Shagittarius wrote on 2024-07-19, 00:44:

Grzyb wrote on 2024-07-19, 00:28:

Ensign Nemo wrote on 2024-07-18, 21:16:

The biggest one for me is the transition from menu based software/OSes to icon based.

Exactly!
Replacing text with pictures looks like kindergarten, or Idiocracy.

The more they make software to target the computer illiterate the more difficult it becomes to use for power users. I see this very much in audio recording software.

There was a PC Magazine editor (IIRC John C. Dvorak) who wrote an article criticizing Microsoft Creative Writer that his son had tried briefly but headed back to Word soon afterwards. "After all, we can read" or something similar, he wrote.

feda wrote on 2024-07-19, 08:20:

Grzyb wrote on 2024-07-19, 00:51:

Shagittarius wrote on 2024-07-19, 00:44:

The more they make software to target the computer illiterate the more difficult it becomes to use for power users.

Yes, but it's 2024 - hard to believe that computer illiterates still exist...

Nowadays we call them iPhone users.

That would apply to the majority of Japanese citizens. 😁 Back in December 2018, a blog post on the ignorance of Japanese customers written by a guy working at an electronics retailer (probably Yodobashi, Yamada, or Bic; similar to Best Buy in US) raised some heated debates and discussions in Japan and abroad (I can provide detailed explanations if anyone is interested). Furthermore, more and more Japanese companies complain their new recruits post-2020 know nothing about desktop or laptop computer or office software suite; those Millennials know nothing but their iPhone and SNS apps.

My biggest pet peeve and from what I understand there are actual studies that show a loss of productivity due to this: Flat Design.

Once you have multiple overlapping and open windows or elements on a screen it becomes tricky to distinguish one window from another particularly when attempting to access control bars and the like. I've accidentally closed numerous applications due to flat design. I hate it more than anything.

Not to mention the time you waste determining what is a button and what is just a graphic.

Shagittarius wrote on 2024-07-19, 14:34:

My biggest pet peeve and from what I understand there are actual studies that show a loss of productivity due to this: Flat Desi […]
Show full quote

My biggest pet peeve and from what I understand there are actual studies that show a loss of productivity due to this: Flat Design.

The attachment flat.png is no longer available

Once you have multiple overlapping and open windows or elements on a screen it becomes tricky to distinguish one window from another particularly when attempting to access control bars and the like. I've accidentally closed numerous applications due to flat design. I hate it more than anything.

Not to mention the time you waste determining what is a button and what is just a graphic.

Not quite the same thing, but I frequently click on the wrong thing because I'll see what I want to click on before everything is done rendering. Sometimes the button placement will change a fraction of a second before I click and a different button will be in that spot.

Ensign Nemo wrote on 2024-07-19, 15:18:

Shagittarius wrote on 2024-07-19, 14:34:

My biggest pet peeve and from what I understand there are actual studies that show a loss of productivity due to this: Flat Desi […]
Show full quote

My biggest pet peeve and from what I understand there are actual studies that show a loss of productivity due to this: Flat Design.

The attachment flat.png is no longer available

Once you have multiple overlapping and open windows or elements on a screen it becomes tricky to distinguish one window from another particularly when attempting to access control bars and the like. I've accidentally closed numerous applications due to flat design. I hate it more than anything.

Not to mention the time you waste determining what is a button and what is just a graphic.

Not quite the same thing, but I frequently click on the wrong thing because I'll see what I want to click on before everything is done rendering. Sometimes the button placement will change a fraction of a second before I click and a different button will be in that spot.

I think they do that on purpose.

Shagittarius wrote on 2024-07-19, 14:34:

My biggest pet peeve and from what I understand there are actual studies that show a loss of productivity due to this: Flat Desi […]
Show full quote

My biggest pet peeve and from what I understand there are actual studies that show a loss of productivity due to this: Flat Design.

The attachment flat.png is no longer available

Once you have multiple overlapping and open windows or elements on a screen it becomes tricky to distinguish one window from another particularly when attempting to access control bars and the like. I've accidentally closed numerous applications due to flat design. I hate it more than anything.

Not to mention the time you waste determining what is a button and what is just a graphic.

I had one of those moments a few months back, screwed around with something for a couple of days, until finally "Damn it all to hell, I didn't know I could click on THAT"

I am a big fan of flat design, minimalism and simplicity. I find it more productive and more useful, more direct and intuitive than silly skeuomorphism.

I consider win2k's flat gradiented windowbars, and very subtle faux shadow scrollbars and window edges to be the ideal compromise.

(In the linux world, I use XFCE, which is based off gnome2, before gnome jumped the shark, ignored their users, and got told where their design philosophy could be shoved. See below.)

All the 'ADHD attention demanding full screen experience!' BS they have been trying to push since early win 10, and the UI formerly known as Metro, are sins against mankind.

digger wrote on 2024-07-19, 11:38:

Didn't it make perfect sense to add [PCjr sound] to joystick controllers, since gamers were the target audience of such cards?

Hmm, was it?
As in, while it was really called the "game control adapter"*, you don't have to read much of its manual to see them excusing themselves and claiming it's really a general purpose analog input card…

* and there were genuine IBM joysticks too, at least for the Jr; and the 5150 had a 2nd party game (MS Adventure) out very soon - unlike the original Macs which were more than implicitly anti-games 😁

Bruninho wrote on 2024-07-19, 18:29:

I am a big fan of flat design, minimalism and simplicity. I find it more productive and more useful, more direct and intuitive than silly skeuomorphism.

Outlines. I just wished there were outlines. A 2D design can be nice, if it sticks to certain rules.
Nintendo Wii had such an interface with its soft pastel colours (white, gray, light blue).

