Click to See Complete Forum and Search --> : which UI is prettier? (see pics)
rocketpcguy
04-29-2005, 04:40 AM
this is for a mail application for mac. which do you find better looking?
1) Old:
http://media.arstechnica.com/images/tiger/mail-toolbar-panther.jpg
2) New:
http://media.arstechnica.com/images/tiger/mail-toolbar-tiger.jpg
Full View:
http://media.arstechnica.com/images/tiger/mail-big.jpg
this can help UI decisions for linux programs, so dont lock the thread! :)
(MS is catching up with UI update as well, look at this:
http://www.neowin.net/staff/creamhackered/winhec05/day3/DSCF0110.JPG
notice the frosted effects in real-time on the video!
as for linux, well... at least the kernel is better)
JayMan8081
04-29-2005, 09:30 AM
I also liked the old one better.
Parcival
04-29-2005, 11:19 AM
So do I, yet we're being overvoted. :D
hlrguy
04-29-2005, 11:29 AM
Both are nice, but to me the new one seems cleaner to me.
hlrguy
Just wonderng about the source: Do you have a copy of Tiger?
Parcival
04-29-2005, 12:23 PM
Originally posted by hlrguy
Both are nice, but to me the new one seems cleaner to me.
hlrguy
True, but from a usability point of view, the icons in the old one are selfexplanatory, in the new one not to the same degree.
madcompnerd
04-29-2005, 12:28 PM
I like the new one better..
BaVinic
04-29-2005, 12:49 PM
The new one for sure.
BaVinic
deathadder
04-29-2005, 02:30 PM
The old one for me
psych-major
04-29-2005, 03:10 PM
I like the new one, even though it looks sort of like iTunes...
SpookyFox
04-29-2005, 03:56 PM
They're both pretty shiny, but I like the old one better.
MisterB
04-29-2005, 06:13 PM
The old is more self explanitory, however i still like the newer one better.
Icarus
04-29-2005, 07:41 PM
Where's "none of the above?" :p
psi42
04-29-2005, 09:35 PM
The old one is much better. The new one uses the same amount of space but requires the user to click a smaller button.
cudaman73
04-29-2005, 10:46 PM
I'm torn...
I ended up voting for the new one, because, although it does indeed resemble iTunes, I still prefer its clean look over the original.
Both are good, though :P
bwkaz
04-30-2005, 08:54 AM
Who cares about pretty? I want my UIs to be usable first, and pretty second.
Therefore, if this was my program, I'd probaby go with the old one. Bigger buttons == bigger target == easier to hit == easier to use.
However, your question was explicitly about which one was prettier, and I'd have to say the new one is. Much as I don't like it otherwise...
blackbelt_jones
04-30-2005, 09:50 AM
Who cares?
XiaoKJ
04-30-2005, 02:08 PM
This must be the first and only time I actually SECOND blackbelt_jones
Parcival
04-30-2005, 02:29 PM
LOL
madcompnerd
04-30-2005, 02:38 PM
I hate bigger buttons, they take more screen space. I want small hard to hit buttons, because I only want to hit them when I really intend to! Nothing worse than accidentally hitting that handy delete button hehe.
But the new one definitely looks better, but the trouble is that since they blended the window with the program controls they've had to make the program controls substitute as window controls (because otherwise people aren't sure where to click). This just sounds like a terrible mess to me! But I'm thinking of way to hack together such a thing heh.
psi42
04-30-2005, 07:07 PM
Originally posted by madcompnerd
I hate bigger buttons, they take more screen space.
But the new UI doesn't save screen space, it just makes the clickable area smaller.
bwkaz
05-01-2005, 03:57 PM
Originally posted by madcompnerd
Nothing worse than accidentally hitting that handy delete button hehe. That's why "good" UIs need to support undo, for everything. Reclaim the space on shutdown or the next startup, but at least let the experimenting user undo his presumably accidental deletes while the program is running.
Because what we would normally call "expertise" in someone using a system is really just the result of them doing enough experimentation to learn the ins and outs of the system to the point where the tasks that they need to do are reflex rather than something they have to think about. UI people want to encourage this kind of experimentation, so having an infinite undo is almost always a good idea.
(This also explains why you don't necessarily want to have an undo for rm or mv or something like that -- those tools are too simple, and very little experimentation is required.)
madcompnerd
05-01-2005, 07:43 PM
Yea, sometimes undo makes little sense though.
eriksays
05-04-2005, 01:09 PM
i voted old.
my initial reaction to the new was the buttons resembled "previous, next, first message" buttons rather than reply,reply all buttons
however, i'm not a mac user, so take that for what it's worth
szero
05-04-2005, 04:24 PM
Definitely the new one
gearjunkie
05-04-2005, 06:36 PM
personally, I kinda like the old one better, but I think there is a much bigger issue here....
truthfully, I think a lot of interfaces look just fine, but uniformity between programs is much more important. I used a mac pretty regularly about 6 months ago for a couple weeks. and I liked the interfaces in general, but they weren't uniform! Itunes doesn't look like mail which doesn't look like finder. it's frustrating and annoying for a new user to try and figure everything out. It's discussed in detail, regarding Tiger, here. (http://arstechnica.com/reviews/os/macosx-10.4.ars/3)
If there's anything linux can learn from this it's that people like things to look uniform. I know it's a pain in the a$$, but I just like the look of having all my programs running GTK or QT if possible. I don't really care which one it is, but it's nice to have everything look a bit more uniform. I guess that is one of the upsides and downsides to lots of people writing interfaces.... oh well.
anyways, sorry to get on the soapbox for a simple survey....
on a similar note. check out the notes on the new java 'swing' update (http://java.sun.com/developer/technicalArticles/J2SE/Desktop/mustang/) I would love to see some of my favorite java based programs follow GTK themes.... mmmm......
-Nathan
beerman
05-04-2005, 09:16 PM
I find it funny that people don't care about which UI is prettier but care enought to say "I don't care".
Edit: I liked the first one (older UI I assume)
rocketpcguy
05-05-2005, 03:43 AM
i started this poll because there was a quote from a reviewer about the mail app in Tiger:
The first time I saw the new Mail toolbar, I filed a bug on it. (Radar 3968093: "Toolbar buttons in Mail 2.0 are hideously ugly." ... The whole Mail application looks like it got beaten with the ugly stick in Tiger.)
i didnt think it was ugly at all. he made a separate point on looks and usability, so it was nothing about how more difficult it is to use, he just complained about the looks. i was curious to see if i was the only one who thought the new look was pretty.
i guess i'm not the only one ;)