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At this point, a lot of decisions that were once skeuomorphic are now a matter of tradition and user expectation. For a whole generation, the image of a floppy means "save" not because of it's physical history but because that's the icon everyone else uses for "save".

Abandoning choices like "button means clickable" and "colored and underlined means link" isn't just a move to flat design, it's an attempt to retrain users on software conventions that have transcended their physical origins.




Sure, the floppy doesn't communicate anything to anybody except as a cryptic artifact of the past.

But other design language, like buttons and underlined links, communicate based on the necessity for some sort of language. Changing this language to something else should not occur unless there's some tangible benefit to the change.

Language changes all the time, but normal language change happens in the course of two-way communication between people. UI language is more one-way, it's like a speech that's delivered to an audience. If a speaker delivers a speak using an entirely new language that the audience doesn't understand, there had better be 1) some benefit to the change of language, and 2) clear communication to the audience about what the new language is.

Apple, Google, and Microsoft have failed on both points 1) and 2) in too many cases, IMHO. Languages are fashion, to some degree, but they are also functional. Flat UI has in too many cases placed the emphasis on looking cool and pushing "forward" over the primary point of a UI, which is to communicate to the user.


This is a big part of why I've been reluctant to buy an iOS device.

Originally it was because of the requirement to use the first-party keyboard software, but now it's because they've changed the design language in a way that conflicts with everything but iOS - and as a result, the UI feels remarkably unintuitive and confusing, even if it makes sense internally.




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