![]() The adjustments over the years haven't ever thrown me for more than a few minutes. >We use our computers daily, and even imperceptible improvements to cognitive load and the amount of time it takes to perform actions make a difference over time. I don't even think I've tried stumbling around the mess that's System Preferences recently, I just straight up head for the search bar. On top of that, it's not a tool you're in constantly, and as long as there's a search box, you're probably going to use that anyway as a power user. It follows modern UI trends so I can intuit how it works, thus if I needed to poke around to find something I'm not really left wondering how to do so. I don't particularly feel any friction when trying to navigate or use modern macOS, at least from a usability perspective.Įven the example everyone throws about - the settings redesign - I fundamentally don't find to be that bad. >The only reason I can see why anyone would prefer it is because it looks "cleaner", but that cleanness is artificial and gets in the way when trying to parse and use the software. So it's not going to be perfect for everybody no matter which way they do it. I agree that often UI designers go too far, but I think you can see a bit of back and forth going on, trying to tune into the perfect balance of simplicity and clear signaling. Not that the old iTunes was bad per se, just a different UI for a different time. I really can't see a single thing I think the old iTunes interface does better for common use cases. I don't need borders around the icons when there's not a whole bunch of skeuomorphic noise around them, such that there being any visual complexity at all (icon itself) instantly grabs attention. I can feel absolutely no difference in how fast my eyes finds play/pause buttons. Look at screenshots of older iTunes vs Apple Music. It was important when almost everybody was a computer novice and couldn't detect subtle hints and conventions about what is a button and what isn't. When software/UIs were simpler, the buttons screaming loudly "I AM A BUTTON!" worked. > but that cleanness is artificial and gets in the way when trying to parse and use the software. I miss the crew of developers, capabilities, and playfulness we lost in transitioning to OSX, but am thrilled that tiny fragments of this playfulness seem to be returning. ![]() Even the iconography was more playful-that little bloated mac icon in the Memory control panel next to Virtual Memory comes to mind Playful messaging like "Installing System Morsels", or Sim City 2000's "Reticulating Splines" Easter eggs like that "secret about box" text clipping thing that pulled up the pirate flag flying over the Apple Campus. The talking moose was fun for about 15 minutes, but still, I love the attitude. That extension that made Oscar the grouch climb out of the trash can and sing a little ditty when you emptied the trash ![]() Extensions that could seriously improve your computer's performance like RamDoubler or SpeedDoubler The Mac OS classic architecture definitely had some problems with its non-protected memory and cooperative multitasking, but what it _allowed_ were extensions that could really get in there and muck around with things… and I looovvvved the zaniness that provided. The 90s/pre OS-X Apple (the "BuT tHeREs No SOFtWaRe!" and "ApPLe is GoING tO DiiEE" Apple) had a sense of playfulness in their UIs that was largely lost when they became the Apple we know today.
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