Re: XAML is good, but the threat is Avalon

faq
flatforty
contribute
subscribe
configure
search
rdf

main
parent
thread

Re: XAML is good, but the threat is Avalon
by Erik Engheim on Wednesday 31/Mar/2004, @18:27

"Hint: the usability improvements of Aqua over OS9 had nothing to do with its transparencies and animations. Those were just to get the media types to pay attention."

I beg to differ. All the eye candy in Aqua is not as useless as people make it.

1.Icons: Large icons are easier to hit and click than small ones. The big icons in Aqua makes this possible (that they look good is a nice side effect). The realistic look of the icons makes them easier and faster to identify. In the old days the icons looked so bad often that you couldn't really make out what they represented or tell them apart.

That cartoon look is better than realistic ones is just bullshit. OS 9 use cartoon look on icons and I am much slower at identifying icons in OS 9 than OS X.

2.Valuable visual cues: When you minimize windows you clearly see where the window goes. This should help newbies figuring out where their windows went. It even helps power users sometimes. For instance when you close a palette window in Word for OS X its window is sucked into the button that toggles it. Makes it very easy to refind the button to redisplay it.

3.The vector graphics allows powerfull switching between windows alla Expose. Expose is really awsome. It is one of the great user interface inventions in many years.

4.The scaling effect in the dock allows you to more easily identify the minimized windows.

There are lots of other examples (like toolbars). The point is however that most of this eye candy serves a purpose. Often it gives valuable visual cues to the user about the effects of the operation he performed.

In fact I would argue that XP has useless eye candy and OS X does not. In XP the webish user interfaces often have bitmaps and such to pretty up dialogs. However the bitmaps can't be clicked, display no information or serve any other function than decor. In Aqua the eyecandy at least serve a purpose if not for all users.

Related Links

·   Articles on Qt
·   Also by Erik Engheim
·   Contact author

The Fine Print: The following comments are owned by whomever posted them.
( Reply )


		"There are some gaps in my recollection of the past, I always assumed that was sleep." -- Rob Kaper
KDE®, "K Desktop Environment", "KDE Dot News", "got the dot?" and the KDE Logo® are trademarks or registered trademarks of KDE e.V. in the European Union, the United States and other countries. All other trademarks and copyrights on this page are owned by their respective owners. Comments are owned by the poster. The rest: Copyright © 2000-2008 KDE e.V. for The KDE Project. For further information or comments on this site, please contact the Webmaster.