Possible to turn off the auto/scroll hide address bar in IOS8?

[Omega Mac]

Who thought this was a good idea?

It's the most frustrating thing I've ever come across in a browser.

What is this fetish to hide all the functional aspects of the GUI?

You know if users don't want to use APPLE's OS GUI then they'll move platform but for the time being those who want and like to use APPLE GUI can we please have it back!

Seriously it does my head in and you have scroll to get it back thus leaving your spot on the page all because you might want to hit the back button or use the address bar which increases the clicks/gesture required to do what was once a simple thing.

Since iOS7 (which I regret upgrading to) and then moved on to iOS8, I find the whole thing completely disorientating and badly designed.

 

[Tyler23]

Who thought this was a good idea?

It's the most frustrating thing I've ever come across in a browser.

What is this fetish to hide all the functional aspects of the GUI?

You know if users don't want to use APPLE's OS GUI then they'll move platform but for the time being those who want and like to use APPLE GUI can we please have it back!

Seriously it does my head in and you have scroll to get it back thus leaving your spot on the page all because you might want to hit the back button or use the address bar which increases the clicks/gesture required to do what was once a simple thing.

Since iOS7 (which I regret upgrading to) and then moved on to iOS8, I find the whole thing completely disorientating and badly designed.

You don't have to scroll. You can just tap either the bottom or top of the screen to bring up the controls.

 

[Mlrollin91]

What Tyler23 said, or just swipe right on the display to go to the previous page. I never use the buttons.

 

[Rigby]

I agree with the OP. I can't understand the fascination with vanishing UI elements. Presumably the idea is to make more screen space available for the content, but I find it irritating and cumbersome too. Seems like a violation of basic UI principles to me. It's one of the reasons why I usually use an alternative browser where you can turn this off (iCab) on iOS devices.

 

[s2mikey]

I agree with the OP. I can't understand the fascination with vanishing UI elements. Presumably the idea is to make more screen space available for the content, but I find it irritating and cumbersome too. Seems like a violation of basic UI principles to me. It's one of the reasons why I usually use an alternative browser where you can turn this off (iCab) on iOS devices.

It is irritating for the most part. If they'd just let the user turn it OFF if they want I'd be fine with it. Bad decision to force it on safari users, IMO.

 

[Omega Mac]

What Tyler23 said, or just swipe right on the display to go to the previous page. I never use the buttons.

You see that' not obvious so it's a UI fail. It's not even intuitive. I think I discovered the swipe in iOS7 by accident but then I found it didn't work in iOS8 (maybe I'm wrong).

It conforms to nothing expected plus swiping is overrated in it's usability in various positions.

I like to surf the web the way I do on my laptop. It's the way I surf that works for me. I've been doing it since I first got Opera and enjoyed tabs before the rest caught up. I hate that I can't find my tabs easily. I'd like them to stack, yes takin up more space; rather that disappear or become a drop down.

I find it useless and really distracting as a previously static element now appears and disappears like the DOCK on OSX does but at the top. Which can be configured a few different ways.

Just put a FULLSCREEN mode button, but that's too obvious right.

I did find that new 3D like display of all your open tabs. That I liked but I can't remember how I got to it. It happened again by accident or random swipe.

 

[Omega Mac]

I agree with the OP. I can't understand the fascination with vanishing UI elements. Presumably the idea is to make more screen space available for the content, but I find it irritating and cumbersome too. Seems like a violation of basic UI principles to me. It's one of the reasons why I usually use an alternative browser where you can turn this off (iCab) on iOS devices.

I love Opera on my Android and i've used it on my IPAD. Time to update it and go back to using it. I think I only reverted to Safari as it was a bit more stable but it too crashed a lot in iOS7 and greater.

I've always loved Opera, they are not perfect as they have had good version and bad versions. They did lead the way for the rest, Multi tabs has been in their browser from the early 00's and native download manager. Took the rest ages to catch up and even now they're not that nice. Multi tabs are awful in iOS8 in safari. The overly thin line used makes you fell you are not going to press the right spot. I don't like that feeling especially when you are minus tactility feedback.

I liked the "suite" aspect to OPera, mail client, browser and download manager and at one point bittorrent was integrated with the download manager.

