O … K … FINE.
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Note that none of the complaints above are about the much-maligned transparency effects (which I have turned off). This is just basic, ground-level 2D design stuff that even this not-a-real-designer rando can pick apart.
The flagship product of one of the wealthiest companies on earth. Seriously.
@inthehands how many people in a position to make it better had to look at it and says “yes this is good, we should ship it” for us to get here? It’s mind boggling
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Note that none of the complaints above are about the much-maligned transparency effects (which I have turned off). This is just basic, ground-level 2D design stuff that even this not-a-real-designer rando can pick apart.
The flagship product of one of the wealthiest companies on earth. Seriously.
@inthehands my thoughts exactly.
Just installed on my personal phone and watch yesterday because of the security issues. Was using iOS 26 lightly for work but not enough to get the full experience.
One more is that the animations are too long and “clever”. They might “delight” the first time, but after that, I feel “wtf is this here”? Apple pushed designers and developers over the years to keep animations tight and relevant. This ignores all of that advice.
1/2 -
Note that none of the complaints above are about the much-maligned transparency effects (which I have turned off). This is just basic, ground-level 2D design stuff that even this not-a-real-designer rando can pick apart.
The flagship product of one of the wealthiest companies on earth. Seriously.
@inthehands I updated a couple of days ago for the same reason.
Holy hell it’s all just so bad. Little things I do multiple times a day require extra steps.
Fuctionally and visually, it all reeks of changes done just to make changes, and then implemented poorly.
It’s death by one thousand cuts.
For example, who exactly thinks *this* radius looks good here?
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@inthehands my thoughts exactly.
Just installed on my personal phone and watch yesterday because of the security issues. Was using iOS 26 lightly for work but not enough to get the full experience.
One more is that the animations are too long and “clever”. They might “delight” the first time, but after that, I feel “wtf is this here”? Apple pushed designers and developers over the years to keep animations tight and relevant. This ignores all of that advice.
1/2@inthehands Even the PIN entry on the Watch is bad.
I don’t see current leadership walking back any of this in a meaningful way.
For the first time in my life I can say, “Steve would have never allowed this”It’s just ugly.
2/2
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Note that none of the complaints above are about the much-maligned transparency effects (which I have turned off). This is just basic, ground-level 2D design stuff that even this not-a-real-designer rando can pick apart.
The flagship product of one of the wealthiest companies on earth. Seriously.
This is exactly the thing I wonder about. Was it shoved through over internal objections? Was it many teams’ separate good work stuck together too hastily? Was it the wrong kind of pressure from above, or bad taste from below, or what?
It’s frustrating because as a dev I catch glimpses of all the really fantastic engineering work folks at Apple are doing •inside• the box, and they’re feeling very little love for it right now because the •outside•is so clunky.
Steve (@scm@sfba.social)
@inthehands@hachyderm.io how many people in a position to make it better had to look at it and says “yes this is good, we should ship it” for us to get here? It’s mind boggling
SFBA.social (sfba.social)
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This is exactly the thing I wonder about. Was it shoved through over internal objections? Was it many teams’ separate good work stuck together too hastily? Was it the wrong kind of pressure from above, or bad taste from below, or what?
It’s frustrating because as a dev I catch glimpses of all the really fantastic engineering work folks at Apple are doing •inside• the box, and they’re feeling very little love for it right now because the •outside•is so clunky.
Steve (@scm@sfba.social)
@inthehands@hachyderm.io how many people in a position to make it better had to look at it and says “yes this is good, we should ship it” for us to get here? It’s mind boggling
SFBA.social (sfba.social)
@inthehands I think it comes back to "they have no taste" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dR8SAFRBmcU
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@inthehands I think it comes back to "they have no taste" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dR8SAFRBmcU
@celeduc @inthehands It really is that simple.
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This is exactly the thing I wonder about. Was it shoved through over internal objections? Was it many teams’ separate good work stuck together too hastily? Was it the wrong kind of pressure from above, or bad taste from below, or what?
It’s frustrating because as a dev I catch glimpses of all the really fantastic engineering work folks at Apple are doing •inside• the box, and they’re feeling very little love for it right now because the •outside•is so clunky.
Steve (@scm@sfba.social)
@inthehands@hachyderm.io how many people in a position to make it better had to look at it and says “yes this is good, we should ship it” for us to get here? It’s mind boggling
SFBA.social (sfba.social)
Say what you will about Steve Jobs, who was •not• a super nice person to work for and a bad role model for management in many many ways, but he did have one superpower that I really miss right now:
He had a stubborn willingness to •not• release things if they just did’t feel right. If it feels wrong, it doesn’t go out the door. With a few notable exceptions (MobileMe!), no deadline mattered as much as that.
