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For six years, the Internet Nexus served as my technology blog, but I've since started blogging at the SuperSite Blog instead. If you're looking for the blog, please head there. --Paul

Monday, October 18, 2004

Brushed Metal and the HIG

Daring Fireball:

The deeper argument against the brushed metal (a.k.a. textured) theme is simply one of consistency. A large part of the Mac’s historical usability advantage is that Mac applications all look and feel the same. Not exactly the same, of course, but certainly within the bounds of a single “theme”. Most consistent would be a single theme; acceptably consistent would be a second theme used only under certain well-defined criteria.

Apple’s Human Interface Guidelines ostensibly lay out the rules for when the brushed metal theme is appropriate: Don’t use the brushed metal look indiscriminately. Although it works well for some types of applications, some applications appear too heavy when using this look.

The big problem, obviously, is that Apple has simply ignored the HIG. The HIG states, “Don’t use the brushed metal look indiscriminately”, but indiscriminate is precisely the word to describe Apple’s use of it.

I don't often agree with Gruber--he's among the most overrated of the self-styled Mac pundits--but in a curiously shortwinded article, he's belatedly hit on an item I've been complaining about for years (and, I suspect, he'll get less venomous email about it as well, go figure): Apple's UI is not consistent, despite the fact that this is the company that created the oft-copied Human Interface Guidelines (HIG). So I agree with him on that count (Obviously: As I noted above, I've been saying this for years). However, his conclusion is laughably wrong: To fix the mess Apple created by not following its own HIG, Gruber suggests that Apple actually retroactively change the HIG so that its recommendations match the inconsistent way in which Apple has applied the brushed metal UI to only certain parts of OS X. Doesn't that just make inconsistency the policy? Surely Apple can do better than that.

[ Posted at 8:16 AM | Permalink ]