The iPad is my least favourite of all my mac devices and is the reason I don't have an iPhone. Ironically the battery life is superb on the iPad I'll give it that but it's little brother the iPhone doesn't seem to do so well compared to Android offerings. If Apple had of spent time focusing in on the mechanical/performance then I might have begun to pay attention and consider. I was closer to considering an iPhone after years on Android but when i saw iOS7 and iOS8 with the follow up iPhone 6 I decide no and got a new samsung s5 mini.

Getting back OT. I think there is a GUI minimalist fetish of reducing and pulling back the interface until it's close to a blank canvas.

I see a lot of comment about OS X & iOS being informed by art as much as technology. Well get this not all ART is great and the more arcane stuff is often held in contempt or disdain by the masses. See a similar reaction to YOX and iOS.

Maybe I'm just an old GUI grump!

 

[Rigby]

Getting back OT. I think there is a GUI minimalist fetish of reducing and pulling back the interface until it's close to a blank canvas.

I see a lot of comment about OS X & iOS being informed by art as much as technology. Well get this not all ART is great and the more arcane stuff is often held in contempt or disdain by the masses. See a similar reaction to YOX and iOS.

Well, it's not just Apple. Just take a look at what Microsoft did to the Windows 8 desktop, where you now have to move the mouse to some invisible hotspot to make "charms" appear. The design is so flawed that many people weren't even able to find the shutdown button when it came out.

Maybe I'm just an old GUI grump!

It seems to me that some UI designers are trying to fix what wasn't broken.

 

[Omega Mac]

It's all seems like a very adolescent phase in an industry that might be feeling a bit tired and thinks this is how to get cool again?

 

[afsnyder]

It's all seems like a very adolescent phase in an industry that might be feeling a bit tired and thinks this is how to get cool again?

So....

The idea behind the disappearing toolbars is to get rid of the UI in order to view the content without distraction. To re-access the GUI, just tap where the UI was or the remaining UI is to summon it. Is it really that cumbersome to tap once extra to get back the UI?

For me, I do like that the UI is fluid with my manipulation of the screen. It assumes that scrolling up means I've finished focusing on the content and animates it back in. When I scroll down, it assumes I'm looking for something or reading and moves the UI out of the way. That's how I view it.

If it does annoy you, I suppose it wouldn't kill them to add a toggle in Safari settings..

 

[Omega Mac]

Well, it's not just Apple. Just take a look at what Microsoft did to the Windows 8 desktop, where you now have to move the mouse to some invisible hotspot to make "charms" appear. The design is so flawed that many people weren't even able to find the shutdown button when it came out.
It seems to me that some UI designers are trying to fix what wasn't broken.

I totally agree but it's awful to see Apple running after Android rather than leading the way.

I think the web has begun to undo the brilliance of the GUI. I think a lot of designers have grown up in a more internet soaked age as opposed to those who have hammered away on keyboards for the best part of three decades at times with no GUI at all! Now we have Touch with gestures in the mix and they're all being blended in a way that's still not settled akaic.

 

[Omega Mac]

So....

The idea behind the disappearing toolbars is to get rid of the UI in order to view the content without distraction. To re-access the GUI, just tap where the UI was or the remaining UI is to summon it. Is it really that cumbersome to tap once extra to get back the UI?

For me, I do like that the UI is fluid with my manipulation of the screen. It assumes that scrolling up means I've finished focusing on the content and animates it back in. When I scroll down, it assumes I'm looking for something or reading and moves the UI out of the way. That's how I view it.

If it does annoy you, I suppose it wouldn't kill them to add a toggle in Safari settings..

Obviously that's the idea which is in no way a new idea as fullscreen modes have existed in browsers and other applications cross platform. What is crazy is the forced carte blanche implementation of this idea which I do not like. SO you it woudl be nice to have an option to toggle it actively at top level or as a setting buried somewhere. I prefer top level button. Reader had this functionality.

Imagine if reader activated every time you scrolled. Stupid idea obviously but we're half way there to that idea with this current setup.

I trained as an animator. A simple rule is static counter balances motion. It's a simple dynamic. Now that static elements are moving while the normal moving bits are also moving too and disappearing it's a mess.

We have these more powerful than ever machines, with higher than high res displays and yet the GUI is being dumbed down to the point it's dumb and un or counter intuitive IMHO..

