I don’t know that many people realize this, but OS X and Aqua truly felt like a substantial step forward in UI design.
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I don’t know that many people realize this, but OS X and Aqua truly felt like a substantial step forward in UI design. It felt the way you’d feel when you refactored your code and everything is now a lot simpler but also more functional. Sure, things looked pretty, but it all had a purpose and consistency that seems to be missing in today’s UX. Apple actually *embraced* affordances and displayed them *consistently*, and didn’t hide buttons and icons away as though they were an embarrassment to the screen.
#ux #ui #apple #macOS https://mastodon.social/@marioguzman/110896287799598777
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Chris Hansonreplied to Dave Rahardja (he/him) last edited by
@drahardja As a Mac user since System 6 (and a wannabe Mac user since 1984), Aqua _really_ grated on me and Mac OS X didn’t really feel “comfortable” until the worst of the transparency, pinstripe effects, etc. were gotten rid of in Mac OS X 10.3 Panther. I’ve generally felt like the reversion to what so many called “flat” UI on both iOS and Mac was really closer to a return to tradition, it’s always felt very System 7 to me.
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@drahardja Of course, it would have been much easier if iOS developers had ever gotten the memo about HI consistency through the use of standard controls. Instead the companies doing iOS development got this stupid notion in their heads that their application’s human interface was part of their “brand” and thus subject to fashion rather than universal principles.
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Dave Rahardja (he/him)replied to Chris Hanson last edited by
@eschaton I was never offended by the transparency and pinstripes because it matched its delivery vehicle, the translucent iMac. As Mac hardware lost its translucency and pinstripes and went to white plastic and aluminum, Aqua followed along.
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Chris Hansonreplied to Dave Rahardja (he/him) last edited by
@drahardja I was offended by the transparency and pinstripes because it made the system harder to use and incredibly slow for purely aesthetic reasons. In 10.3 a lot of that was done away with (and the rest in 10.4) which is what helped make everything much faster, beyond the hardware acceleration in 10.2.
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@eschaton @drahardja Transparency without blur was always pretty difficult. I think I would’ve liked 10.0 a lot more with blur.
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@tewha @drahardja I still dislike it today even with blur.
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Dave Rahardja (he/him)replied to Chris Hanson last edited by
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CM Harringtonreplied to Dave Rahardja (he/him) last edited by
@drahardja @eschaton @tewha This… but also, and importantly, it fucks with your perception of colour. If you're trying to do anything with colour, it absolutely sucks. (ref) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metamerism_(color)