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RE: My alter sheet is not textured (metal)

Hall, Michael J. wrote:
| [The Aqua "brushed-metal"] guideline has to be somewhat dated anyhow
| doesn't it? considering as you indicate that brushed-metal is getting
| pretty common in many applications.

That many people ignore the guidelines doesn't mean they're dated. It simply means they're being ignored. (Lots of people write "u" for the pronoun these days; that doesn't make "you" dated.) The point of any set of human interface guidelines is to insure that every program behaves identically, to the extent possible.
The problem is that, since NeXT acquired Apple, the interface has stopped being about ease of use, and has become, instead, simply one more marketing demo: things are done not because they make the computer easier to use, but to show off what the OS can do, or because they look "cool". (For example, semi-transparent menus make menus *harder* to use, not easier, since the text showing through from beneath interferes with reading the text in the menu items themselves.) Consistency of behavior--*the* reason to have human interface guidelines at all--is no longer a consideration. (If it were, Finder windows wouldn't have two different--and incompatible--behaviors depending on whether the toolbar were visible or not. [And no other program uses the visibility of the toolbar as a "behavior switch", either, making things that much less consistent.]) The UI is designed to match the current case design, rather than being designed to match user requirements. Aqua appeared with the ca!
ndy-colored iMacs. "Steel" becomes the standard exactly when the brushed-metal G5 appears. (There'd probably have been an all-white UI design if Apple had been able to figure out how to make it even remotely usable.) In a few years, when the G6 case is yet another style, the guidelines will make *that* design the norm.


| I'm not sure there is necessarily anything wrong with some of the Human
| Interface guidelines being a little flexible. How many times did the
| question of how do you get different color background buttons come up
| while the answer was, you don't, the HI rules override the code and it
| just wasn't allowed.

That particular guideline is a fine example of "marketing demo" trumping other factors. The *only* reason for the inflexibility in the first place is to make buttons match scroll bars. From a usability standpoint, any color is as good as any other color. As long as the "gumdrop" shape is there, the user will know what to expect. (Apple's own "Graphite" look relies on this.)
There are two areas where any set of guidelines are *properly* inflexible: the parts of the appearance that distinguish one kind of UI component from another, and the behavior shared by *all* instances of a component. Shape is the most usual example of the first ("buttons are gumdrop-shaped"), and highlighting is a common example of the second. Variations that *won't* confuse the user--size and color being the handiest examples--*should* be allowed, and the guidelines should generally do no more than offer recommendations ("buttons larger than 1024x768 are best avoided, as they may be partially hidden on some monitors").


| And if I've been looking at the pictures right, Finder won't be exempt at Panther,

Which is exactly the point: the Apple-written Finder is now violating Apple's own rules for program interface design. If *Apple* isn't going to ignore their own guidelines whenever the whim strikes, why bother having guidelines at all? If the rules change every time Apple decides that the last set aren't "cool" enough any more, why have rules at all? Pre-NeXT Apple certainly violated the OS 9 guidelines at times, but the Aqua guidelines are given little more than lip service, as Apple *routinely* violates them. (Checkboxes are supposed to be blue, too, except when Apple wants them to be other colors. The standard controls are supposed to be used, except when Apple wants program-specific custom variants. The list goes on.) It's a prime case of "do what I say, not what I do." Why should I, as a developer, bother even *reading* the guidelines--to say nothing of *following* them--if they're so clearly shown--by their author--to be irrelevant to Macintosh UI design?


| is there a number for that, 10.3? I feel a little silly using the code names.

Yes, it's 10.3. Remember, though, that Apple *has* to use code names. "OS X" isn't a release number, it's a brand name. They can't change it without throwing away all the marketing resources they've put into it. The problem is that no one but Apple regards a tenth of a version as meaning anything more than "maintenance update". If they're going to keep the brand, they need something that says "major new release". The version number won't do, so they have to give each release its own name, instead.


| (Please note my good behavior today, I didn't say GUI police once,

Like *all* police, the GUI Police have a proper jurisdiction. Like all police, the GUI police can attempt to enforce taste, as well. Aqua is more prone to "GUI fascism" simply because it *is* about marketing. It is driven by fashion, not usability. Where it dictates taste, rather than simple usability, it oversteps the bounds of what human interface guidelines *ought* to concern themselves with. (That you can speak of the guidelines *as* "dated" simply confirms their roots in fashion.)

Unless Apple decides to restore the human interface guidelines to their proper purpose--as long as they're nothing more than the Latest Designs from Cupertino--however, any and all discussion of them is probably utterly pointless.

Glen Fisher
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 >RE: My alter sheet is not textured (metal) (From: "Hall, Michael J." <email@hidden>)



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