6 ms·

I will probably soon add an old 3D Touch iphone to my small Human Machine Interface hall of fame along with the old click wheel iPod Classic. They probably rem

by voqv 4y ago

I will probably soon add an old 3D Touch iphone to my small Human Machine Interface hall of fame along with the old click wheel iPod Classic. They probably removed it because nobody was using it and they couldn't figure out how to teach people, while spending extra $ to add it into phones.

psychomugs 4y ago
I’ve never met anyone who was aware of the feature. Its removal kept me from upgrading my 6S until just this year.
kaba0 4y ago
I believe it was removed in big part due to being a relatively big energy drain. With that in mind, I don’t believe it was a bad decision, even though I liked the feature as well. (Though probably with additional R&D on the topic, it could have been improved)
- duskwuff 4y ago
  And, IIRC, 3D Touch was also technologically infeasible to implement on iPad. That sharply limited what they could do with it, since it would never be available on all iOS devices.
empyrrhicist 4y ago
As if they put any effort whatsoever into teaching or UI discoverability these days. If there was a tutorial app I would have used it, but I have repeatedly had to use Google to find unrelated blog sites describing how to accomplish things in the iOS interface. Cynically, it feels like they think everyone should already "just know" how the various gestures work, which is obnoxious and user hostile.
- jhanschoo 4y ago
  As I understand it 3D touch's functionality per app depended on the app author, so the discoverability problem is not that simple.
- simonh 4y ago
  >if there was a tutorial app I would have used it.. Isn't that the Tips App? I'm pretty sure it gets recommended every time you set up a new phone. Mine has a tip on using Haptic Touch with the keyboard to move the insertion point.
  - nnoremap 4y ago
    I just looked at that for the first time, there's some neat stuff. Didn't know you can define actions for tapping on the back of the phone, even works with my case.
- everyone 4y ago
  As someone who only occasionally has to use macOS and iOS for work. The gestures and key combos required to do even the most basic things are insane.. and there is (almost) zero discoverability or affordances for them. On iOS gestures with multiple fingers, on macOS keyboard shortcuts with 3 or 4 keys. I also dont often use Linux, but I could try some new distro with a completely different windows manager I have never seen before and I can figure it out and be happily computing in no time. apple stuff always requiring searching on the internet to find out how how to do even most basic functions. Also, not relevant, but I gotta mention as it grinds my gears so bad.. The only reason I have to use macOS is that it's required to build to iOS, which is just uniquely egregious. That sort of business should actually be illegal. Hopefully it will be in EU soon.
  - gwright 4y ago
    > there is zero discoverability The shortcuts associated with menu items are shown in the menu item. I realize that there other discovery problems with keyboard shortcuts (on all platforms) but there is non-zero discoverability for "the most basic things" on Mac OS. Gesture discoverability is much closer to zero, IMHO.
    - jjoonathan 4y ago
      Mac OS Help menu search is spectacular for discoverability. Start typing what you want and it pops up the menu with an arrow and it shows you the shortcut. Everyone else does it worse, except maybe the VSCode command palette.
      - yourad_io 4y ago
        This is the only thing I miss about macos. Last Mac used was snow leopard and I _still_ sometimes find myself wishing for menu search on Linux
    - everyone 4y ago
      Yeah fair enough, I was being hyperbolic, edited my comment to be more accurate.
- llaolleh 4y ago
  One way to do discoverability here is to make a suggestion if you notice the user hoping around between texts during typing.
  - torstenvl 4y ago
    Absolutely not. Machines and software that interrupt users are Kafkaesque torture devices. Hell is full of Clippies and microwaves that repeatedly beep for eternity.
