M
michail iakovou yos
Dale you really nailed that one down... indeed the start menu image on the
top that fades in and out has these things that make it not cool:
A program fails to be "cool" when it has:
-Use or abuse of a technology just because it can.
-Features that detract from usability, flow, or performance.
-Is in the user's face, constantly drawing unneeded attention to itself.
-A fleeting good impression. It might have been fun the first time, but the
enjoyment wears off quickly
You don't say who "he" is but really who's stuck in 1993 is you. Back then,
eye candy was considered cool. Marquee controls scrolling text uselessly in
web pages, falling-snow java applets that you could put any image into and
watch snow fall in front of it, waving blue satin sheet backgrounds in web
pages, web site home pages that you had to "click to enter site", and more.
These were all useless visual effects but way too many people thought they
were cool. Luckily, in UI design, we realized that we don't put in elements
because they're cool. We put in UI elements because they add value and
functionality.
Because that same square is changing constantly as a result of, but not
keeping up with, mouse movements, it is, for all intents and purposes, an
animation. Here's what the Vista UI design guidelines say about animations:
The human eye is sensitive to motion, especially peripheral motion. If you
use animation to draw attention to something, make sure that attention is
well deserved and worthy of interrupting the user's train of thought.
Here's the definition of "Cool" from Microsoft's own UI design pages for
Vista:
What is "cool"?
WPF offers an exciting set of advanced capabilities. With this step forward
comes the desire to create better—or "cooler"—software. All too often these
attempts don't seem to hit the mark. To understand why, let's make a
distinction between what makes a program cool and what doesn't.
A program really is "cool" when it has:
Features appropriate for the program and its target users.
Aesthetically pleasing look and feel, often in a subtle way.
Improved usability and flow, without harming performance.
A lasting good impression—it's just as enjoyable the 100th time as the
first.
A program fails to be "cool" when it has:
Use or abuse of a technology just because it can.
Features that detract from usability, flow, or performance.
Is in the user's face, constantly drawing unneeded attention to itself.
A fleeting good impression. It might have been fun the first time, but the
enjoyment wears off quickly.
He is stuck in 1993.
Michail
The year is 2007..
top that fades in and out has these things that make it not cool:
A program fails to be "cool" when it has:
-Use or abuse of a technology just because it can.
-Features that detract from usability, flow, or performance.
-Is in the user's face, constantly drawing unneeded attention to itself.
-A fleeting good impression. It might have been fun the first time, but the
enjoyment wears off quickly
You don't say who "he" is but really who's stuck in 1993 is you. Back then,
eye candy was considered cool. Marquee controls scrolling text uselessly in
web pages, falling-snow java applets that you could put any image into and
watch snow fall in front of it, waving blue satin sheet backgrounds in web
pages, web site home pages that you had to "click to enter site", and more.
These were all useless visual effects but way too many people thought they
were cool. Luckily, in UI design, we realized that we don't put in elements
because they're cool. We put in UI elements because they add value and
functionality.
Because that same square is changing constantly as a result of, but not
keeping up with, mouse movements, it is, for all intents and purposes, an
animation. Here's what the Vista UI design guidelines say about animations:
The human eye is sensitive to motion, especially peripheral motion. If you
use animation to draw attention to something, make sure that attention is
well deserved and worthy of interrupting the user's train of thought.
Here's the definition of "Cool" from Microsoft's own UI design pages for
Vista:
What is "cool"?
WPF offers an exciting set of advanced capabilities. With this step forward
comes the desire to create better—or "cooler"—software. All too often these
attempts don't seem to hit the mark. To understand why, let's make a
distinction between what makes a program cool and what doesn't.
A program really is "cool" when it has:
Features appropriate for the program and its target users.
Aesthetically pleasing look and feel, often in a subtle way.
Improved usability and flow, without harming performance.
A lasting good impression—it's just as enjoyable the 100th time as the
first.
A program fails to be "cool" when it has:
Use or abuse of a technology just because it can.
Features that detract from usability, flow, or performance.
Is in the user's face, constantly drawing unneeded attention to itself.
A fleeting good impression. It might have been fun the first time, but the
enjoyment wears off quickly.
He is stuck in 1993.
Michail
The year is 2007..
There are a lot of other items the development time could have been used to improve. For instance, the developers who wrote that functionality could have been loaned to the WMP team for a while do complete some of the dropped features that WMP didn't have time to complete before release.