Just K.I.S.S. or Reinvent the Wheel?

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With all the books published in the wake of Steve Jobs’ death promising to give you that extra piece of insider info that nobody knows, and the non-stop almost mythical desire to figure out what makes Apple tick. May this writing serve as push back to what appears to have become an industry of onlookers […]

The UX Behind the New Camera Function in iOS 5.1 Lock Screen.

All of us who have updated the iPhone iOS to 5.1, have noticed something different in the lock screen. The camera icon has changed and you no longer need to double-press the home button in order to call the camera function. Let’s discuss the usability incentives that might have driven this decision.

The slide up gesture

So far, every interaction the user has with the lock screen is slide based. Slide to unlock, slide the notification icon to launch the relevant app. Why not just “touch”? Isn’t that better/faster? The idea behind this, is simply to avoid any accidental taps in the lock screen. The lock screen is triggered in many ways. You either press the power or home buttons, slide the silence switch, or receive a notification of any kind. This means that during these instances, the screen is available for interaction at its “locked” state. Before 5.1, the only lock screen function that could be easily triggered by accident, was the camera. This is why you had to press the home button twice to trigger it. But on the other hand, this is counter-intuitive. You have a basic function, that appears only when you press the button twice? Hence, Apple’s decision to put it as a main feature, omnipresent at the lock screen.

 

The new icon

Since Apple replaced the “tapping a button” style with a “slide up” gesture, they had to change the signifier. So, they replaced the button around the icon with 2 parallel lines above and under it, making it look more “fixed” and “drag able”.

Still, they did kinda needed to communicate this new interaction style change to the users. Every user, being used to the old method would simply touch and wait for the camera to launch. So, how do you solve this? Simple. When you tap on the button, instead of doing nothing, leaving you wondering what you did wrong, the entire lock screen moves up a bit and then drops back bouncing, resembling the ball movement when it hits the ground, playfully hinting the proper gesture that needs to be done in order to carry out the task.

The difference is in the details..!

iOSX Mountain Lion – Updated –

On the Operating System 

What is an operating system to normal people?

This question has followed me during my brief time testing of Apple’s first public beta of their new desktop OS “OSX Mountain Lion”. I remember a time where the words Operating System loomed large in a computers life span. It might have meant a RAM upgrade and it definitely meant a weekend project of cautious waiting and slow movements around the computer as the install progress bar inched forward…pixel by pixel. It came with big packaging that needed to be cut.. yes cut open with scissors. You needed to call for backup and have someone read the serial number out for you. It was an Event.

I take note of all this because Mountain Lion, along with Lion before it, have seriously changed the way the concept of the Operation System is framed and presented to the consumer. Yes, the blogs go nuts with every leak and every feature but in the country of Nobody-Cares on the continent of  It-Just-Needs-To-Work-ia, the population is: Pretty much everyone

Consider the following:

1. Announced and previewed in a private press briefing, no major typical Apple event

2. Distributed exclusively through the Mac App Store, no packaging and at an upgrade price of effectively free $30

3. The placement of Mountain Lion on Apple.com. Bottom left, no flashy graphics and iPhone still front and center

The Operating System as we have known it, is gone. It is now little more than a software update with a cool name.

On OSX Mountain Lion

What is fit & finish?

There are plenty of posts out there on the internets with a point-by-point list of all the juicy bits of Mountain Lion. This is not such a post. My interest lies in the direction Mountain Lion is going in the context of overall experience. Thus far, my time with Mountain Lion has been very pleasant. I am running it as close to my regular setup as possible. The heavy hitters are all set up (iTunes,Aperture et al) and I even dared to install Skype.

Apple seems to have rethought the “Reader” design and placement and displays it more prominently now in Safari. From my experience, few people know of this features existence and admittedly, I find it’s implementation quite awkward. Now with the Google Search being integrated a-la Chrome into the address bar, the “Reader” button gets a better seat at the table.

But this is weird. The sequence of input behind this “Reader” functionality just seems half baked to me. To me, it plays like this:  I’m surfing the interwebs, find an article, start reading to see if its interesting, if its interesting then I interrupt my reading and click the “Reader” button. Everything becomes pretty and clean but I need to find my place again.

I love the intent, but it never plays out in reality. I’m always too late into the article for it to be worth it. To me, this could be a basic feature yet it is disguised as a pro feature, which makes it the worst kind of perpetrator against a good experience.

Launchpad was and remains a piece of clothing inherited from the iOS that still doesn’t quite fit right. It’s the pair of jeans from your brother that look awesome but you still haven’t grown enough to fit in them. I’m not sure what needs to be done here but right now it still isn’t working. Maybe it’s something as simple as using another gesture but I still can’t wrap my head around it. When I trigger it, for some reason the dock comes up. Is this meant to replace the dock or accompany it? If accompany, then why display the same icons to the same apps on the launchpad AND on the dock?

Notification Center needs a gesture. No joke. It needs something.. anything instead of its current implementation for it is a plague on both your houses: 

– Update – I have been informed by fellow blogger Dimitri Kontaris that Notification Center does indeed have a gesture. Two finger swipe, right to left from off the trackpad. Very cool

Reminder, Contacts and Notes are iOS all the way and everything you would expect them to be. One thing to note however (and this has bothered me for quite some time), Notes ≠ Stickies. They need to either consolidate or bring stickies to iOS in a separate app.

On Gatekeeper, I believe John Gruber got it spot on so I have nothing to add:

My favorite Mountain Lion feature, though, is one that hardly even has a visible interface. Apple is calling it “Gatekeeper”. It’s a system whereby developers can sign up for free-of-charge Apple developer IDs which they can then use to cryptographically sign their applications. If an app is found to be malware, Apple can revoke that developer’s certificate, rendering the app (along with any others from the same developer) inert on any Mac where it’s been installed. In effect, it offers all the security benefits of the App Store, except for the process of approving apps by Apple. Users have three choices which type of apps can run on Mountain Lion:

• Only those from the App Store
• Only those from the App Store or which are signed by a developer ID
• Any app, whether signed or unsigned

The default for this setting is, I say, exactly right: the one in the middle, disallowing only unsigned apps. This default setting benefits users by increasing practical security, and also benefits developers, preserving the freedom to ship whatever software they want for the Mac, with no approval process.

Finally, here is a comment carried over from Lion with regards to full screen apps. I understand the reasoning behind it and for the most part, I support it. But there are instances where it breaks. Messages is one of those instances. I believe that as often as there is a legitimate basis for an app to run in full screen mode, there is just as often a basis for some apps to not run full screen. Contacts and Reminders follows this reasoning yet Notes, logically so, does not. Messages needs to join Contacts and Reminders. In some cases, apps (Aperture/iPhoto) are in need of establishing how exactly running in full screen makes things better, if it all, and functionality needs to be clearly separated. Otherwise there is no gain and simply dragging the app out to the screen edges brings about the same effect.

Furthermore, full screen mode cannot = no time & date display. Yes it comes down when you mouse up to the edge but I need to know what time it is after surfing YouTube aimlessly for 2 hrs.

As I have more time with Mountain Lion I will update and extend my thoughts. But for now, Mountain Lion is so far so good.

-DF