What are iOS 7's most rediculous design decisions?

[PNutts]

What's your current top "Really?" moment in iOS 7? I've read most of the iOS 7 threads but here it is at 7.0.4 / 7.1 b1 and I'm curious what folks still face palm about (in a more concise thread). If you had to give one or two things in five seconds what would it be? Put on your fireproof pants and testify, Sister!

I'll throw out a few:

• Wandering trashcans - depending on the app the trashcan icon is in the left corner, the center, or the right corner.
• I hate to bring up the "skew" word, but the timer in the clock app had the cylinders removed and the numbers still wrap around a now invisible cylinder (TWSS). Staying flat and moving vertically with the fade would look nice.
• Putting Contacts in the Extras folder with a clean install IIRC.
• This thread belongs in Wasteland

 

[Armen]

My biggest "why?" design decision would be for the Folders in iOS7

- They gave us Infini-folders but decided on a 3X3 Grid? As if it's not bad enough you have to scroll through springboard pages now you have to scroll through folder pages as well?

If they had done a 4X4 or 4X5 grid that would have been an extra 7 or 8 apps per folder page. Why they didnt borrow the jailbreak tweak to close the folder once you tap an icon inside it is beyond me. Who actually launches an app inside a folder and then wants to go back to that folder again when finished?

 

[ErikGrim]

My biggest "why?" design decision would be for the Folders in iOS7

- They gave us Infini-folders but decided on a 3X3 Grid? As if it's not bad enough you have to scroll through springboard pages now you have to scroll through folder pages as well?

If they had done a 4X4 or 4X5 grid that would have been an extra 7 or 8 apps per folder page.

… and the thumbnails would look ridiculous. For better or worse, iOS7 is a zoomable GUI.

 

[hafr]

I realised yesterday that loading a shared library in the videos app only gives a spinning wheel, whilst in the music app it shows a progress wheel...

I felt it must be a mistake, having identical things represented in two different ways in stock apps...

 

[djtech42]

The green background of the in-call banner. Not enough contrast between the lime green and the white thin text. Other than that, everything is good.

 

[PNutts]

I realised yesterday that loading a shared library in the videos app only gives a spinning wheel, whilst in the music app it shows a progress wheel...

The spinning wheel has been one of my biggest complaints. I was very happy to discover in 7.1 b1 that it's back to showing progress.

 

[olikromberg]

Maybe I haven't found it yet but is there an automatic timer for the camera? Sometimes I think that would be handy. In the mean time I am using another app to take delayed photos.

 

[djtech42]

Maybe I haven't found it yet but is there an automatic timer for the camera? Sometimes I think that would be handy. In the mean time I am using another app to take delayed photos.

It's crazy that Apple hasn't implemented it yet. iOS 7 would have been a perfect time to add it.

 

[MattInOz]

On the iPad with iOS 7...
Newsstand, not really an app sort of a folder.
And thoroughly a mess when it comes to usage.

that and folders completely agree with above. Sure understand the idea of having a tap zone outside the folder to get back but why does it need to that big get more icons on screen.

 

[donnaw]

I agree about the 'wandering trashcan'. In Photos sometimes it's in the upper right, sometimes it's in the lower right, and sometimes it's simply not available. And I swear I found it in the lower left once but I can't find it there now. I find Photos to be very confusing and inconsistent.

Aside from the all white and stick drawings, I suppose I would also have to agree about the folders on the iPad. What a waste of space! 2/3 of the screen is available to add more apps to a folder and we still have to scroll if more than 9 are in the folder! I can see it on the small screen on the phone but I really thought they would do it a bit differently for iPads.

All in all I like the functionality of iOS 7 but the UI really, really, really needs to be rethought. And I've had close to 30 years of experience with GUI and software design. First time I've ever seen 'flat' turned into 'stark'.

And don't start in on the 'some people are just afraid of change' bit. I love new software. I love the experience of figuring out how it works. But I do not love software that is simply hard on the eyes for no reason. I do not love software that is hard to use because the UI design is made more for aesthetics rather than ease-of-use. Kind of takes the enjoyment out of using the device.

Keeping my fingers crossed for some improvements.

