the overall ambiguity across all UI is what annoys me, tho maybe I’m too oldschool.
what I mean, around 15-20 years ago, the UI elements had defining qualities. borders were 3D as well as buttons. they stood up from the surface, had some 3d effect to make you instinctily feel that you can push that block. and this was consistent; things you could click on were 3d. you knew you can click on a list header, it looked like a button.
scrollable content always had a scrollbar. now it appears if you bring your cursor to the place where it should be, but you don’t really know for sure is it scrollable or not.
links were blue, with the pointing finger cursor.
and things like these. Granted, oldschool UI is considered ugly nowadays, but it was functional. you opened a native app for your system, even if you never used it before, the UI gave you clues on at least how to navigate or operate the given software. it was familiar on all systems.
I don’t feel there is a unified UX guide for today’s computers. at a point, everyone went with their own interpretation of “modern” and “clean”, caused (previously) vital UI qualities disappear. everything became “flat”.
the overall ambiguity across all UI is what annoys me, tho maybe I’m too oldschool.
what I mean, around 15-20 years ago, the UI elements had defining qualities. borders were 3D as well as buttons. they stood up from the surface, had some 3d effect to make you instinctily feel that you can push that block. and this was consistent; things you could click on were 3d. you knew you can click on a list header, it looked like a button.
scrollable content always had a scrollbar. now it appears if you bring your cursor to the place where it should be, but you don’t really know for sure is it scrollable or not.
links were blue, with the pointing finger cursor.
and things like these. Granted, oldschool UI is considered ugly nowadays, but it was functional. you opened a native app for your system, even if you never used it before, the UI gave you clues on at least how to navigate or operate the given software. it was familiar on all systems.
I don’t feel there is a unified UX guide for today’s computers. at a point, everyone went with their own interpretation of “modern” and “clean”, caused (previously) vital UI qualities disappear. everything became “flat”.
which, on its own isn’t bad, of course.