    - failTide 4y ago
      There's got to be a tactful way to do this without interrupting users. If anyone's got some good examples I'd like to take a look.
      - lostlogin 4y ago
        The thing some email clients do where they say “did you mean to attach something” is the one I love. I’d like a Mark II version which also says “there is no such thing as Sunday 8th of August this year” so that I can fix my errors before they cause problems.
      - homonculus1 4y ago
        It's just fundamentally a bad idea. Software should never, ever bother the user during use about how it's being used. That's what tutorials and documentation are for. No matter how clever and subtle you think you're being, you're still just redirecting the user's attention from the task at hand toward the UI itself. No matter how ignorable, dismissable, or optional it is, it's an abysmal UI failure and it shouldn't even happen once. Make the feature right in the first place and you won't have to resort to nagging.
        failTide 4y ago
        I wouldn't mind having a shortcut or "I'm stuck" button that would try to figure out what my issue was based on my last 5 minutes of activity.
- happyopossum 4y ago
  > If there was a tutorial app I would have used it There is/was - it's called Tips, and most people ignore or uninstall it.
  - empyrrhicist 4y ago
    Its an interesting refutation and confirmation of my point.
- Elidrake42 4y ago
  Not only is there a tutorial app ("Tips") but you receive a notification pointing you towards it shortly after setting up a new iOS device. Also after major iOS updates. So... Yeah I suppose you're making their point for them, to an extent.
  - empyrrhicist 4y ago
    Does this apply to iPads? I had mine set up by my employer and don't think I've seen a prompt. I also don't recall seeing this on an iPhone SE I had, so maybe discover ability would be better than popups for a tips app.
cainxinth 4y ago
I read they removed it because it required space-consuming hardware to accomplish, and Haptic Touch approximates most of its features (most) with just software.
yreg 4y ago
In addition to what you mentioned they were unable to bring it to the iPad.
bombcar 4y ago
These features really need games added, where the only real requirement to play is learn the new feature. Some say it's why minesweeper et al were added to Windows, so people could learn how to use the mouse.
- failTide 4y ago
  That game really does build up mouse skills. I remember playing it when I was 5 and having no idea what the rules were - I just liked to click all the fun little boxes with the cool numbers and bombs.
- duskwuff 4y ago
  Way back in the day, Apple shipped several different "Mouse Practice" tutorials on their computers to teach new users how to use the mouse. Here's videos of two of them: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RvcwFYPiKKA https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RvcwFYPiKKA https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nV-d5F-AdX8 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nV-d5F-AdX8
- xsmasher 4y ago
  That's a great idea. Steam deck comes with a short game - Aperture desk job - that tests all of the controls. I didn't know it had a gyro until I played that game.
rasz 4y ago
>Human Machine Interface hall of fame along with the old click wheel iPod Classic Apple Introduces Revolutionary New Laptop With No Keyboard https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9BnLbv6QYcA https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9BnLbv6QYcA "just few hundred clicks away"
conradev 4y ago
Features like that not only add cost, but also take away from available volume for other features
ghoulishly 4y ago
I’m curious to hear what else lives in that collection
itsthejb 4y ago
I suppose it’s indicative of why the feature was removed, that I wasn’t aware of most of the features mentioned in the article
gullevek 4y ago
3D touch failed because it wasn't on all iOS devices. The end. (I didn't even know about it until I finally switched to an iPhone Xs after years and years of lowest tear iPhones).