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@inthehands I think it comes back to "they have no taste" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dR8SAFRBmcU
@celeduc
Agreed; my only question is “Who is ‘they’ here?” Individual designers? Tim Apple? I guarantee that •somebody• at Apple knew this sucked before it went out the door; why didn’t they win the day? -
Say what you will about Steve Jobs, who was •not• a super nice person to work for and a bad role model for management in many many ways, but he did have one superpower that I really miss right now:
He had a stubborn willingness to •not• release things if they just did’t feel right. If it feels wrong, it doesn’t go out the door. With a few notable exceptions (MobileMe!), no deadline mattered as much as that.
Does this all just come down to Tim Cook? I’m congenitally skeptical of “great leader” sorts of theories of success, and now skeptical of myself as I see myself forming one, so huge grain of salt, but:
It’s hard to look at Tim Cook tongue-washing Trump’s shoes with that fake design award, just utterly unable to say no when “no” is the •only• correct response, and then not wonder about his failure to say no to a failed new design direction for his company’s most visible product.
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@celeduc
Agreed; my only question is “Who is ‘they’ here?” Individual designers? Tim Apple? I guarantee that •somebody• at Apple knew this sucked before it went out the door; why didn’t they win the day?@inthehands @celeduc *chortle* Poor Tim Cook ought to just change his name already.
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@inthehands @celeduc *chortle* Poor Tim Cook ought to just change his name already.
@scottmiller42 @inthehands Tim Apple is a supply chain optimizer who gifted Donald Trump a glass plaque stuck in a gold turd. He is a cook *without taste*.
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@inthehands @celeduc *chortle* Poor Tim Cook ought to just change his name already.
@scottmiller42 @celeduc
To what? “I’m Sorry?” -
Does this all just come down to Tim Cook? I’m congenitally skeptical of “great leader” sorts of theories of success, and now skeptical of myself as I see myself forming one, so huge grain of salt, but:
It’s hard to look at Tim Cook tongue-washing Trump’s shoes with that fake design award, just utterly unable to say no when “no” is the •only• correct response, and then not wonder about his failure to say no to a failed new design direction for his company’s most visible product.
@inthehands The most notable feature of Tim Cook’s leadership style is that he is 100% absent from all engineering decision making, and all conflict resolution. Steve was very much (too) present. One wonders what he actually does.
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Please take a moment to study this horrifying screenshot.
Ask:
- What here is negative space?
- What is information-bearing space?
- What space is neither of the above: usefully conveys no information, but adds visual noise?And…wtf is that horizontal gray bar doing there?!
IOS 26 and liquid ass looks more like a "CSS failure blooper reel" than a coherent OS release...
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Say what you will about Steve Jobs, who was •not• a super nice person to work for and a bad role model for management in many many ways, but he did have one superpower that I really miss right now:
He had a stubborn willingness to •not• release things if they just did’t feel right. If it feels wrong, it doesn’t go out the door. With a few notable exceptions (MobileMe!), no deadline mattered as much as that.
I gave up on Apple in the 80s when they stole UI ideas from Xerox and then sued Microsoft for borrowing from them. That's when we at Sun developed Open Look, together with Xerox and AT&T.
Apple's success is totally based on huge advertizing budgets, in my opinion.
Also, I heard so many horror stories from people working under Jobs back then. (Oh, and horror stories about Trump in the 80s as well).
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@celeduc
Agreed; my only question is “Who is ‘they’ here?” Individual designers? Tim Apple? I guarantee that •somebody• at Apple knew this sucked before it went out the door; why didn’t they win the day?@inthehands IMO there's nobody left minding the store as everybody who cared cashed out a long time ago.
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Please take a moment to study this horrifying screenshot.
Ask:
- What here is negative space?
- What is information-bearing space?
- What space is neither of the above: usefully conveys no information, but adds visual noise?And…wtf is that horizontal gray bar doing there?!
They don't pay software engineers enough and it shows. Or they chose to not hire the people that would keep this from happening. Same thing
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Does this all just come down to Tim Cook? I’m congenitally skeptical of “great leader” sorts of theories of success, and now skeptical of myself as I see myself forming one, so huge grain of salt, but:
It’s hard to look at Tim Cook tongue-washing Trump’s shoes with that fake design award, just utterly unable to say no when “no” is the •only• correct response, and then not wonder about his failure to say no to a failed new design direction for his company’s most visible product.
@inthehands His ability to perceive qualia has probably been eroded away by slopbot exposure. There's a lot of that going around...
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Does this all just come down to Tim Cook? I’m congenitally skeptical of “great leader” sorts of theories of success, and now skeptical of myself as I see myself forming one, so huge grain of salt, but:
It’s hard to look at Tim Cook tongue-washing Trump’s shoes with that fake design award, just utterly unable to say no when “no” is the •only• correct response, and then not wonder about his failure to say no to a failed new design direction for his company’s most visible product.
@inthehands I think the boot-licking has more to do with fiduciary responsibilities. To get the tariff exceptions that Apple needs to continue manufacturing in India, Tim had to kiss the ring. The design failures, I think, are instead due to systemic problems in the company. Anyone with a shred of UI/UX training could have flagged Liquid Glass as a disaster. I expect some employees DID try to stop it or fix it, but the company's processes did not respond to their attempts.
