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by jamra 4656 days ago
I was reading a book on dashboard design by Stephen Phew. I don't have it in front of me so I can't remember the name exactly. One of the chapters was dedicated to Gestalt principles. Basically, it was about how your brain interprets data. An excellent read. The main feature iOS 7 does is it clears the visual clutter, making the content do the talking. That is a huge improvement. According to what I read in the book and from what I observed in iOS 7, it looks to me like they hit the nail on the head with cleaning up clutter. Having used iOS 7 for some time now, it's quite clearly less taxing on my eyes and brain to use.

Pointing out inconsistencies can be fun, but I believe that it distracts from the overall feel you get from using an improved OS.

The arguments of keeping a 90 year old grandmother up to date with the UI seems a bit ridiculous to me. They can always stay on old versions if they need to. You can keep their PCs on Windows XP as well. Progress should not wait for the lowest denominator of users.
1 comments
gfodor 4656 days ago
I think one of the major points of iOS7 is that grandma is getting kicked to the curb. iOS devices are designed for people who already know how to use them, or for young people, who will figure them out.
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melange 4656 days ago
Except this doesn't seem to be borne out in reality. I have installed it for people in their 60's, 70's and 80s who find a Mac barely usable, who have had no trouble at all with moving to iOS7 after using iOS6.
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gfodor 4655 days ago
I was speaking figuratively, of course there isn't anything inherent about being a grandma that prevents you from using iOS7. The point is the people who have never used a smartphone before will probably not pick up iOS7 as fast as they did iOS6 due to affordances the UI had for folks like them, which were discarded since most people on Earth have now had some experiences with smartphones.
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jamra 4656 days ago
Any change can be construed as kicking a percentage of users to the curb. I just don't think it's reasonable to hold back design for them. If they learn, great. If not, maybe it's a sign that you should be spending more time teaching your grandma.

PS. Your grandma says you never call. She knows you're busy but still, a phone call once a week never killed anyone.

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melange 4656 days ago
"Any change can be construed as kicking a percentage of users to the curb."

True! But not by a rational person.

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