The Latest Apple Scuttlebutt

http://daringfireball.net/linked/2013/04/02/apple-scuttlebutt

by mactitan • 13 years ago

39 38 13 years ago

george88b3• 13 years ago

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_Michon3• 13 years 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-podcast...

FireBeyond4• 13 years 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.

hayksaakian• 13 years 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.

george88b3• 13 years 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?

MrFoof• 13 years 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...

fpgeek• 13 years ago

Wow.

Even though they must be (given the realities of software development and the time windows they want to hit), it is still mind-boggling to think of a company like Apple (with its vast cash hoard) as resource-constrained with respect to what is probably the most important component of their flagship products.

wiredfool• 13 years ago

I think Apple is a much smaller company than they look, by profile or even employee count. I think their core OSX/iOS developer staff is small, and rather mobile in terms of what they're working on. Those core devs have been shifted around before, delaying an OSX release to help out on iOS.

I think that the constraints are not cash, so much as bandwidth and team size.

m_mueller2• 13 years ago

It seems to me that the 'Jobsian' management style has some inherent boundaries in how large such an organisation can get. By that I mean if you have

a) a micro manager that wants to be involved in all important and medium important product and marketing decisions and

b) this micro manager as the actual CEO of the company

you will run into some limitations. There's only so much a man can review and decide on. Now, of course, Tim Cook is probably not that person, but the Jobs legacy seems to live on in how the 'second line' (Ive, Schiller,..) and everyone after them still acts.

In the longer run, from what we can see from the outside, only Ive has the potential to step into Steve's shoes when it comes to designing new product lines. I'm very curious about how he will manage iOS, at the least we're in for a few surprises in the near future I'd say.

smackfu• 13 years ago

OTOH, it's not like iOS is a monolithic thing, and people just work on the new version of iOS as a general concept. It's hundreds of little pieces that all work together. If a few of the new ambitious parts are behind schedule, then those particular teams may need to have more people added to them. But there's probably some guy working on the updated Calculator app that think iOS 7 is going just fine from where he sits.

nubela• 13 years ago

Honestly, why is this being upvoted?

seivan7• 13 years ago

"but will also apparently make rich-texture-loving designers sad." Thank God!

As an iOS designer and developer. I love using non-textured design as it's easier to do code wise instead of having manage multiple versions of assets.

What is commonly refereed to a flat UI is really better to do as it's mostly possible to do with code instead of images.

Go Ive!

Think using css3 instead of images on the web.

pazimzadeh2• 13 years ago

Easier to code is not necessarily better for the user.

What do you mean by manage multiple versions of assets? If you use the @2x naming scheme for double resolution images, there is nothing to manage.

digikata• 13 years ago

Fewer images loaded might lead to less memory in use and less load time which could lead to faster apps though..

seivan7• 13 years ago

As in code is better to manage in general compared to images in most parts. Could hotswap, could use variables, easier to maintain with a repo. Not to mention the ability to make themes easier.

There are just benefits, the downside is CPU cycles. But as performance improves with each iPhone, this is now negligible.

FireBeyond4• 13 years ago

"Go Ive!"

It's almost as if no other mobile ecosystem has tried, or indeed is using, a flat UI.

But I'm sure this will be lauded as a brave, revolutionary step by many in the Apple world.

Samuel_Michon3• 13 years ago

@taligent: you’ve been hellbanned. All comments of the last 24 hours are dead, starting with your comments in the Feedly thread.

seivan7• 13 years ago

I wasn't praising the concept, I was praising the decision.

FireBeyond4• 13 years ago

@taligent: I wasn't criticizing Ive so much as: 1) Apple fanatics, and 2) Apple marketing / "the RDF" (that will inevitably describe things thus, like when "video on the iPod is stupid".

bigiain• 13 years ago

"I love using non-textured design as it's easier to do code wise"

Can I suggest that (apart, perhaps, for rough prototypes) that's one of the _last_ things you should be letting drive your design process.

seivan7• 13 years ago

I don't agree. I do let that run the design decision, as amongst other things has to get under the cost/benefit analysis.

Things that take time to implement should always be under cost benefit analysis. Design is one of them.

It matters if I can get 9/10 with 2% effort, compared to 10/10 for 90% effort.

Something many non-software engineers don't understand. Cost benefit matters.

leoc• 13 years ago

Of course the old Mac OS in black and white wasn't particuarly "flat", but (at its best) it had a spare beauty that probably hasn't been matched yet, even though the fonts have become a little dated: http://www.google.com/imgres?hl=en&biw=1378&bih=839&... . You can see what was lost even in moving to a colourised version http://www.google.com/imgres?hl=en&biw=1378&bih=839&... , let alone to the tarty and unserious desktop GUIs we've had since. If Ive's team get back some of that visual restraint and unaffectedness I'll be properly impressed.

seivan7• 13 years ago

Wow! Thanks!

The Latest Apple Scuttlebutt

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