Meanwhile, at Microsoft ...
http://d24w6bsrhbeh9d.cloudfront.net/photo/6855756_700b.jpg
From: "Bob W"
From: PDML [mailto:pdml-boun...@pdml.net] On Behalf Of Derby Chang
I can't answer your question, Bob. But that skeuomorphism
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skeuomorph) was a particular fetish of
the departed software head Scott Forstall
http://venturebeat.com/2012/10/30/skeuomorphic-design-or-one-reason-we-
can-be-thankful-scott-forstall-is-gone/
Maybe in time, with Sir Jony taking over, the apps will change.
Well, let's hope so. Thanks for those links - I'm glad I'm not the only
aesthete whose delicate sense of taste has been offended. After the very
engineered experience of taking the machine out of the box it really pulls
you up sharp when you see that sort of thing.
B
Logically, I can understand wanting some legacy visual clues to get new
users used to how apps work, but I totally agree with you about how
tacky they look in practice. Really reminds be of wood veneer on the
Brady station wagon.
On 31/03/2013 10:38 PM, Bob W wrote:
I bought an iPad yesterday, which is the first Apple product I've
ever
owned, although I've used a few over the years, especially when they
went wrong for non-computer-literate friends. I'm setting it up at
the
moment, and transferring various bits and pieces off the Thinkpad
notebook I've been using for the last 2 or 3 years.
Considering the reputation they have for good design, I'm really
surprised at some of the shitey junk in Apple's apps.
For example, at the place where I worked way back in the Windows 3
days we used Lotus Notes for our calendar and email. The calendar had
this really awful Filofax look, with fake ring-binder clips, and
pretend paper and bits of pretend leather for the cover. It was
really
vile, the worst sort of 'chartjunk', to borrow Tufte's term, and used
to get a real hammering in books on good visual design - the same
books which often promoted Apple's visual design as a standard -
which
described this sort of thing as 'overbearing metaphor'. Think of
Microsoft Bob <http://toastytech.com/guis/bob.html> for another
classic example, lest you think I'm merely Apple-bashing.
So what do I find when I start setting up my calendar and stuff on
the iPad?
A calendar with a really awful Filofax look, with fake ring-binder
clips, and pretend paper and bits of pretend leather for the cover.
It
is really vile, the worst sort of chartjunk.
They've committed the same crime with their Contacts app, and worst
of
all is their Newsstand, which has faux woodgrain shelves, believe it
or not (not that I want to use it).
It's not even ironic post-modernism.
Do any of the Apple junkies here know if there's a way to re-skin
these apps to something that doesn't look like it was designed by a
13-year-old?
Cheers,
Bob
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