macOS Advice for a new guy...

[ArtOfWarfare]

Don't be Microsoft and focus on "prettiness". Things like graphics, gradients and animations should be added because they directly help someone understand what will/is/did happen in your plugin; not for show, not to be pretty.

Interesting point. I hadn't realized that having a good looking interface was actually separate from having an easy to use one.

...

I'm going to have to keep that in mind going forward, because now that I think about it, I think I've often made graphical decisions based solely on what looks good rather than what will help the user naturally understand how it works. I guess my apps are the graphical equivalence of Vista or 7...

 

[GorillaPaws]

I think I've often made graphical decisions based solely on what looks good rather than what will help the user naturally understand how it works. I guess my apps are the graphical equivalence of Vista or 7...

Have you read the HIG?

That's a must read for anyone releasing software to the public imo.

 

[ArtOfWarfare]

Have you read the HIG?

That's a must read for anyone releasing software to the public imo.

I have... like five years ago... I'm not sure how much of it I remember anymore.

 

[firewood]

Don't be Microsoft and focus on "prettiness". Things like graphics, gradients and animations should be added because they directly help someone understand what will/is/did happen in your plugin; not for show, not to be pretty.

Apple also encourages attractive well designed "delightful" apps (beyond just good usability). In you are in business, you will realize that marketing appearances often makes a bigger difference to revenue and success than only concentrating on pure functionality.

Of course, artful design should done so as not to detract from usability. But, from a marketing point-of-view, end-user software that is both attractive and useful is the optimum.

So for anyone who wants to create great products, and not just be a good coder, the art of design is another very important study area.

 

[mydogisbox]

iOS development in central Iowa

Relevant link for iOS developers in central Iowa.

http://groups.google.com/group/des-moines-cocoaheads/

 

[jiminaus]

The example I often cite is the case of those custom scanner apps you get bundled with the drivers for a cheap scanner. In these apps, "prettiness" is often taken to the extreme as being the first priority.

I guess marketing have said the scanner needs a bundled scanner app to enhance ease of use; but the opposite happens. They have completely custom UIs. The trouble is they have nothing in common with the platform. A novice computer user will have at least learnt to recognise a button and learn what a button does. But when they look at this UI, they don't see anything that looks the same as a button.

Another example I cite is when we went through that period of having moving gradient phases in the backgrounds of apps. Sure it looked good and added a sense of dynamic to the app; but it was so distracting when you actually tried to use the app!

 

[firewood]

The example I often cite is the case of those custom scanner apps you get bundled with the drivers for a cheap scanner. In these apps, "prettiness" is often taken to the extreme as being the first priority.

I guess marketing have said the scanner needs a bundled scanner app to enhance ease of use; but the opposite happens. They have completely custom UIs.

What most likely really happened is that they were hardware companies who were too clueless and cheap to hire an experienced designer for each platform, and had some coder with no UI design experience use some cr*ppy cross-platform toolkit.

 

[jiminaus]

What most likely really happened is that they were hardware companies who were too clueless and cheap to hire an experienced designer for each platform, and had some coder with no UI design experience use some cr*ppy cross-platform toolkit.

Yep, agree. I can really see that happening. Still a lesson for us (me included) hardware guys.

I hate being anywhere near the UI layers. Let me be close to hardware I understand and love; where things are predictable. Users are just too chaotic and unpredictable for me.

 

[firewood]

Yep, agree. I can really see that happening. Still a lesson for us (me included) hardware guys.

I hate being anywhere near the UI layers. Let me be close to hardware I understand and love; where things are predictable. Users are just too chaotic and unpredictable for me.

I like being near the UI layer, but am really awful at creating artistic stuff myself. So I hire artists who use and are familiar with Macs to critique and suggest or do design fixes to my Mac app GUIs. Makes a huge difference.