[glhaynes]

Are they actually crucial, though? There was a ton of gnashing of teeth about iOS 7 (and other "flat" designs) but one rarely hears those anymore… and it's not at all clear to me that less-savvy users are having more trouble operating their devices than they did a couple of years ago. In fact, it seems just the opposite, that these devices have steadily continued to integrate themselves into people's lives more than ever before. Come to think of it, it seems that the gnashing of teeth has shifted to that (these screens that we spend our lives staring at!) over the last year or two.

I'm sure there have been at least some regressions in some aspects of some user performance measurements, but it seems really clear at this point that it hasn't been a catastrophe… or even a significant problem.

[ericd]

It takes me significantly longer to identify control elements under the new design bible, especially the un-bordered text "buttons". Smart phones are taking off despite this, not because of it - it's because of the massive new capabilities they afford people.

[lostlogin]

>It takes me significantly longer to identify control elements under the new design bible.< xCode buttons are a problem for me.

[vacri]

Maybe not 'crucial', but definitely helpful and important.

Also, it's a bit much suggesting that it's flat design that's what's responsible for smartphone uptake. If that was the case, then hell, it was skeuomorphism that exploded the market in the first place.