by voqv 4y ago

psychomugs 4y ago

I’ve never met anyone who was aware of the feature. Its removal kept me from upgrading my 6S until just this year.

kaba0 4y ago

I believe it was removed in big part due to being a relatively big energy drain. With that in mind, I don’t believe it was a bad decision, even though I liked the feature as well. (Though probably with additional R&D on the topic, it could have been improved)

duskwuff 4y ago
And, IIRC, 3D Touch was also technologically infeasible to implement on iPad. That sharply limited what they could do with it, since it would never be available on all iOS devices.

empyrrhicist 4y ago

As if they put any effort whatsoever into teaching or UI discoverability these days. If there was a tutorial app I would have used it, but I have repeatedly had to use Google to find unrelated blog sites describing how to accomplish things in the iOS interface. Cynically, it feels like they think everyone should already "just know" how the various gestures work, which is obnoxious and user hostile.

jhanschoo 4y ago
As I understand it 3D touch's functionality per app depended on the app author, so the discoverability problem is not that simple.
simonh 4y ago
>if there was a tutorial app I would have used it.. Isn't that the Tips App? I'm pretty sure it gets recommended every time you set up a new phone. Mine has a tip on using Haptic Touch with the keyboard to move the insertion point.
- nnoremap 4y ago
  I just looked at that for the first time, there's some neat stuff. Didn't know you can define actions for tapping on the back of the phone, even works with my case.
everyone 4y ago
As someone who only occasionally has to use macOS and iOS for work. The gestures and key combos required to do even the most basic things are insane.. and there is (almost) zero discoverability or affordances for them. On iOS gestures with multiple fingers, on macOS keyboard shortcuts with 3 or 4 keys. I also dont often use Linux, but I could try some new distro with a completely different windows manager I have never seen before and I can figure it out and be happily computing in no time. apple stuff always requiring searching on the internet to find out how how to do even most basic functions. Also, not relevant, but I gotta mention as it grinds my gears so bad.. The only reason I have to use macOS is that it's required to build to iOS, which is just uniquely egregious. That sort of business should actually be illegal. Hopefully it will be in EU soon.
- gwright 4y ago
  > there is zero discoverability The shortcuts associated with menu items are shown in the menu item. I realize that there other discovery problems with keyboard shortcuts (on all platforms) but there is non-zero discoverability for "the most basic things" on Mac OS. Gesture discoverability is much closer to zero, IMHO.
  - jjoonathan 4y ago
    Mac OS Help menu search is spectacular for discoverability. Start typing what you want and it pops up the menu with an arrow and it shows you the shortcut. Everyone else does it worse, except maybe the VSCode command palette.
    - yourad_io 4y ago
      This is the only thing I miss about macos. Last Mac used was snow leopard and I _still_ sometimes find myself wishing for menu search on Linux
  - everyone 4y ago
    Yeah fair enough, I was being hyperbolic, edited my comment to be more accurate.
llaolleh 4y ago
One way to do discoverability here is to make a suggestion if you notice the user hoping around between texts during typing.
- torstenvl 4y ago
  Absolutely not. Machines and software that interrupt users are Kafkaesque torture devices. Hell is full of Clippies and microwaves that repeatedly beep for eternity.
  - failTide 4y ago
    There's got to be a tactful way to do this without interrupting users. If anyone's got some good examples I'd like to take a look.
    - lostlogin 4y ago
      The thing some email clients do where they say “did you mean to attach something” is the one I love. I’d like a Mark II version which also says “there is no such thing as Sunday 8th of August this year” so that I can fix my errors before they cause problems.
    - homonculus1 4y ago
      It's just fundamentally a bad idea. Software should never, ever bother the user during use about how it's being used. That's what tutorials and documentation are for. No matter how clever and subtle you think you're being, you're still just redirecting the user's attention from the task at hand toward the UI itself. No matter how ignorable, dismissable, or optional it is, it's an abysmal UI failure and it shouldn't even happen once. Make the feature right in the first place and you won't have to resort to nagging.
      - failTide 4y ago
        I wouldn't mind having a shortcut or "I'm stuck" button that would try to figure out what my issue was based on my last 5 minutes of activity.
happyopossum 4y ago
> If there was a tutorial app I would have used it There is/was - it's called Tips, and most people ignore or uninstall it.
- empyrrhicist 4y ago
  Its an interesting refutation and confirmation of my point.
Elidrake42 4y ago
Not only is there a tutorial app ("Tips") but you receive a notification pointing you towards it shortly after setting up a new iOS device. Also after major iOS updates. So... Yeah I suppose you're making their point for them, to an extent.
- empyrrhicist 4y ago
  Does this apply to iPads? I had mine set up by my employer and don't think I've seen a prompt. I also don't recall seeing this on an iPhone SE I had, so maybe discover ability would be better than popups for a tips app.

cainxinth 4y ago

I read they removed it because it required space-consuming hardware to accomplish, and Haptic Touch approximates most of its features (most) with just software.

yreg 4y ago

In addition to what you mentioned they were unable to bring it to the iPad.

bombcar 4y ago

These features really need games added, where the only real requirement to play is learn the new feature. Some say it's why minesweeper et al were added to Windows, so people could learn how to use the mouse.

failTide 4y ago
That game really does build up mouse skills. I remember playing it when I was 5 and having no idea what the rules were - I just liked to click all the fun little boxes with the cool numbers and bombs.
duskwuff 4y ago
Way back in the day, Apple shipped several different "Mouse Practice" tutorials on their computers to teach new users how to use the mouse. Here's videos of two of them: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RvcwFYPiKKA https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RvcwFYPiKKA https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nV-d5F-AdX8 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nV-d5F-AdX8
xsmasher 4y ago
That's a great idea. Steam deck comes with a short game - Aperture desk job - that tests all of the controls. I didn't know it had a gyro until I played that game.

rasz 4y ago

>Human Machine Interface hall of fame along with the old click wheel iPod Classic Apple Introduces Revolutionary New Laptop With No Keyboard https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9BnLbv6QYcA https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9BnLbv6QYcA "just few hundred clicks away"

conradev 4y ago

Features like that not only add cost, but also take away from available volume for other features

ghoulishly 4y ago

I’m curious to hear what else lives in that collection

itsthejb 4y ago

I suppose it’s indicative of why the feature was removed, that I wasn’t aware of most of the features mentioned in the article

gullevek 4y ago

3D touch failed because it wasn't on all iOS devices. The end. (I didn't even know about it until I finally switched to an iPhone Xs after years and years of lowest tear iPhones).