

Improve [iOS] Usability with a Black Status Bar and Rounded Corners  - bpatrianakos
http://blog.edwardmarks.com/post/9859783254/improve-usability-with-a-black-status-bar-and-rounded

======
creativename
As someone who generally pays attention to the usability of applications, I
have to ask: Is this really a big deal?

I quite literally have never noticed this when using my iPhone over the past
couple years. I actually had to re-read the article a few times to understand
what the author was trying to convey.

~~~
ctide
Design is all about subtleties, not big deals.

Does it make a difference? You bet.

~~~
creativename
Fair point, I guess I was reacting to the depth in which the article went into
the issue. This sort of detail would definitely make a difference, I just feel
it's more subtle and less noticeable than perhaps the author indicates it is.

~~~
kulkarnic
Not really. "Framing" is an important consideration-- ask any photographer. I
wish the author had gone into other kinds of framing (not just rounded
corners), but it's a start.

"For the interested reader", see different kinds of framing in the Path app:
[http://a3.mzstatic.com/us/r1000/067/Purple/v4/2c/81/7e/2c817...](http://a3.mzstatic.com/us/r1000/067/Purple/v4/2c/81/7e/2c817e0e-80b3-f9bb-44c7-6543f7a101d1/mza_6773230934668817208.320x480-75.jpg)
There's color, drop shadows etc.

------
hadem
I can't help but wonder if the bounded/unbounded screenshots would look and
feel different if they had used a white iPhone as well. Perhaps the bounded
screenshots look better because the black menu bar matches the black bezel of
the iPhone?

------
mcmire
The article was a bit misguided to me. It's not about making the status bar
black and rounding the corners. That isn't going to magically solve the
problem the author tries to explain but doesn't really come through -- which
is that if you have a pane in your app that scrolls but leave other elements
of the app fixed to the screen, the UX "feels" restricting, whereas if you
scroll the entire app, the content seems like it's unbounded. _That_ I get.
Now, whether you make the corners rounded or not, that's just an extra design
detail. But the way to achieve unbounded content is to just make your app full
screen. Drop the fixed navigation along the bottom, put it in a hidden
sidebar.

Now this is great, but it's not a magic bullet. What the article didn't say
is, there are usability concerns with this too -- if you don't have a lot of
navigation, having to show the sidebar is just going to be an extra step for
the user.

Of course, if you can keep your entire app in one screen without the user
needing to scroll _anything_ , that's ideal.

------
lancer383
While this only mentions native applications, the same could be done for web
apps:

    
    
      <meta name="apple-mobile-web-app-capable" content="yes">
      <meta name="apple-mobile-web-app-status-bar-style" content="black-translucent" />
      <style>
        html {background-color:#000;}
        body {background-color:#fff; border-radius:6px}
      </style>

------
Aldor
I definitely like the black status bar, but for some reason I think the
rounded corners just make the applications feel claustrophobic. Or, maybe it's
just because I prefer Android. But I honestly feel that a black status bar but
straight corners is the best feel for me, personally.

------
pattern
It would be useful to be able to be able to select between unbounded and
bounded content by changing the `meta viewport` value on a web page! Obviously
as it stands now, the navigation UI at the bottom of the screen in mobile
Safari prevents this, but I can still dream :)

------
se85
It is better, no doubt about that but talk about over-analysing it!

~~~
teej
Great usability requires attention to detail. It's the sum of many, seemingly
small changes. Have you seen how much work has gone into the "breathing" light
on macbooks? Or the math behind scrolling on iOS?

~~~
se85
Yep.

I am a designer/UXer and programmer, so I understand the art behind building
software from both sides, believe me.

I have even had to port parts of UIViewAnimation over to JavaScript to enable
controllable touch scrolling on both left and top scrollbars on any scrollable
element. Turns out that CSS3 animations don't perform anywhere near as well as
using this method, but thats another story!

I'm not criticising design, UX or the author's point, because I agree.

His way of going about making that point being completely over the top is what
I was poking fun at ;-)

------
marknutter
Does anyone know how rounded corners like this can be applied in practice?

~~~
stuartjmoore
I haven't tried it, but you should be able to set the cornerRadius of the
layer (a CALayer) of the main window. That would apply it to all subviews.

~~~
elmarks
This works, but setting the cornerRadius property kills performance. It's
preferable to overlay an image with black corners or to bake the black corners
into your art assets.

------
11031a
Going to be a great day for a small number of rich people.