Edit: About joysticks vs. Apple. Macintosh perhaps lacked initial support for them,
but the Apple II line (incl. Apple IIgs) supported them in the IBM PC era.

Tape backup drives that ran off the floppy controller!
I get it - cheap, and every computer had one. And maybe okay for 10-20 MB cartridges.
But anything over that, just WAY too slow to be practical

zyzzle wrote on 2024-07-17, 03:29:

The regression to 16:9 monitors in the PC world. It's atrocious. Even worse: curved monitors and ARs > 2:1. Just horrible abmoninations. 4:3 is best and should come back. CRT is also superior to everything but OLED (because of vibrant colors, blacks (infinite contrast) and low power consumption).

The switch to ridiculous keyboards, ie non-mechanical, cheap, no travel in the keys, etc. The dwindling space bar. With all the crap around it, it's shrunk to less than 1/2 its orginal typewriter length back in the day.

Another: the denuding of *cords*. I like cords. They ensure a constant, unlimited power source, and no fumbling with batteries or range. Need more distance? Just get a longer cord.

Cue my 1366x768 rant. I'm still mad about that. When the standard aspect ratio changed to 16:9, the most common resolution dropped by such an extreme amount that it broke existing software, and it became the only choice for a broke college student unless you wanted to carry around a 17" laptop.

I still use a full-travel wired keyboard, but it's a cheap modern one. I don't like the race to maximize switch noise and backlight bleed (on top of the already ridiculous RGB LED backlight that can't be controlled without a Windows-only bloatware package that makes the system unstable). I still think wireless mice are nice, but I use a wired one primarily (partially because modern mouse switches fail in nine months - I can only guess that the contact plating is garbage and oxidizes too quickly).

wierd_w wrote on 2024-07-18, 08:58:

Modern laptop designs: […]
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Modern laptop designs:

Lack of DIMM slots, and removable / replacable batteries.

The BRILLIANT idea of using adhesives instead of screws.

Unforgivable.

The worst part is when it's a gaming laptop that has the internal space for SODIMM slots, but it comes with soldered RAM. The major computer brands made the excuse that it's faster and draws less power, even when they're using the same DDR4 or DDR5 chips that would go on a SODIMM.

I saw glued hinges for the first time a few months ago. The reason I saw them was because the glue failed.

feda wrote on 2024-07-19, 08:56:

All right, hit me. What's the problem with Edge?
I've just made the move from Chrome (10+ years) after finally getting fed up with their braindead UI changes and other bullcrap, and must say I'm liking Edge so far (after successfully making a bunch of adjustments).

Your adjustments will suddenly disappear and revert back to defaults one day. I've even had Edge uninstall every extension after an update or open itself randomly if it isn't set as your default browser.

I USED to think the same thing about the widescreen monitors - just a scam to get people to but new hardware, but I dunno, maybe I have used to them - they DO give you more screen real estate

On my above comment about the tape drive with floppy connector...
At the time I thought it was the greatest every....if the only alternative is floppies. But then I started using bigger cartridges and backing up more files and it got to where it would take all night to write and verify
It's easy to forget that back then how limited storage was. Possibly the only viable alternative were zip disks

ncmark wrote on 2024-07-20, 18:02:

I USED to think the same thing about the widescreen monitors - just a scam to get people to but new hardware, but I dunno, maybe I have used to them - they DO give you more screen real estate

As someone who uses a 21:9 monitor as my daily driver, it's like having dual 4:3 screens. Except unlike dual monitor setups, there is no bezel in the middle to contend with.

I also find it more practical having a single 21:9 monitor than dual 16:9 monitors.

Bruninho wrote on 2024-07-19, 18:29:

I am a big fan of flat design, minimalism and simplicity. I find it more productive and more useful, more direct and intuitive than silly skeuomorphism.

Simple skeuomorphism was fine with basic 3D shapes like in early versions of Windows.

When the 2000s hit is when skeuomorphism went off the rails and you had abominations like these:

🤣 I would agree with the term "abomination"

I think you can blame Sonique and Quicktime 4 for that. The early "corporate skinned music player+visualizer" era not quite capturing WinAmp's lightning in a bottle, getting in on the new MP3 world clout. It's different from the mid-90s era of media players that tried to recreate decks

Shponglefan wrote on 2024-07-20, 19:34:

Bruninho wrote on 2024-07-19, 18:29:

I am a big fan of flat design, minimalism and simplicity. I find it more productive and more useful, more direct and intuitive than silly skeuomorphism.

Simple skeuomorphism was fine with basic 3D shapes like in early versions of Windows.

When the 2000s hit is when skeuomorphism went off the rails and you had abominations like these:

Man, these were bad back then, but they look positively dystopian to me today.

It's a bit as if David Cronenberg and H.R. Giger had an acid fueled collaboration and came up with those .

lti wrote on 2024-07-20, 17:12:

Cue my 1366x768 rant. I'm still mad about that. When the standard aspect ratio changed to 16:9, the most common resolution dropped by such an extreme amount that it broke existing software, and it became the only choice for a broke college student unless you wanted to carry around a 17" laptop.

I recall the common resolution for low-end laptops went from 1024x768 to 1280x800 to 1366x768. Not so extreme. For higher-end systems, 1600x900 for 14" and 1920x1080 for 15.4" were there since day one of 16:9.

lti wrote on 2024-07-20, 17:12:

The worst part is when it's a gaming laptop that has the internal space for SODIMM slots, but it comes with soldered RAM. The major computer brands made the excuse that it's faster and draws less power, even when they're using the same DDR4 or DDR5 chips that would go on a SODIMM.

This trend, fortunately, seems to be reversing a bit. Some laptops have brought back SODIMM slots, and word is that LPCAMM is going to replace them, making upgradeable RAM standard once again.