
      "A transition is an animation usually used to move content in or out of view" http://semantic-ui.com/modules/transition.html http://semantic-ui.com/modules/transition.html It's a common element of game Menu systems ex: rolling up an in game paper when closing a menu. But, games rarely add a delay before basic gameplay like walking. Granted, there are built in delays used for balance ex: reloading a gun or to give time for a video to play etc. But, they don't really fit the UI defining for transitions. Which is pure UI window dressing aiding usability. ED: Ok, their also commonly used on game loading screens but again adding more loading screens does not improve a games gameplay.

dbla 12y ago

As a long time Android user I had the same complaint about the transitions that the author did. I've already had plenty of time to figure out how things work, so I don't need those visual cues, and it just makes the whole experience feel more laggy. At the same time I can see your point for new users. Random idea: what if those transitions just sped up over time so that the longer I use the app (and the more experienced I am with it) the more the UI would prioritize speed of use over friendly reminders about how UI elements work (ie. transitions).

yuriks 12y ago

The transitions the author is probably complaining about are menu transitions: Every time you tap on a menu item you get a outward radial animation thing. It looks tacky but, more importantly, adds a half-second delay to every menu interaction.

mdwrigh2 12y ago
> It looks tacky but, more importantly, adds a half-second delay to every menu interaction. No, it really doesn't. It's just an animation running in the RenderThread while the new Activity is loading on the UI (main) thread.
- yuriks 12y ago
  Are you speaking with any authority? I know this is a thing that can be done, but it doesn't seem to me that it is actually what's happening: It's interesting that the delay seems to be always constant, exactly as long as the animation, and was introduced only in this release. Such a coincidence.
  - mdwrigh2 12y ago
    This is actually how it works.

nilkn 12y ago

Yep, as someone who doesn't have Lollipop yet, there's almost nothing I can actually take out of this article. It's too vague and general. For what it's worth, my girlfriend -- decidedly not a tech person -- got the Lollipop update for her Nexus 5 a few days ago. I asked her how she liked it, and she said she could barely even tell what had changed. I don't think the HN demographic is even remotely representative of how most people will feel about the Lollipop changes.

jrobbins 12y ago

TIP: If you enable "Developer options" in the settings app (by "About" tapping 7 times), there are options to eliminate, speed up, or slow down the transition animations. I set mine at 0.5x the normal duration.