I remember when I first discovered front row when I got Snow Leopard on my IMac that was a very cool moment. I hadn't been so wowed since the late 80's when computers became 16-bit and colours palettes beyond 16.

It's a variation on a fullscreen mode applied with brilliant simplicity giving it an understated power and presence. Nothing at the time had that factor in computing that I had seen and certainly not a windoz box

Seems they're going for some snap crackle and pop with their marketing and this i guess is the influence of the proliferation of small handheld computer aka phones. This will change again in time.

 

[afsnyder]

Obviously that's the idea which is in no way a new idea as fullscreen modes have existed in browsers and other applications cross platform. What is crazy is the forced carte blanche implementation of this idea which I do not like. SO you it woudl be nice to have an option to toggle it actively at top level or as a setting buried somewhere. I prefer top level button. Reader had this functionality.

Imagine if reader activated every time you scrolled. Stupid idea obviously but we're half way there to that idea with this current setup.

I trained as an animator. A simple rule is static counter balances motion. It's a simple dynamic. Now that static elements are moving while the normal moving bits are also moving too and disappearing it's a mess.

We have these more powerful than ever machines, with higher than high res displays and yet the GUI is being dumbed down to the point it's dumb and un or counter intuitive IMHO..

I remember when I first discovered front row when I got Snow Leopard on my IMac that was a very cool moment. I hadn't been so wowed since the late 80's when computers became 16-bit and colours palettes beyond 16.

It's a variation on a fullscreen mode applied with brilliant simplicity giving it an understated power and presence. Nothing at the time had that factor in computing that I had seen and certainly not a windoz box

Seems they're going for some snap crackle and pop with their marketing and this i guess is the influence of the proliferation of small handheld computer aka phones. This will change again in time.

Well if its so bad, why do I like it and so do many the reviewers? Just a thought.

 

[macduke]

Yeah I'd like to have an option to keep the top Safari UI visible on my iPad and iPhone 6 Plus. Apple has a switch to hide/show the bookmarks bar, they should have the same switch for the rest of the UI. Especially if they're going to change something that people have become accustomed to. It doesn't bug me too much (more so on the iPad than iPhone) but people like my grandma are really confused now and keeps forgetting how to access it. Remember, this tech is used by everyone.

 

[Armen]

You see that' not obvious so it's a UI fail. It's not even intuitive. I think I discovered the swipe in iOS7 by accident but then I found it didn't work in iOS8 (maybe I'm wrong).

It conforms to nothing expected plus swiping is overrated in it's usability in various positions.

I like to surf the web the way I do on my laptop. It's the way I surf that works for me. I've been doing it since I first got Opera and enjoyed tabs before the rest caught up. I hate that I can't find my tabs easily. I'd like them to stack, yes takin up more space; rather that disappear or become a drop down.

I find it useless and really distracting as a previously static element now appears and disappears like the DOCK on OSX does but at the top. Which can be configured a few different ways.

Just put a FULLSCREEN mode button, but that's too obvious right.

I did find that new 3D like display of all your open tabs. That I liked but I can't remember how I got to it. It happened again by accident or random swipe.

Ever year Apple announces a new version of iOS:

- The features are discussed during WWDC
- Tech sites give a play by play of these features live during the event and also do a summary of new features soon after.
- The new iOS is officially released
- Apple updates their "whats new in iOS" section on their website
- Tech sites again go into details about these features and do "tips" articles.
- the Tips app was added in iOS 8

If after all this you didn't "know" about the edge swiping or tap in safari to bring up the UI you either live under a rock or don't really care to learn what's new and just want to complain.

Yes, I understand not every body is a techie geek like us but for crying out loud even Yahoo's main page touched up on these features many times.

 

[C DM]

It's all seems like a very adolescent phase in an industry that might be feeling a bit tired and thinks this is how to get cool again?

Or it's a phase of mobile design progressing. Some don't end up liking change, but it doesn't necessarily make it wrong. There are probably parts that might not work out, and others that will, which will evolve. But that's how progress is made, and in the mobile market it's that much faster, which is even making its way to a historically slower moving desktop market as technology is more and more mainstream and part of pretty much all kinds of things in life.