 

[hamiltonDSi]

Photos app UI. Hate it.
Started using iPhoto and trowed the Photos app in a folder.

 

[donnaw]

Photos app UI. Hate it.
Started using iPhoto and trowed the Photos app in a folder.

Thanks for the tip! I never thought of using iPhoto. It looks much better and there doesn't seem to be several different options with different UIs. Even the black background is preferable.

The Photos app has been relegated to my Junk folder.

 

[hafr]

The spinning wheel has been one of my biggest complaints. I was very happy to discover in 7.1 b1 that it's back to showing progress.

In both the Video and the Music app? I'm running 7.0.4 and I only have it in the Music app... But yeah, I think I even started a thread about it. Or at least I've commented on it before

 

[jsf721]

I do not like the new color screens and icons. I think they look cheap compared to the ios6 icons. Makes the phone look like a kids toy.

I found the texts color/font harder to read (less comfortable)

I never upgraded after seeing it on my sons phone.

 

[Tamagotchi]

1) The amount of white + very thin icons that look hideous.

2) What used to be a back button on the top left is now just text. Sometimes this text is so long that everything on the top bar looks misaligned.

3) Jony Ive was talking about creating more hierarchy between menus. However, he failed and destroyed hierarchy - As everything is white with silly lines - Hierarchy is very difficult to distinguish.

4) The bad palette of colours used: i. Chains of emails now have light purple, light greenish/blueish, etc colours to separate one reply from the other - these colours are harder to read. ii. Notes... yellowish paper looking background (talk about skeuomorphism, Ive hypocrite) with yellow text on top. iii. Photos now displayed against a white background (are we going stupid, Apple? Since when are photos displayed against white backgrounds? Black backgrounds are always used as they is late the image and focus the viewers attention on it). I could keep rambling and rambling about the colours.

5) New books app - That's the laziest design I've ever seen.

6) Weather app, praise the design all you want, but it's Yahoo's design - check out Yahoo Weather on the App Store.

7) New notification centre, all notifications take much more space, so you have to scroll up and down all the time - isn't notification centre supposed to condense all notifications in a small, quick-easy to read place?

8) Control centre - 80% of the settings there are never used. I personally only use the brightness toggle, flashlight and on off WiFi. I would be nice if we could customize the actions we want on control centre, but Apple has never been bout letting you customize.

These are somethings that come to my mind. There are a million other issues I have with iOS7. Yet, I have no major issues with the new icons, they are hideous yes, but can't compare in horror to the rest of the OS.

Personal issue: We keep calling this UI redesign. This is not a UI redesign, this is a theme, a hideous theme - Let's get things right, or at least be smart and not let Apple fool us with their branding and naming.

 

[hafr]

4) The bad palette of colours used: i. Chains of emails now have light purple, light greenish/blueish, etc colours to separate one reply from the other - these colours are harder to read.

I can't find these colours you're talking about, can you be more specific?

ii. Notes... yellowish paper looking background (talk about skeuomorphism, Ive hypocrite) with yellow text on top.

The background in Notes is all white on my phone.

iii. Photos now displayed against a white background (are we going stupid, Apple? Since when are photos displayed against white backgrounds? Black backgrounds are always used as they is late the image and focus the viewers attention on it). I could keep rambling and rambling about the colours.

It's to notify the user that you're currently in the mode where you have options. Tap the picture once to go into picture viewing mode with black background.

6) Weather app, praise the design all you want, but it's Yahoo's design - check out Yahoo Weather on the App Store.

Does that make it a bad or ridiculous design?

8) Control centre - 80% of the settings there are never used. I personally only use the brightness toggle, flashlight and on off WiFi. I would be nice if we could customize the actions we want on control centre, but Apple has never been bout letting you customize.

Never used... BY YOU. I use all five toggles on top on pretty much a daily basis, the brightness toggle every day, the music controls at least a few times per week. AirDrop and AirPlay have yet to be used (other than when I first tried them), and the four options at the bottom are being used fairly often.

So for me, only 15 % of the toggles are never used. But the difference between you and me is that I realise others might use them - and therefore isn't objectively unnecessary. Although I do agree that customisation would be great.

