If you would just take this guys advice to heart, Aqua could be much, much easier and more efficient to use (which is supposed to be the mac advantage, right?). The dock is very whiz-bang-demo-ey and so bleeping useless! What's the point of seeing a gorgeous, beatifully rendered picture when you have no idea what it means? The liquid guy's example of the HD icon is a perfect example of everything that is wrong with the dock. He contrasts OS X's big, high-rez picture of an HD w/ a little icon of an HD that has a name, a size, and a little blue bar indicating how full it is. The former uses tons of screen space, takes up tons of our attention, and communicates very little. The latter takes up little screen space, little effort, and communicates a lot. Instead of turning folder icons into 3d folder icons, how about adding a couple widgets to show some info about what's in the folder? Number of items, or total size, or something. Icons are a language, and they should have a natural and consistent grammar.
Aren't there any HCI engineers at apple? Because Aqua looks like a collaboration between graphics programmers and salesmen, with all the UI guys left out. Its like one of those girls who spends hours fussing over her makeup and wardrobe, with the result that she looks absolutely divine but takes forever to be ready. You might hit on her just for an ego trip, or take her out where your friends could see you, but you'd never want to live with her because who wants to deal with all that maintenance? When it comes to the day-to-day, its all about someone who can toss on her sandals and be ready.
Now, unix is a cybernetic robot girlfriend, who you can turn off and tinker with, so I expect that someone will design a useable UI even if you don't. But considering how many engineer-hours y'all put into this, its a shame to see the results crippled by failing to take into consideration the fact that once the demo was over, people were gonna have to actually use this thing.
<< Index << || >> The Strange and the Familiar (2/28/94) >>