[OT] More Apple Foolishness

[J. Landman Gay]

On 7/27/11 7:51 PM, Chipp Walters wrote:
>
> Warning: Those for which Apple can do no wrong should press delete
> and move on to the next thread. You've been warned!

Well, that's pretty much me. For the desktop OS anyway. I'm getting more 
broadminded in my old age though.

>
> Fact is, there are so many interface problems with iOS, I don't even
> know were to start.

Yeah. I feel like a traitor, but I am less than enchanted with iOS. 
Apple, who used to be the master of intuitive interface, has dumbed down 
iOS so much that I can't find anything. Last night I wanted to add a 
bookmark to Safari and I had to look up how to do it in the user manual 
-- there was no intuitive way. If you want to add a bookmark, wouldn't 
you naturally tap on the bookmark icon and look for a command in there? 
No, to add a bookmark you tap on the Export icon, the same one that lets 
you save stuff or email a link. Silly me, expecting bookmark functions 
to be under a Bookmark icon.

What I miss most are menus. All Android apps have a Home, Menu, and Back 
button, and they always do the same things. iOS apps are capricious and 
arbitrary with no consistency. The iOS Calendar has almost no interface 
at all -- or if it does, Apple has managed to hide it successfully from 
me. So it's back to the user manual. Aha. To link to an online calendar, 
you do not open the button named "Calendars." No, no, that would be too 
obvious. You exit the app and go to system settings, hunt for Calendar 
in the list, work your way through a few screens, and set it there.

I have read more Apple documentation in the last 2 months than I have in 
the last ten years. Maybe I'm just too entrenched in old habits, maybe 
it's intuitive to new users.

My iPad is a gorgeous machine with breathtakingly beautiful apps, it is 
faster (though much heavier) than my cheapie Android tablet and works 
more reliably in iffy wi-fi situations. But in spite of my Android's 
hiccups and performance issues, I still choose it when I want to 
actually use a tablet for something other than testing.

About the ebook restrictions: the online media has been jumping all over 
that the last couple of days. Everybody is about as PO'ed as you are.

-- 
Jacqueline Landman Gay         |     jacque at hyperactivesw.com
HyperActive Software           |     http://www.hyperactivesw.com