On the rise of digital design
Linked by Thom Holwerda on Sun 20th Jan 2013 23:42 UTC
Graphics, User Interfaces Ever since I bought my HTC HD7 way back in October 2010, I have been hooked on Windows Phone. Without even being able to test-drive the new operating system (The Netherlands didn't get Windows Phone 7 until a year later), I imported the HD7 from the US - the minimalist, stark, clean, flat, and textual interface spoke to me, and I just knew I would like it. And like it, I did.
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RE[3]: Comment by Beerfloat
by Thom_Holwerda on Tue 22nd Jan 2013 10:05 UTC in reply to "RE[2]: Comment by Beerfloat"
Thom_Holwerda
Member since:
2005-06-29

And yes, it does cease to be a window if you cannot click onto another window directly from it.


Really?

That's a completely new requirement for the definition of a window that you just came up with there.

Arbitrary bullshit, I'd sday, to make it seem as if the jump from desktop to smartphone/tablet is more significant a paradigm shift than it really is. Kind of like how people claim that using a finger instead of a mouse substantially alters the interface paradigm.

Nice marketing talk, but nonsense when you look at the science and definitions.

Reply Parent Score: 2

RE[4]: Comment by Beerfloat
by maccouch on Tue 22nd Jan 2013 14:50 in reply to "RE[3]: Comment by Beerfloat"
maccouch Member since:
2012-03-14

"And yes, it does cease to be a window if you cannot click onto another window directly from it.


Really?

That's a completely new requirement for the definition of a window that you just came up with there.

Arbitrary bullshit, I'd sday, to make it seem as if the jump from desktop to smartphone/tablet is more significant a paradigm shift than it really is. Kind of like how people claim that using a finger instead of a mouse substantially alters the interface paradigm.

Nice marketing talk, but nonsense when you look at the science and definitions. "

Seriously?! it's right there in the wikipedia article, you yourself linked to!:
"Though the term has fallen into disuse, some use it incorrectly as an approximate synonym for graphical user interface (GUI). Any interface that uses graphics can be called a GUI, and WIMP systems derive from such systems. However, while all WIMP systems use graphics as a key element (the icon and pointer elements), and therefore are GUIs, the reverse is not true. Some GUIs are not based in windows, icons, menus, and pointers. For example, most mobile phones represent actions as icons, and some may have menus, but very few include a pointer or run programs in a window."


yes, if a window is maximized and i don't have any control over it, then it stops to be a WIMP interface and it just becomes a GUI. You see it all the time on electronic kiosks that are set up by companies or the state, to provide access to some sort of information. At that moment, since i can't just go hit the minize button, it becomes a GUI and not a WIMP. WIMP envolves mutiple Windows observable and actionable at the the same time. Why is that so hard for you to understand!? if it's just a GUI fullscreen it's not WIMP. So, apart from the touchwiz hack and the windows8 80/20 split, no present phone OS can be considered WIMP.

[And since when are we using wikipedia articles as definitions?...]

Reply Parent Score: 2

RE[5]: Comment by Beerfloat
by maccouch on Tue 22nd Jan 2013 15:08 in reply to "RE[4]: Comment by Beerfloat"
maccouch Member since:
2012-03-14

also, as you already know i don't agree with gruber but this reply to him is full of holes and misunderstandings.

Gruber didn't mean that skeumorphism was going away with more pixels, he meant that it was going away with the "retina resolutions". Now, retina does mean more pixels physically but it doesn't mean an increase in the pixel display for the interface since, as you know, Apple has just mantained the Screen resolution where one virtual pixel now means 4 pixels anti-aliased. it does increase clearness and "crispiness" in the display and you cannot simply consider it a continuation of the previous increases in virtual&phyisical resolution.

Also, you can't simply pick the interfaces a decade ago and state they are somewhat the precursors of the present jump to today's "digital design". to be a precursor there had to be a continuous line to today and not just "please ignore everything that happened between".

"old" interfaces were simple and clean because you didn't had hardware to do more. When you had, the increase in silliness as the Aqua&Aero desktops themes appeared. Now you're having a jump in the opposite direction, simply because everyone went a little to far. I agree with you that Microsoft and windows 8 are the bleeding edge on that, i just don't agree that it was some sort of continuous (apart from the zune).

Reply Parent Score: 1

RE[5]: Comment by Beerfloat
by Thom_Holwerda on Tue 22nd Jan 2013 15:09 in reply to "RE[4]: Comment by Beerfloat"
Thom_Holwerda Member since:
2005-06-29

For example, most mobile phones represent actions as icons, and some may have menus, but very few include a pointer or run programs in a window."


Oh really?

http://postimage.org/image/aovewnt03/

Aren't those windows?

Reply Parent Score: 1

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