Personal issue: We keep calling this UI redesign. This is not a UI redesign, this is a theme, a hideous theme - Let's get things right, or at least be smart and not let Apple fool us with their branding and naming.

Even with the most anal approach about what UI is or isn't, CC and NC are two examples of UI redesign in iOS 7.

 

[Abazigal]

3x3 icons in a folder kinda makes sense when you realize that the apps you see in the folder preview are the same apps inside, and they are aligned the same. Previously, the preview showed your apps in a 3x3 format, yet realigned to a 4x3 format when opened. I dunno - it always irked me for some reason.

That said, this limit is quite dumb on an ipad. I have so much screen space, why should I be limited to the same 9 apps per screen?

 

[marktuk]

3x3 icons in a folder kinda makes sense when you realize that the apps you see in the folder preview are the same apps inside, and they are aligned the same. Previously, the preview showed your apps in a 3x3 format, yet realigned to a 4x3 format when opened. I dunno - it always irked me for some reason.

That said, this limit is quite dumb on an ipad. I have so much screen space, why should I be limited to the same 9 apps per screen?

You're say Apple compromised functionality for aesthetics? Shock horror!

 

[tripleg]

I dislike the whole blurry dock design. Seems out of place on the home screen. The iOS6 one just integrated so much nicer with the background image.

Lack of detail in the UI. I've got this wonderful high resolution screen and yet I'm always looking at white screens with text for buttons. Really wish there was more customization options for the user.

 

[tkermit]

You're say Apple compromised functionality for aesthetics? Shock horror!

There's actually a functional component to it, as it informs you about the location on screen where the app icon is going to appear. Thus you can already position your finger accordingly right after touching the folder icon. Personally, at least on the iPhone, I am actually a huge fan of this particular decision.

 

[j4zb4]

You're say Apple compromised functionality for aesthetics? Shock horror!

I really don't understand you people... I always used to waste my "precious seconds" (The same precious seconds you guys say you waste waiting for the animations) re-orienting my eyes in the previous setup... When I saw an icon in a position and then it appeared elsewhere... It has happened numerous times... I really like this setup better... For me its more of better usability than just aesthetics...

----------

There's actually a functional component to it, as it informs you about the location on screen where the app icon is going to appear. Thus you can already position your finger accordingly right after touching the folder icon. Personally, at least on the iPhone, I am actually a huge fan of this particular decision.

Same here... I have actually opened the wrong app so many times... It doesn't happen now...

 

[RickTaylor]

With the control center, you can actually see the screen you're working on as you adjust the brightness, allowing you to see the effect it will have on what you're working on, and to precisely set it.

Or you could, except that ios 7 also dims the background when you bring up the control center, so you won't see the effect until you dismiss it.


With the control center, you can access the lock screen control. That way, if you're locked in one orientation, you can bring up the control center, de-lock the screen, rotate it, and relock it in a new position, very convenient.

Or it would be, except of course the screen won't rotate with the control center active. So you have to bring up the control center, unlock the screen, dismiss the control center, rotate the screen to its new position, bring up the control center, lock the screen, and dismiss the control center.

 

[hafr]

With the control center, you can access the lock screen control. That way, if you're locked in one orientation, you can bring up the control center, de-lock the screen, rotate it, and relock it in a new position, very convenient.

Or it would be, except of course the screen won't rotate with the control center active. So you have to bring up the control center, unlock the screen, dismiss the control center, rotate the screen to its new position, bring up the control center, lock the screen, and dismiss the control center.

You can lock the screen in landscape mode? Really? For the rest of us, it's called "portrait orientation lock" and forces the screen into portrait mode.

 

[RickTaylor]

You can lock the screen in landscape mode? Really? For the rest of us, it's called "portrait orientation lock" and forces the screen into portrait mode.

Perhaps it works differently on the Ipad than on a phone? I guess I should have specified the device I'm using. On my Ipad retina mini, the button is called "orientation lock" and locks it in whatever orientation it's currently in, portrait or landscape.

I'll edit my post to fix that error.

 

[haruhiko]

Newsstand on iPad doesn't support 4-finger pinch to close multittasking gesture.