Umm, no it doesn't. It is flatter by comparison, but definitely not flat. Flat, in the design community, refers to a complete lack of depth: i.e. no shadows, gradients etc etc.
The thing is, your Dad didn't grow up with these things, like most of us did when we were young, so yes, someone like your Dad IS going to need some formal training by you or an Apple person. Im 39 and I didn't 'grow up' with computers, though I did grow up with video game systems and then PCs in the late 80s through 90s.
When I had my parents buy an iPad, I told them to have the Apple store employee take them through the set up and basic use. They picked it up within 1/2 hour of the walk through.
Myself, I didn't need any explanation. It did "just work" out of the box for me and was simple to pick up and use right away.
Apple products are pretty simple to use, in fact very simple if you have basic computer knowledge, which unfortunately most 60+ individuals do not have.
No matter what...everyone is most likely going to hate it haha.
Then two years later...love it.
Thats a rather recent development
Everyone is freaking out and reading way too much into this.
It won't take that long. When it hit's it will automatically become the best thing apple ever did. Like the iphone 5 so many hated and said would not happen as apple would not change the screen size. Once it hit and was for sure it became a love fest.
Google Now is pretty flat.
http://www.google.com/landing/now/
https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/google-search/id284815942?mt=8
Please remove the graveyard-grey from OS X. Thanks!
Well, yes Google did just update the Google Search app today with Google Now, but Google has been improving its design at least since Jellybean 4.1 came out. Jellybean definitely felt flatter than previous versions.
Gmail and Google+ on mobile too.
We are getting more and more rumors surrounding a redesign of iOS.
This could be the biggest thing to happen to iOS since it was first released.
Love fest for who? For people that have purchased the iphone 5?
I own one, and I think it is the best phone Apple has made thus far (quality control issues aside).
But I am afraid that the iphone is getting a lot of unjustified negativity. I see more and more people moving to Android for the first time, just like how I began to see more and more people move to Apple Macbooks back in the early 2000s.
I like this in combination with the latest rumors on "power user" features in OS X 10.9. Interesting coincidence... I wonder if there's a common man on top of both these teams that thinks Apple may have gone too far in simplifying things, and tries to strike a better balance.
I think this is at least as interesting rumors as the flatter look, which was pretty much a given. This? Not as much so.
If you paid attention a lot of people hated the iphone 5, no small part because of size increase, and voiced it in the forums. When it hit and it was sure apple WAS releasing it everything changed.
The same with the ipad mini. A lot of people hated it, said apple would never build it, no market for it. Everything changed when it hit and it's very popular.
I'm not saying there is anything wrong with either, just saying some will hate anything different up until apple releases it then it's a love fest because apple DID release it.
Like Windows 8 then?
There aren't that many (if any) ui design differences between 4.1 and 4.2 versions of jellybean. The apps google makes have gotten flatter and that's great, but the UI hasn't changed much since 4.0. Again, apps have changed while UI has remained unchanged.
For those who have difficulty understanding flat design, or think it's just like Windows 8, here's an excellent example. This is non-flat, or as iOS is now.
This, on the other hand, is flat. Same icon, no volume or reflections. Simplicity at its finest.
Great points!! I agree.