how do i uninstall IOS7

How does "ugly" affect usability?

GB

Nope. Tonedeaf made the great post. Funny you missed that.

I don't think he shows any lack of being an Apple supporter (which I didn't think was a prerequisite of posting here anyway.) He posted his concerns with the changes Apple has made. There are many of us who have loved our Apple products, but find usability issues with the changes they have made.

Ugly, by itself, does not affect usability.

However IOS 7+ is ugly because of the flat design fad. Flat design, in theory, means eliminating everything but the minimum functional element. However, the result is that there are no visual queues which make using the device first an effort of memorizing what magic shape does what.

A basic example (not necessarily exclusive to ios 7+, but annoying that I noticed them AFTER I upgraded from 6.1):

Notes app

Usability issue 1 - lack of visual que for interactive elements.

On the list of notes you have a puke yellow word "New" at the top. There is no visual queue that this means press here to add a new note and not a statement that the top of the list contains the newest note ( which it does by the way).

Usability issue 2 - stark white theme

Once you open a note you now are faced with a BRIGHT white screen (that confidentially functions nicely as a power saving light). The visual lines representing notebook paper in ios 6 helped break the starkness of the page. The yellow tablet color is not a usability issue, but I liked it in iso 6 and earlier because it was obvious to anyone who has ever used a post-it note what its purpose was.

Usability issue 3: flat icons

What is a usability issue is the 3 icons at the bottom. The center one is a trash can (very skeuomorphic and thus the only one that is usable). The one on the right is a square with a diagonal line. The only way to know this icon creates a new note is to try it. The icon on the left is sharing. Again, the only way you know that is sharing is by trial and error as nothing really stands out distinguishing it from the one on the right. EVENTUALLY you learn, but that is not the "Apple is easy to use" model that I grew to love.

Usability issue 4: inconsistent use of icons:

Back to the new note "icon". It is a usability issue that on the main page the word "new" is used and on an actual note it is an icon. Had a button been made with both the icon and word new at the top right, then this would not be an issue, but as it is, the inconsistent behavior is nuts. The sharing menu is also white transparency over white (/boggle) and has half the icons in color (message, mail) and the other half as black and white (note, cancel is in blue - not puke yellow like the rest of the notes app).

Usability issue 5: keyboard does not match entered characters

Upper and lower case are represented by upper case. This issue has been beaten to death, but between the stark white on black and the all caps, I feel like Apple is trying to yell at me all the time.

Usability issue 6: thin fonts

Most of my family has needed glasses from an early age. By the time people are in their 40s, a large percentage will need reading glasses. The thin fonts are abysmal

Usability issue 7: nit pick - lack of feature

Creating a new note from within a note has no back arrow to the prior note. The puke yellow "Notes" option is there, but it won't get you back to your last note. Anyone used to a browser will find this non-intuitive.

That is 7 usability issues relating to ios7.x flat and ugly design for the simplest app on the phone. I could point out any number of other issues on the os (transparent overlays look like brown or green vomit for most wallpaper) or core features (lack of full screen caller-id) and (hard to press phone buttons so the interface could be “consistent”).

Yes, you can "fix" some of this through general accessibility settings. But the point I need to make is that in iso 6.1 it "just worked" and I had no need or desire to tweak any of the settings.

Skeuomorphism is not just 3d and shadows - it is design that minimizes the problems above by emphasizing function.

Making a button look 3d is not visual eye-candy, it is a contract with the user (push here, get something).

Icons that represent real life things are not needlessly complex – they help the visual recognition center of our brain to quickly recognize something. Abstract icons require your brain learning new images until they become recognizable. (Why burn the mental calories just because a handful of vocal hipster developers have decided flat is cool?)

Stark white, ugly yellow, thin fonts suck for anyone with vision problems. If you don’t understand that, wait as time is the great equalizer.

Finally, Skeuomorphism is quality. No one will deny that a dining room table made out of solid oak looks and feels better than one made out of plastic. The plastic one might last longer, cost less, come in infinite number of colors, but the oak table feels “real” and is worth something.

If I could “downgrade” to iso6, I would do so instantly – it was usable quality.

WhatisWrongwithApple1 wrote:

Finally, Skeuomorphism is quality. No one will deny that a dining room table made out of solid oak looks and feels better than one made out of plastic. The plastic one might last longer, cost less, come in infinite number of colors, but the oak table feels “real” and is worth something.

I find skeuomorphism ugly and silly. Notes was especially hideous, to the point where I wouldn't use it. I never understood why things on a computer had to mimic "real" things that they are only somewhat similar to. iOS 7 is clean, simple, ess distracting, refreshing. And not at all difficult to recognize. I wear glasses, too. I was quite disappointed when Mavericks graphics didn't change much. I'm excited to see what Yosemite looks like.

Of course, I recognize that this is my opinion, not some absolute truth.

Skeumorphism should have died with Microsoft Bob.

deggie wrote:

Skeumorphism should have died with Microsoft Bob.

Hear, hear!

Fantastic WhatisWrongWithApple1!

They spent *years* testing and getting the iOS Original Design just right. It was intuitive. People of all ages could just pick it up and 'use it'. Especially older generations. A 45-yo friend got her first iPhone right before iOS 7 came out. She LOVED it and was going on and on about it. iOS 7 came out. She instantly hated it and took it back. Sales numbers are demonstrating that she wasn't the only one.

