[OT] "The Condescending UI" (was: Do we need Win95/98/Me support?)

[Nick Sabalausky]

"Nick Sabalausky" <a at a.a> wrote in message 
news:jfira8$2ti9$1 at digitalmars.com...
>
> But you know, the really bizarre thing is, *all* MS has to do to win over
> all the XP people (or at least the majority of them) is two simple things:
>
> 1. *Allow* people to use the XP UI (and no, I don't mean Luna). It's that
> simple: Just *quit* making UI changes mandatory (a lesson Mozilla could
> stand to learn, too, especially since they allegedly care so much about
> configurability).
>

Hah! I just found the *perfect* article about this and other similar 
matters:

The highlights:

"I have a kneejerk reaction to most modern computer user interfaces (also, 
all microwave user interfaces). I've used plenty of excuses over the years: 
my "eye for design," my love of minimalism, a sense of utility. Today, I 
finally put my finger on it, and it's not just a desire for 
the-computer-as-pure-machine, or a spartan aesthetic. It's quite simple, 
really: I don't like the condescending tone."
...
"My problem with many modern UIs is that they never get past the telling 
phase. They're always dressing up their various functions with glows and 
bevels and curves, and in the process they somehow become overbearing to my 
senses. "Did you know you can click this? Don't forget there's a save button 
over here! Let me walk you to your control panel." Imagine a car that 
verbally explains all of its various knobs and levers the first time you get 
into the car. Wonderful, right? Now imagine that car explaining all of these 
various functions every single time you get in the car for the next five 
years, until you finally snap and drive it off a cliff."
...
"An example of this is the dramatic, quasi-utilitarian animated transition. 
The first few times, it's conveying important information: click that 
button? That launches this action! Swoosh. The next 10,000 times, it's 
mainly just slowing me down."
...
"Perhaps without the limitations of a finite number of colors and pixels to 
force simplicity, UI designers just don't know what to do with themselves. 
I'd argue they do too much."
...
"...the appeal of "retro" indie games, which deal in our native, shared 
gaming language and metaphors, not something borrowed from action movies or 
an overblown sense of virtual reality."

The full thing:

http://www.theverge.com/2011/12/9/2616204/the-condescending-ui

That's why I hated Metroid Fusion and loved Metroid Zero Mission: Are you 
going to treat me like an adult or like a toddler with "special needs"?

It's also why I hated the iPad's photo viewer *after* trying it: The swipe 
is nice for complete novices like my mom (which is why she loved it), but 
for me it's nothing more than carpal tunnel waiting to happen: Ever try to 
quickly browse through a normal-sized photo album on that damn thing? I 
have. It just doesn't work out. If it had added swiping *in addition* to 
real buttons, *that* would have been "brilliant design". But as it is, it's 
nothing more than impractical, patronizing, self-absorbed design.

One thing I do disagree with that author on: I see the Office "ribbon" as 
nothing more than a toolbar that supports more types of controls than just 
buttons and has better organization and layout. (It shouldn't be a 
*replacement* for a full menu, though). But I'm probably in the minority on 
that.

There was a really good comment, too:

"...These aren't communal products...If the company's response is that "we 
only cater to non-techies now", then they've just lost a customer. What 
their response should be is "we thought you would like this but since you 
don't, here's your old UI.""