

Flat UI jQuery Theme - missenlinx
https://github.com/ququplay/jquery-mobile-flat-ui-theme

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occam65
The "flat" style being distributed today is a giant step backwards in
usability, I can't for the life of me understand why it's so popular. On
desktops, it's not clear until you hover that it's even an interactive
element. On mobile? Forget it. You'll have better luck teaching your
grandmother the difference between client and server side JavaScript.

~~~
padolsey
> On desktops, it's not clear until you hover that it's even an interactive
> element.

Have you considered that this is due to you and others being conditioned to
believe that beveled/3d elements indicate interactivity whereas flat elements
do not? Maybe a change is in order...

Also related to the abandonment of "fake" depth in web design is the latest
A-List-Apart article, "Material Honesty" -
<http://alistapart.com/article/material-honesty-on-the-web>

~~~
ajacksified
It's more likely that the problem is because there's very little perceived
affordance[1] that differentiates interactive elements from inert design.

[1] <http://www.jnd.org/dn.mss/affordances_and.html>

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img
From a usability perspective I don't think this really works at all. For most
of the UI elements, the only visual indication that you get that something is
clickable (buttons, link, collapsibles) or separate (grouped buttons) is on
mouse hover.

But this is for jQuery Mobile, and you don't get mouse hovers on the devices
this is targeted for.

~~~
jack_trades
Don't be so dramatic. From a usability perspective, it works enough. Also,
interactivity is changing and themes are options. People don't hover or click
with touch devices.

Many UI concepts are in flux (again). Link? Button? Collapsible? Let go of
what you know and watch people using flat UI.

There are many ways to hint interactions within flat design. As has always
been, stick to more abstract interaction fundamentals and processes and don't
wed yourself to fads based on current (or old) tooling trends.

It's easy enough to use color, contrast, font, positioning, size, shape, etc.
all to indicate interaction points. That's all a gradient button is compared
to the text in an old message box.

Also, there are two major thrusts in flat ui that make it compelling. One is
the additional focus on content since the UI takes a step back once you spend
less time tweaking artificial details. Which leads into the second point
others are making. The time and energy spent in details to achieve fake
results in a digital context are dishonest at best and grossly out of place
from a design perspective. There's a little bit for everyone in there.

~~~
wittyphrasehere
This.

"Flat UI is bad for usability" keeps getting repeated as a criticism against
the flat UI trend but is not actually true.

Bad UI design is bad for usability, regardless of VISUAL style.

As jack_trades mentions, there are MANY other ways to convey interactivity
without artificial depth, texture.

Think about a simple modal. Users know to look at the top-right, sometimes
left, for controls for the modal. What difference does it make if the user
sees a flat X icon or an X inside a beveled, drop-shadowed button?

Re: desktop vs. mobile; If a user has to hover over an element just to know if
it's interactive then perhaps the design has already failed.

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wittyphrasehere
The vertical alignment of the text is off and the colors are a bit muddy
compared to the vibrant palette of <http://designmodo.com/flat-free/> (which
was clearly the inspiration for this).

~~~
simonlc
The vertical align is off in his screenshot, but in Firefox it seems to be
spot on. Also I wouldn't worry too much about the colors, that's about the
easiest thing to change yourself.

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akshayaurora
I tried porting it to jQM too. <https://github.com/iakshay/jqm-flat-ui>.
Didn't really continue..

jQM is for mobile devices why are you using custom dropdown?

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melkisch
More stuff available in the same kind of flat design style on
<http://designmodo.com/flat-free/>

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mvkel
Wow, great stuff. I was tempted to build this myself. Awesome to see it's
already done beautifully!

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IanDrake
Nice! This is one of the better looking ones I've seen.

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workbench
Turquoise? Hope you've got good lawyers because LayerVault will have just sent
a DMCA.