Now, *I* as a tech expert am often baffled by the UI (in addition to crashes). I try to forward through a song (with the 2-px line??) and my phone unlocks instead. I try to go left to spotlight and nothing happens.

I try to open the settings from the bottom but my case, as it covers the home button makes it so that doesn't work. And it doesn't work when the keyboard is open. (!!??!!) I try to select timer lengths and it doesn't grab and turn as easily as it did before. It's like I should be using a magnifying glass. I had to look up in google how to delete text messages. Add the crashes and memory leaks and it's not fun at all.

I had to learn a new phone with an OS upgrade. Well, if I am going to do that, I might as well consider Android.

Even if you don't like skeumorphism, you probably do better under android because there are 100 apps you could use for notes and one would have the UI you like best. And you can change the skin however you like it.

There is a reason they are called 'buttons'. Because we have 'buttons' on stuff. Things you press to make things happen. Button-less buttons turn them into 'guess what this does'es.

Oh, and ask car manufacturers or unattractive ladies how 'Ugly' effects usability.

deggie wrote:

Skeumorphism should have died with Microsoft Bob.

I vote for Clippy.

The problem is "ugly" is in the eye of the beholder. You like his post because you like his opinion.

I know quite a few "older" people who use iPhones and except for one person who doesn't like the "stick figures" and the calender, they all prefer iOS 7 over iOS 6 and find it more intuitive. I thought they jumped the shark with the faux leather address book and calendar and was glad to see the faux cows protected. The screen had become cluttered and hard to read as icons became more busy. I also know a few young designers who love the new changes as they increase readability.

tondeaf1 wrote:

They spent *years* testing and getting the iOS Original Design just right. It was intuitive. People of all ages could just pick it up and 'use it'. Especially older generations. A 45-yo friend got her first iPhone right before iOS 7 came out. She LOVED it and was going on and on about it. iOS 7 came out. She instantly hated it and took it back. Sales numbers are demonstrating that she wasn't the only one.

Little glass and metal boxes are not intuative. We weren't born knowing how to use them. We learned. We leaned. II teach "older" people to use phones. And by "older" I mean truly older as in over 75. I've yet to have any of them find iOS 7 particularly difficult. I did have a 92 year old need help updating from iOS 6 to iOS 7 but once we got through the set up, he was fine, couldn't understand what all the fuss was about. Young people like me (52) don't seem to have much trouble at all, either.

People who don't like change, don't like change. They frequently rationalize that the way things are or used to be is "better" rather than simply admit they don't like change. Not liking change isn't wrong, just horribly inconvenient in these times.

They frequently rationalize that the way things are or used to be is "better" rather than simply admit they don't like change. Not liking change isn't wrong, just horribly inconvenient in these times.

They rationalize that what they finally got used to and mastered over time as being "intuitive" and having been "perfected" over time when in fact that is a manifestation of their slow learning curve.

When faced with something only minimally different, their inability to adapt throws them off, whereas others get used to and become even more proficient with the changes within a few hours. A complete novice with no prior experience and expectations almost always will prefer the new, simple, vivid UI to the unnecessarily cluttered and baroque older design.

"ugly" doesn't affect operability, but is does affect usability in that the end-user will utilize something less if they do not find it attractive. It makes for a less satisfactory experience.

The good thing about the Yosemite upgrade is that the end-user will have the CHOICE this time of whether to download it or not, instead of having it forced to them like iOS7, wasting drive space until it is installed. And if they've backed-up properly, they'll be able to revert to an earlier version if they don't like it once they've tried it.

tondeaf1 wrote:

Even if you don't like skeumorphism, you probably do better under android because there are 100 apps you could use for notes and one would have the UI you like best.

Clearly you do not know how to use the iTunes App Store. There are at least that many available via iTunes as well. Many to choose from, so you can have the UI you like best.

tondeaf1 wrote:

Oh, and ask car manufacturers or unattractive ladies how 'Ugly' effects usability.

Seriously? I am astounded that you would put such a misogynistic remark out there for everyone to see. Now that we have established your total lack of respect for women, I think we can write off anything else you have to say about "ugly"....

And "tech expert"....if you were a tech expert, you would have no issues with figuring out how to use the features of iOS 7.

Anything else you have to say will fall on "deaf" ears....

GB

You can do that with Mavericks....and Mountain Lion.....and Lion....and Snow Leopard....and Leopard....

There has never been anything to prevent you from going back to an earlier OSX version on a Mac. See, that is how computers work as opposed to devices.

Do a Google search. See how easy (not) it is to downgrade the OS on an android device. See how happy android users are with the upgrades to the OS. Everybody has a gripe. It is not limited to iOS devices.

GB

Yes. You're right. You can. You always could... on OS. I never said you COULDN'T downgrade the OS, Gail.

I WAS pointing out the difference between OSX and iOS7. The point of this thread was that you couldn't downgrade your phone operating system. And you had mentioned in an earlier post that you were disappointed that Mavericks didn't got as far in it's Iveification and were looking forward to Yosemite. Hence the comparison.

I myself am still not wild about the bland flat look, but I'm not going to abandon my electronics because of it. I'll continue to use them DESPITE the (in my opinion) dull and characterless iconography and hope that options will arise to address them, like the updates that came out inthe months following the implementaion of 7 that addressed some of the things people felt strongly about.

TC