

Tufte on Windows Phone 7 Series interface design - terrellm
http://www.edwardtufte.com/bboard/q-and-a-fetch-msg?msg_id=0003cy&topic_id=1&topic=Ask+E%2eT%2e

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aphyr
I've got to give Microsoft credit: they tried! For the first time, it's an
interface which isn't shackled to the ridiculously inappropriate desktop
metaphor. They've designed something genuinely new for the phone.

On the other hand, I'm disgusted by the UI. Incredibly low information
density, unbalanced visual elements, and many actions required to accomplish
simple tasks. The transitions are beautiful, but they really should have
focused on a concise interface suited to small displays.

What designer thought allocating 30% of the screen to show the second half of
the word "Pictures" would be a good idea?

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pedalpete
I have a ton of respect for Tufte, but I think he is wrong about a few things
here.

After using the Zune for a few months, I'm surprised to see him say that it
looks like it was designed on a larger device and then shrunk down to fit a
handheld.

The UI is quite effective, and I believe the 'negative space' is actually
quite effective at training the user to recognize scrollable areas vs. non-
scrollable, as well as providing some breathing room rather than a full screen
which would look too busy.

I do agree with the comments about the animations. Many animations on the Zune
are very well done, and effective, but some (like the swirling name when going
to an artist list from a currently playing) does seem to break context and
takes a bit too long.

I'm sure they'll be tweaking the animations in future updates.

~~~
brandonkm
Exactly. Looking at pictures and videos of this UI and actually using it will
certainly change ones prior opinion. I thought the Zune ui looked especially
awkward. After using it as my personal music player it began to seem efficient
and the information hierarchy extremely well thought out.

I think the biggest negative aspect of Microsoft being this late in the game
in rebooting the windows mobile line is that theres now an inherent
familiarity with the current smartphone interfaces. When all you interact with
is an android device all day, the new windows phone ui seems alien. But again;
once you use it that perception definitely changes. I know thats my experience
as an android user with a Zune. The central question with the new Windows
phone is how well does that 'metro' ui scale in the context of a smartphone
device.

~~~
dannyr
brandonkm,

Nice to know that I'm not the only Android user with a Zune. ;-)

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bgraves
Killer Quote:

"...Instead of impressing focus groups, designers should do a thought
experiment: Imagine what Steve Jobs and Jonathan Ive would have to say about
your interface..."

~~~
bkudria
Really? I liked: "Of course Microsoft's customers are already familiar with
deep layerings and complex hierarchies."

~~~
jamesbritt
Seriously.

I thought the mantra of presentations and UI design was Know your Audience. It
would dopey to design for designers rather than trying things out with the
people who are going to use the thing.

~~~
rimantas

      I thought the mantra of presentations and UI design was
      Know your Audience. It would dopey to design for designers
      rather than trying things out with the people who are going
      to use the thing.
    

The problem is: your audience does not know itself. Your audience in general
will only know what it _wants_. Knowing your audience means knowing
that,knowing how it is different from what it _needs_ , and knowing what it
really needs.

At the famous Ford quote goes: “If I’d asked my customers what they wanted,
they’d have said a faster horse”.

Jobs and Ive do know those differences so asking questions "what would they
say" is not "designing for designers" it is speculating the opinion of those
who know the difference.

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gxs
I haven't used the device itself, but a friend of mine that works at a
microsoft shot has. He took snapshots that I wish he would share. It runs on a
very similar processor as the nexus one, an arm snapdragon.

According to him, the device is actually quite nice. It is surprisingly fluid
and very snappy. He currently uses a G1. From the screenshots I've seen, it
looks very nice indeed.

I guess this is where it pays to be a bit ignorant of design- I liked the
design and the home screen seemed great to me. I guess it's because I wasn't
aware of all the "negative space" they were wasting.

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jlmendez
Edward Tufte is definitely a recognized design guru but ever since I found out
about him I have been _very_ puzzled about the design of his website. I would
expect a design guru to have a better website.

~~~
niels_olson
Context, man, context. That site design is running Ars Digita, Philip
Greenspun's original community system (<http://openacs.org/>), circa 1995. If
I recall correctly, Greenspun helped set it up. Full disclosure: I am at least
partially responsible for a few tweaks to the GUI circa 2007 (constrained the
comments, added the local menus (with optional thumbnails).

Here's all the CSS for that site:

.fullwidthtable {}

.forum {color: #CC0000; font-size: 11px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-
serif; line-height: 15px;}

.text { font-size: 15px; color: #000000;font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-
serif; line-height: 21px;}

.textsm { font-size: 14px; color: #000000;font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-
serif; line-height: 21px;}

.textxsm { font-size: 13px; color: #000000;font-family: Arial, Helvetica,
sans-serif; line-height: 21px;}

.link { text-decoration: none; color=#CC0000}

.link:hover { text-decoration: underline; color: #CC0000}

.belink { text-decoration: none; color=#000000}

.belink:hover { text-decoration: underline; color: #CC0000}

.taglink { margin-top: 4pt; }

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colinplamondon
This seems like off the top of the head M$-style ranting- he hasn't used an
actual device so this is just guesswork.

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kprobst
You spelled _Microsoft_ with a dollar sign, nyuck-nyuck. How's Slashdot these
days?

~~~
astrange
I rather think you're confusing part of his accusation as his own statement.

