Mac App Store UI is so hideous that it makes me want to kick a swan
So the Mac App Store just showed up as part of Mac OS X 10.6.6 (check Software Update if you don’t already have it installed). As expected, it pretty much confirms my thoughts that someone decided to shoot most of Apple’s designers some time around when brushed metal appeared, along with giving everyone at Cupertino a taste-ectomy. The app UI is just hideous, kicking conventions in the bollocks, laughing in the face of clarity, and mercilessly setting fire to UX and pushing it off a cliff.
Here’s what it looks like (with an front-page app slot shown at full size):
There are two major problems with the Mac App Store as it stands:
The toolbar. The Mac App Store lacks a standard toolbar for dragging the window about. Instead, it shoves the window controls, navigation and search field into a non-standard chunky toolbar. This is bad on several levels:
- There’s no standard ‘blank’ drag strip, enabling you to drag the window about. Instead, you must aim for and click specific blank areas between the various navigation items. This reduces usability and also obliterates accessibility for users who have less dexterity.
- The window controls are positioned in a different place to usual. This screws up muscle memory for Mac users used to ‘snapping’ to specific points to interact with controls. (Consistency is a cornerstone of good application design. It enables users to intuitively know how to interact with things. Apple is one of the worst offenders for breaching Mac OS X interface guidelines, despite chiding third-party developers for doing so).
- The window controls and primary back/forward navigation buttons are close together in terms of horizontal spacing, which may lead to accidental window zooming when attempting to navigate ‘back’. (Compare this to Safari, where the navigation controls are at the far left of the window.)
Still, Adobe might be happy, since Apple’s effectively validated the dire ‘Application Frame’ in the Creative Suite applications by doing the same thing itself (i.e. icons in the toolbar).
Clarity. I zoomed the Angry Birds box for a reason. Look at the price tag. It’s pretty indistinct and not easy to read. When slightly darker on a mouseover… well, it’s still pretty indistinct and not easy to read. Perhaps this is intentional, with Apple trying similar mind games to those used on restaurant menus. To me, it just looks like poor design. Someone liked the shade of grey and small text and went with it, rather than thinking if it offered enough contrast and clarity (a problem relatively common throughout the application). It reminds me of an era of web design, where designers became infatuated with small grey text on slightly darker grey backgrounds. And like many web pages of old, you of course cannot zoom the text in the Mac App Store.
I should point out that in terms of general use, the Mac App Store is fine. Applications download and install with a single click, and the process seems flawless. The clarity issue also improves somewhat on individual application pages (although the layout here is, to be kind, a total mess, like someone’s just slapped a wireframe together and a lazy boss has gone “yeah, whatever”). Furthermore, Apple’s also done some extremely aggressive pricing on its own products, which is great to see and should encourage more people to buy rather than copy software.
However, Apple used to stand for more than ‘good enough’ when it came to design in computing. While this is something that certainly still exists in Apple’s perfectionist approach to hardware design, something’s gone very wrong with its software interface design. Apple is fast becoming one of the worst developers in this area on its own platform.
The Mac App store is rubbish and i was wondering if anyone could help, I click to buy Angry Birds and it says type password to go to Billing Info to vertificate the purchase and i click Billing Info and nothing comes up can anyone help ?
Thanks
Do you already have an account with Apple?
Other things that the App Store lacks (again):
– A wishlist or a very simple way to mark apps that you are willing to buy in the near future.
– Price tags on every product. Not just the one’s you haven’t purchased. As I already have the iWork suite installed, I can’t read the prices of those articles.
– Good autocomplete. The app store universe is a finite one, not a chaotic infinite one such as the entire web. Therefore, the autocomplete should respond accordingly. Terms that are *actually* app names should have some visual cue.
– A prominent search box. To be fair, they have the search box in the conventional place. However, being discovery on the the priorities of the store, search should be more visible.
And let’s not talk about recommendations. If Amazon is a tiger in terms of targeted recomendations, Apple’s App Store is not more than a snail.
I think the language of ‘obliterates usability’ is hyperbole–the Mac App store’s toolbar has a much longer length. As a result of this, even though I can’t make use of the whole width of the toolbar, its FAR easier for me to move around the window than the Firefox window I’m typing in.
I agree, changing up the close, minimize, maximize buttons throws me off, too. Not THAT upsetting to me though, definitely not as annoying as iTunes vertical buttons. To me consistency in these buttons is CRUCIAL in Windows, because most all of my windows are maximized (except things like notepads, etc.). On my Mac, maybe just because of the higher resolution of the screen, I rarely keep all my windows maximized. But I also think this has to do with Expose features of Mac OS X, which changes my organizational style. Either way, consistency on this measure just doesn’t seem important to me, whereas I think placing the close/mini/max buttons as they did is a postitive aesthetic change.
Can’t speak to problems with the back buttons, I never touch them since I’m always using a trackpad on the web.
