Re: Matching the style of a HUD?
Re: Matching the style of a HUD?
- Subject: Re: Matching the style of a HUD?
- From: Quincey Morris <email@hidden>
- Date: Sat, 1 May 2010 16:32:36 -0700
On May 1, 2010, at 15:57, Izak van Langevelde wrote:
> Although I really would love to write something that matches Apples Quicktime player, everything in Cocoa and everyone with a strong opinion on user interface design seems to scream "DON'T even think about it, unless you are absolutely sure you know what you're doing, and even then, think twice' So, any input is welcome...
FWIW ...
I think the screaming "DON'T" part is a sort of shortcut -- the reality is a bit more nuanced.
There's nothing intrinsically wrong with the idea of a "dark" interface, if you've decided it's appropriate to the application you're writing. But then you should design your *own* dark interface so that:
a. it doesn't try to match the design details of the Cocoa HUD windows, but nevertheless isn't in glaring conflict with them
b. it doesn't try to match the design details of any of the standard windows, but nevertheless isn't in glaring conflict with them
c. it doesn't try to be pointlessly quirky, but maintains as neutral a set of design values as is consistent with pleasing design
My point is that if you try to match an existing design, when Apple changes its standard designs (which it does to some degree with every Mac OS X release), you app will look out-of-date. You want a design that stands up to Mac OS changes.
If you take this seriously, your application design process is *much* harder than than if you go with standard window appearance -- you really need to come up with something lasting. Plus, you're probably going to have to write some difficult code to implement your design. (Adobe flagship software products might be a good case study in the difficulties of this kind of design process.) That difficulty is what the screamers are warning you about, even if they don't express it that way.
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