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Google is making a huge amount of progress in UI and UX; the company has historically been rather mediocre in terms of it's UI and UX, while Apple was always th

Google is making a huge amount of progress in UI and UX; the company has historically been rather mediocre in terms of it's UI and UX, while Apple was always the star. Over the past year or so the roles have reversed, and Google continues making strides towards unifying their applications in a single user experience and ui paradigm that allows for simpler app use, particularly for new users. It's easy to get upset when things change, but keep in mind that change can be positive and/or negative.

usingpond 12y ago
In some apps, yes, but in many others they are just as atrocious as they've always been—just adhering to material design a bit more. For example, Chrome on iOS has a pretty wonderful UX but Maps is a shitshow; it takes me several frustrated clicks to do what I want. You can never tell what a UI element does simply by looking at the screen.
throwawayaway 12y ago
The new gmail interface combined with the fact it logs me in to youtube to watch a video, made me install a cli mail client. Haven't looked back.
- iancarroll 12y ago
  The web interface convinently logged you in and you stop using it because of that?
  - throwawayaway 12y ago
    Yes, you read correctly. One man's convenience is overstepping the mark pushing G+ for another.
  - pjc50 12y ago
    Logging into youtube will, by default unless you know about it and turn it off, associate every video you view with your G+ profile for your gmail account, so every person you correspond with can look up your video history.
    - throwawayaway 12y ago
      I had no idea it had gotten that bad! Seems my overreaction was justified.
    - hahainternet 12y ago
      Sorry, where do I go to see this because it sounds like you're talking absolute nonsense.
      - pjc50 12y ago
        It appears to have changed in the last few months, and it didn't show full history, so I'll take it back slightly, but you can still see other Youtube users favourites/subscribed: https://www.youtube.com/user/whoever https://www.youtube.com/user/whoever Some people have a link from their G+ to their youtube, but it seems not to be there for everyone any more.
    - mirkules 12y ago
      The other really frustrating thing is when you log out of Gmail, you are not actually logged out. You will be presented by a pseudo-looking login screen, which is really just an authentication screen to get back to Gmail. What really happens is they keep you kind of logged in to collect as much data on your searches, videos, etc. The way to actually log out is: - Click logout in Gmail - Click "Sign in with a different account" (!) - Click "Remove" - Click the X next to your name. - Click Done It feels like they are trying to trick you into staying logged in by making the logout process extremely obscure and difficult, and I really hate it when I'm being blatantly tricked like that. With existence of evercookies (http://samy.pl/evercookie/ http://samy.pl/evercookie/) I am somewhat skeptical that even that obscure logout process actually logged me out. This is pretty much the strongest reason why I don't use the GMail UI anymore (there are others, but this alone would have made me stop).
      - throwawayaway 12y ago
        One could use chrome's incognito mode to get around such irritations if one were so inclined.
asgard1024 12y ago
> allows for simpler app use, particularly for new users Are you kidding me? So called "flat design", with nondescript icons indistinguishable from the surrounding text, is the worst thing ever for new users. How am I supposed to know that I can click (er, I mean, touch) something?
- faizmokhtar 12y ago
  IIRC, there's actually a distinction between clickable stuff and text in material design.
- shawnwall 12y ago
  I'm not saying every choice they made is perfect. One of my qualms is the lack of backgrounds for button selection in areas with 'ok' and 'cancel' - which is one of the most important areas to give the user clear direction.
- andybak 12y ago
  I've had Lollipop for over a week and I generally don't find lack of affordance in the UI. It's very clear what is clickable and what isn't. (there are a couple of very minor exceptions I can think of)

usingpond 12y ago

In some apps, yes, but in many others they are just as atrocious as they've always been—just adhering to material design a bit more. For example, Chrome on iOS has a pretty wonderful UX but Maps is a shitshow; it takes me several frustrated clicks to do what I want. You can never tell what a UI element does simply by looking at the screen.

throwawayaway 12y ago

The new gmail interface combined with the fact it logs me in to youtube to watch a video, made me install a cli mail client. Haven't looked back.

iancarroll 12y ago
The web interface convinently logged you in and you stop using it because of that?
- throwawayaway 12y ago
  Yes, you read correctly. One man's convenience is overstepping the mark pushing G+ for another.
- pjc50 12y ago
  Logging into youtube will, by default unless you know about it and turn it off, associate every video you view with your G+ profile for your gmail account, so every person you correspond with can look up your video history.
  - throwawayaway 12y ago
    I had no idea it had gotten that bad! Seems my overreaction was justified.
  - hahainternet 12y ago
    Sorry, where do I go to see this because it sounds like you're talking absolute nonsense.
    - pjc50 12y ago
      It appears to have changed in the last few months, and it didn't show full history, so I'll take it back slightly, but you can still see other Youtube users favourites/subscribed: https://www.youtube.com/user/whoever https://www.youtube.com/user/whoever Some people have a link from their G+ to their youtube, but it seems not to be there for everyone any more.
  - mirkules 12y ago
    The other really frustrating thing is when you log out of Gmail, you are not actually logged out. You will be presented by a pseudo-looking login screen, which is really just an authentication screen to get back to Gmail. What really happens is they keep you kind of logged in to collect as much data on your searches, videos, etc. The way to actually log out is: - Click logout in Gmail - Click "Sign in with a different account" (!) - Click "Remove" - Click the X next to your name. - Click Done It feels like they are trying to trick you into staying logged in by making the logout process extremely obscure and difficult, and I really hate it when I'm being blatantly tricked like that. With existence of evercookies (http://samy.pl/evercookie/ http://samy.pl/evercookie/) I am somewhat skeptical that even that obscure logout process actually logged me out. This is pretty much the strongest reason why I don't use the GMail UI anymore (there are others, but this alone would have made me stop).
    - throwawayaway 12y ago
      One could use chrome's incognito mode to get around such irritations if one were so inclined.

asgard1024 12y ago

> allows for simpler app use, particularly for new users Are you kidding me? So called "flat design", with nondescript icons indistinguishable from the surrounding text, is the worst thing ever for new users. How am I supposed to know that I can click (er, I mean, touch) something?

faizmokhtar 12y ago
IIRC, there's actually a distinction between clickable stuff and text in material design.
shawnwall 12y ago
I'm not saying every choice they made is perfect. One of my qualms is the lack of backgrounds for button selection in areas with 'ok' and 'cancel' - which is one of the most important areas to give the user clear direction.
andybak 12y ago
I've had Lollipop for over a week and I generally don't find lack of affordance in the UI. It's very clear what is clickable and what isn't. (there are a couple of very minor exceptions I can think of)