
iTunes 11: the convergence of iOS and OS X design - jarederondu
http://theindustry.cc/2012/11/30/itunes-11-the-convergence-of-ios-and-os-x-design/
======
purephase
Funny, the one thing that is making we more and more wary of using Mac OSX in
the future is the convergence of iOS.

Different strokes, I guess. It just seems odd to celebrate it.

~~~
ComputerGuru
Absolutely agreed. Snow Leopard was the last "true" desktop OS. I really don't
see the need for Launchpad and co. when everything is and always has been a
cmd+space away.

EDIT

In response to the heated discussion below, it's not just the launchpad that
has me a little peeved about Lion and ML (I'm on ML now). Some of things that
are being taken from iOS that I don't necessarily feel belong on the desktop:
natural scrolling, skeuomorphication of interfaces, suggested words, "all my
files", social media integration (yes, this is just me), etc.

But my biggest pet peeve is just the sheer dumbing down of things. iTunes 11
is pretty, but why put everything a click away? What was so bad about a
sidebar that makes everything instantly accessible and only takes 80px? Why
does the app now prefer to be run in full screen?

~~~
benbeltran
Many regular users beg to differ. At least, in my experience, the people who
are less familiar with computers are the ones that love the new features the
most. Especially launchpad and such. Also, just curious, but what about Lion /
Mountain lion disqualifies it from being a "true" desktop OS?

~~~
jlgreco
The 90s seem like they would have been a good time to worry about users who
don't really know what computers are. Why are we _now_ driving for that market
when everyone under the age of 30 _grew up_ using modern computers? Are we
still gunning from the mostly imaginary _"grandmother who doesn't know how to
use computers"_ market? The market that 1) is only shrinking, if indeed it
ever existed and 2) presumably doesn't buy computers...

Makes about as much sense as designing all cars in the 50s for people who grew
up with horses. While those people are certainly still alive, it is a business
strategy decades out of place.

~~~
wlesieutre
I have family members who have used Apple products since at least System 7
(probably earlier, that's the first one I can remember). But they're still
more comfortable with an iPad than a Mac.

There are a ton of things that we assume are second nature, but are really
learned skills. I think the notion that applications that aren't in the dock
still exist (in the Applications folder) is starting to sink in, but
installing software from disk images? You have to mount it, copy the program
to the Applications folder, understand where it went so you can launch it, and
then eject the disk image.

I knew people when I was in high school (granted that was a while ago, but it
wasn't their first time using a computer) who would download software and just
run it off of the disk image every time they wanted it. Unless the developer
has put in an alias and a background image to explain things, there's no
indication that there's a better solution.

~~~
jlgreco
> I knew people when I was in high school...

Yeah, these people exist, but I think they are a dying breed. Children who
grew up using computers are not going to have these problems. I think our
obsession with this dying breed of computer users is very convenient, since it
paints a narrative of _"regular users (read: most users) are so much dumber
than we are."_

It strokes our ego to believe that dumbing down interfaces is necessary.

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mmariani
I'm loving it! iTunes just disappeared, and all that's left is content, just
perfect. Now using iTunes is not a burden anymore. It's snappy, and fun. I'm
even rediscovering music in my library. Kudos to the guys who designed and
coded the new iTunes!

I have only one wish, that these same guys take over Xcode, and pimp it out!

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pavlov
_[...] however iTunes’ new display of Apps is horrid; every app icon has an
ugly faux-perspective bevel that just doesn’t seem to work._

I don't understand what the author is referring to here. The screenshot looks
just like I remember iOS app icons looking -- they've always had that canned
bevel+gloss look applied to them.

Overall, the new iTunes makes me think that Apple keeps inching towards the
Metro look. Gradients, colors and embossing are gradually fading out, and one
day there will be nothing left except various weights of Helvetica and
monochrome icons on a pure white canvas.

~~~
roc
I can't see Apple following Microsoft into a UI language that dispatches with
affordance to the point that users are confused as to what's an actionable UI
element and what isn't.

I agree they're going that _way_ ; to a definitely more-modern, understated
look. But I think the big difference is going to be that they hold onto visual
contrast precisely where Microsoft has let it go and/or confused it.

~~~
pavlov
I'm not sure. In the new iTunes, almost all on-screen elements are now
actionable, but only some of them have traditional visual indicators like
button outlines or pop-up menu arrows. (For example, a playlist can be renamed
by clicking on the large title which looks just like a static header.)

The new iTunes UI doesn't have any mouse-hover effects either, apart from
those that are part of the OS X standard window decorations. This suggests
that the new UI is designed primarily for touch rather than mouse use.

~~~
brainsqueezer
Good point. Hover is dead.

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super_mario
To me the usability has suffered quite a bit with the update. Everything is a
little further away in terms of how many clicks it takes to get to it. Until
you show the sidebar that is. I'm glad to see the side bar now has color. But
why is it off by default? Just for the sake of change? And why is the keyboard
shortcut/menu item the only way to show it (i.e. UI is not discoverable)?

And why is the iTunes icon a musical note? iTunes is more about everything
else but music. It's apps/books/video/podcasts/radio/TV/device syncing/music.
Something like this would be much more appropriate:

[http://wakaba556.deviantart.com/art/iTunes-replacement-
icon-...](http://wakaba556.deviantart.com/art/iTunes-replacement-
icon-311490010)

~~~
yen223
It would be nice if Apple made a music player which only plays music. It is
quite confusing to tell people that to download apps for the iPhone, they need
to open iTunes, instead of the more appropriately-named App Store.

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radley
My take is that iTunes 11 pivots away from making playlists and focuses on the
99% of users that simply buy and listen to albums.

I'm a heavy playlist user and the changes are shockingly bad. For "normal"
users there's a dozen different ways to navigate and sort by album. But for
playlist users there's now only one view - a text list - and a demoted tool
menu on the bottom. Even command keys (i.e. Cmd-N) have been changed. Instead
of just making a new playlist it changes the entire app view and the only
available action is adding full albums to a playlist.

The only part worse is that I can't restore iTunes 10 via Time Machine without
restoring my entire system.

~~~
Alphasite_
There are 2 opinions that i can see. If you have the sidebar enabled, you get
what seems (at least superficially) to be close to the old iTunes interface,
with CMD + N for new lists, etc. If you have it disabled, then you can use the
column browser, which rather curiously wont work with the sidebar.

Anyway, its more than likely that I completely missed the entire point of the
post. Also, downgrading doesn't need a full timemachine restore, the only bit
that may be easier with time machine is restoring the old library file, but
its apparently not entirely essential.

~~~
radley
I missed the difference. The two sidebars were similar enough I just used the
new default playlist sidebar.

It looks like Cmd-N works differently depending on which sidebar you're using.
Old sidebar it works in classic mode (thanks for pointing that out!). New
sidebar it opens the newer New Playlist view.

You can't restore the iTunes app directly: you'll get an OS warning. Using
"Restore to..." the Desktop will result in a corrupted app file on the
desktop. Also, iTunes 11 changes the library file system a bit.

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drivebyacct2
Lots of thoughts. It looks nice and simple. Too simple. I think it actually
looks much sharper and more modern than iOS does these days. Hopefully the
design influence runs both ways.

Also, I know everyone has their own opinion, but yikes, this looks just _bad_
to me (from the article): <http://theindustry.cc/assets/2012/11/mini.png>
(edit, maybe it's my high res monitor but that font is painful to look at)

~~~
marblar
Here's one with more pixels: <http://imgur.com/vn0J0>

