

The iPod’s Dark UI Pattern - cgtyoder
http://blog.sefsar.com/the-ipods-dark-ui-pattern

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drharris
I would not call this a dark pattern. You browse backwards through your
personal library hierarchy, what happens when you reach the top of your
hierarchy? It takes you to the entire world of music. Your personal library is
a subset of the world. Sneaky? A bit, but hardly a "dark pattern". It isn't
being nefarious about it, just saying "Oh, so you browsed all the way up and
didn't find anything you wanted? Let us help."

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dmbass
That is an absolutely ludicrous explanation. Nobody is using the iPod app and
expecting to get to the store. That short cut is purely there to collect
accidental clicks. If I wanted to purchase music, I would have opened the
iTunes app.

I have personally hit that button accidentally many times while trying to get
back to the albums view and waiting for the animations to finish in exactly
the way this article describes. I did not want to go to the iTunes store! I
just wanted to pick another album on my phone and now I have to double tap the
button and navigate back to the music app.

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sim0n
I don't think it's totally ludicrious to every user. My parents wouldn't have
second thoughts of opening the "music app" to buy music.

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echohack
I want to call particular attention to the author's point about Apple's pie
chart.

Not only is Apple's pie chart used for telling lies here, I would argue that
_all_ pie charts are used for telling lies.

The only thing a pie chart gives you is it tells you that everything in a
category adds up to 100%. It doesn't tell you what 100% is, or why 100% is
good, or bad, or let you compare across charts, or set goals.

You can accomplish this same thing with a bullet graph, developed by Stephen
Few. You make a bar chart, then put a line through it to represent your goal
(or 100%). Then, it's simple to compare multiple categories and model very
complex information in a simple to understand way.

So remember this: The next time you see a pie chart, know that someone is
lying or trying to appear more impressive than they actually are.

The worst part about this particular way of graphing information is that it's
so ingrained in our culture (it's taught in Kindergarden), that people don't
even understand that they're lying, even when they are.

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cstrat
I can understand how pie charts can be manipulated to show whatever the
presenter wants to show...

However I fail to see how they are lying because they used a pie chart... back
in 2008 they are saying that Apple had roughly 20% of the market share of
smart phones.

They are vague in explaining whether they are measuring - devices sold,
devices in use, devices pre-ordered... however that would be the case whether
they used a bar graph, line graph, or just gave the raw numbers.

~~~
echohack
Here's an experiment: Get a random set of pie charts without labels on them.
Get a large group of people. Now get those people to go through the pie charts
and add what % of the pie chart they think each slice represents.

Now, get a set of bar charts and do the same thing.

In both experiments time the participants. You'll need two groups, a group
that knows they're being timed and one that doesn't know.

What group was more accurate? What group was able to complete the exercise
faster?

Here's a side by side of the same information in these two different forms:
[http://speakingppt.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/stephen-
fe...](http://speakingppt.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/stephen-few-pie-vs-
bar.png)

The reason that using pie charts is, in and of itself, a dark pattern is
because the results of this experiment support bar charts as a more concise,
more easily understood way of communicating information. In other words, the
only real reason you'd use a pie chart is to obfuscate information. Or,
well... to lie. If you're just using it because you don't know better, then
you're negligent and misleading people without even knowing it.

~~~
pests
"then you're negligent and misleading people without even knowing it."

Is that their fault? I don't entirely think so. You might be able to claim
they should have done the research before choosing that type of graph but the
majority of people are not even going to give pie charts a second thought.

If there was an active campaign against pie charts and more discussion I might
find fault in that persons ignorance to the matter.

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jreed91
I've noticed that when I do accidentally click it, it will actually take a
second click to register.

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comex
Yes: at least on the latest version of iOS, the animation delay makes it hard
to accidentally click on the button. Not a dark pattern.

~~~
ryanpetrich
The Store button actually ignores touches for even longer than the animation
delay, specifically to avoid accidental presses.

~~~
pests
Do you have a source on this? I believe you, just interested in reading more.

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doe88
I agree there is something wrong with this button. Without formalizing my
thoughts until now I remember feeling disturbed by its presence because you
pop your views, then expect to be at the top of the hierarchy of your library
and then somewhat feeling contradicted by the presence of this button. Of
course this is not a big deal, but it's a real inconvenience.

~~~
eddieroger
I agree, and I particularly agree with the point that your music is a subset
of the world, and this back one more is the music store. My original thought
on it was that you've reached the top of the hierarchy, so that button becomes
free game for doing something else. If it were truly a dark pattern, it would
have a back arrow and not just be a button.

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epmatsw
That graph seems pretty clear to me. If anything, the way it's tilted maybe
makes the Apple segment look a few percent larger than reality, but certainly
not enough to get upset about. Not to mention that they clearly label the
segments with actual percentages.

"I have a feeling, this is just the tip of the ice-berg." A little over-
dramatic at the end there.

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DustinCalim
I fail to see how this is a "dark pattern". Apple is a company that stays in
business by selling you things; they are not your friend that builds great
products and services and gives them to you for free. Of course they will
create things aligned with their interests. Is this manipulative? Sure, it can
be after a point, but not this example. Are there examples of manipulative UI
patterns? Yes. Microsoft forcing you to use IE comes to mind or pre-checked
newsletter signup checkboxes.

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jmduke
I wouldn't call it a dark pattern, it's just annoying as hell. I think Apple
does a decent job about clearly drawing the line between stuff you have and
stuff you _could_ have.

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baddox
The second example is a stretch. My brain, being used to seeing and
interpreting perspective, has no trouble realizing that the Apple segment is
nowhere near as large as the largest segment. I suspect most people with a
field of view larger than their retinas will have no trouble seeing this. The
author might have a point if the perspective was much more exaggerated, or if
there weren't clear numerical labels on each segment.

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leephillips
OK, but I fail to see the larger point in searching for delicate and subtle
manipulations of the user on the part of Apple. This is the company that tried
to sell its iPhone 3G with blatant and outrageous false advertising:
[http://lee-phillips.org/unslow/](http://lee-phillips.org/unslow/)

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joshstrange
This post reminds me of this one:
[http://www.90percentofeverything.com/2013/07/23/the-
slippery...](http://www.90percentofeverything.com/2013/07/23/the-slippery-
slope/)

Where they talk about how hard it is to disable iOS ad tracking.

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huxley
I guess the question is difficult compared to what? How do you go about
limiting ad tracking on Android devices?

As mentioned in another comment, the setting was buried in IOS 6, in iOS 7 it
is in the Privacy section, has a link to a page that explains what the setting
can and can't do (you still get ads but they won't be as targeted) and also
let's you manually reset the advertising identifier at any time.

I'm not aware of anything similar or better on any platform.

~~~
joshstrange
Oh I agree, I think that it's all a mess and that iOS has one of the better
(if not best, I am not familiar enough with the other platforms to comment
about their ad tracking settings) interfaces to manage your ad-related
privacy. As I mentioned in my reply to the other comment I was neither
advocating for or against this post or the one I linked. It was just the first
thing that came to mind when I saw this post.

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lupinglade
Lol. You do realize that ui space is limited on such a small screen right? Way
to over-analyze.

