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paxy • today at 9:37 PM • 8 replies • view on HN

This Apple devotion is really something else..

Looking at all their design missteps and corrections in recent releases my only takeaway is that they are making it up as they go along just like the rest of us.


Replies

bunderbunder • today at 10:01 PM

I think it might be somewhat generational. There was a time when Apple famously put a lot of effort into HCI research and experimentation, and prioritized it above so many other concerns. When Apple chose to do UI differently from everyone else, it was a strong indication that they made the decision based on empirical research and not just making it up as they go along like everyone else. A single menu bar at the top of the screen, for example, was chosen because they found that users could locate and click on them much faster than they could menus at the top of the window. I can’t remember exactly how much but I think it was something like 1/3 - 1/2 as much time.

But that was in a different millennium.

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andai • today at 10:29 PM

> they are making it up as they go along just like the rest of us.

"Everything around you that you call life was made up by people that are no smarter than you. And you can change it. And you can change it. You can influence it. You can build your own things that other people can use." —Steve Jobs

Full clip slightly longer, worth watching.

https://youtube.com/watch?v=kYfNvmF0Bqw

herpdyderp • today at 10:04 PM

There are a lot of us that aren't making it up as we go. There is plenty of knowledge and experience on how to do these things and Apple used to be the king of it. For some reason they started throwing it all away with Liquid Glass.

youniverse • today at 10:04 PM

Apple is/was regarded as the gods of design and ux. Does anyone know what it takes to get hired there as a designer now? Are the original designers with actual vision still there? I imagine they would need to really be conscious of not hiring average designers who just have a resume of top companies they have worked at but need the type of people steve jobs would have hired himself.

Easier said than done so it's not surprising they have atrophied in their former genius but im curious.

glimshe • today at 9:41 PM

And on every misstep and their correction, the same people will be defending them. Like "icons on every option is so much more intuitive", just to argue the exact opposite a couple of years later.

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happytoexplain • today at 9:41 PM

This is the opposite of logical. Missteps and corrections are a sign of conscientiousness, not "making it up".

If somebody always gets everything right in your opinion, you should be suspicious of your own values, not of the people who don't achieve constant perfection.

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readthenotes1 • today at 9:41 PM

By recent, you mean since just after the iPhone 3s?

The iPhone 4 was such a letdown...

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amelius • today at 10:21 PM

It's the Reality Distortion Field.

Best known from The Bible, Steve Jobs, Donald Trump and Adolf Hitler.