For a start, you have to click something on the extememe left and then move all the way across to the extreme right, just to toggle a check box, which breaks just about every UI rule in the book!
Oh, come on! I can think of all sorts of examples of this in many apps. For instance in Mail the mailbox-search field is at the right edge of the toolbar, while the controls to select which mailbox to search in are on the left. It’s a common design to have a source list/outline on the left of the window and an inspector view on the right.
It would be lovely if every control in an app could be put right next to every other control that it ever interacted with, but basic 2D geometry makes that impossible. :) The (lack) of UI design in XCode 5 is shocking, why they don’t employ a really good UI designer rather than leaving it up to the whim of developers is beyond me.
No, the UI of Apple apps is NEVER left up to the developers. There are always UI designers involved.
I worked on OS X apps at Apple for years (2000–2007), though not on Xcode. Sometimes I disagreed with the designers’ decisions because they were prioritizing aesthetics over functionality, and sometimes they didn’t understand the usage of the app as well as I did, but they were very much involved. Often with veto power.
I have a sinking feeling we’re about to see yet another flame war about Xcode’s UI. Please don’t go there, folks, not again. Or before you play back-seat driver, show us the amazing and perfect application UI’s _you’ve_ designed.
—Jens |