Definitely agree about the prices being hard to read. This was actually my first impression of the store. Sounds like a good call on the mind games, that makes sense.
And ultimately you’re right, despite any flaws it might have, the Mac app store is overall fine. Revolutionary in so many ways, “this changes everything” as Apple might say.
I have to disagree.
Apple is in the works of revamping their OS a lot of this stuff is going to make sense in that new OS, and I think the app store is a way to soften the blow for users.
not sure you should be one to talk about colors.
@Maximilian: Firefox breaches the Mac OS X guidelines also. The entire toolbar area should be draggable (as in Safari). I’m not sure what you mean by ‘length’. It’s certainly taller, but in forcing users to target an area for dragging, it slows people down, and it’s also inconsistent. Users will drag on the toolbar buttons and be confused when the drag action does not work. (Alternatively, some users probably won’t think they can move the window at all.)
As noted, I do find the actual process of installation pleasing, and this is a great bonus (at least for apps Apple allows on the store), but I wish Apple took as much care with everything, including application interfaces. It’s pretty clear from the likes of GarageBand, Mail, iTunes and the new Mac App Store that Apple doesn’t care about its own guidelines, nor consistency, nor, sadly, even particularly good UI design. Frankly, it’s as bad as Adobe now, which is a huge pity.
@Jared: That argument is one I see all the time, and I no longer agree with it. People made the argument that brushed metal was how Mac OS X would be, so people went with it. And so on through various botched bits of iLife/iWork, odd scrollbars here and there, missing toolbars, iTunes mini window controls, and more. As a full-window app, the Mac App Store does sort of make more sense, but only on a screen under 15″.
As for colours and clarity, I’ve had precisely one complaint since Revert to Saved was redesigned, and I amended the contrast and colour settings accordingly.
No offense, but this blog is so hideous it makes me want to kick a panda.
While I agree there are some flaws, I wouldn’t call it hideous. You simply pointed out a few things that could be better, but you have not given sufficient reason for your overstated headline.
You have got to be kidding me. One complaint? This blog has one of the worst colour schemes I’ve ever seen. Plus, the text in this comment box is bold for some reason and looks really stupid & almost… gritty in Safari.
I’m not a huge fan of the design choices they made with the toolbar. Also, it’s like Steam in that it doesn’t work with window management apps like Cinch or HyperDock.
However, you really aren’t one to be talking about colour schemes. I feel like I’m in Dwight Schrute’s personal blog with all this mustard colour.
The headline is misleading for someone who enjoys the app but has a few minro issues with the design.
And Apple is nowhere near the worst dev on it’s own platform. That would be Twitter.
@César Salazar, totally agree about the wishlist, it is a feature I’ve been pining for since they release the iPhone app store. Would be awesome if the wishlist had a feature where it notified me of a price drop of one of my wished for apps too, as I would often wishlist apps that are currently obscenely priced (eg – Angry Birds HD for iPad’s unjustifiably steep $9.99 price tag).
I disagree that the headline is ‘misleading’. I really hate the UI, but I like the process of installation. I use iTunes every single day and like what it can do, but I can’t stand its UI either.
And just because some people here don’t like my blog’s colour scheme (which, incidentally, is merely inspired from Soviet posters, albeit toned down some), I somehow don’t have the ‘right’ to complain about an Apple app’s lack of clarity/proper contrast on an app that will be on every new Mac? OK. *makes notes*
*fiddles with style sheet*
How about now?
@Cesar: Um. Are you using the same app I am? Prominent search is right up in the corner where it should be and always visible. Do you want it to blink too? And it autocompletes just fine.
@Craig: I prefer the merged toolbar by a HUGE margin. I’m still torqued that they reverted the merged tab/toolbar in Safari. I’d probably still be using it if that didn’t happen.
On César’s list, I agree with most of it. A wish-list will surely show up at some point. The lack of price-tags irks (although I understand why Apple did this); still, you can copy the link, paste it into Safari and view the Mac App Store preview page if you want to see a price-tag. Autocomplete sucks on the iOS store, so I’m not shocked it does here (and the same for recommendations, which on both stores could do with a seriously robust tagging system and much better categorisation.)
I’m with Ben on the search field though—it seems pretty prominent to me. I hate the toolbar, but imagine it looks a lot nicer on a laptop than my iMac, at least if you force the app to full-screen using Cinch or some other window manager.
@Maximilian: Firefox breaches the Mac OS X guidelines also. The entire toolbar area should be draggable (as in Safari). I’m not sure what you mean by ‘length’. It’s certainly taller, but in forcing users to target an area for dragging, it slows people down, and it’s also inconsistent. Users will drag on the toolbar buttons and be confused when the drag action does not work. (Alternatively, some users probably won’t think they can move the window at all.)
@@: Yes, taller is the best description of the Mac App store. However, I do not see this as slowing people down at all, rather I find that making it taller allows for a much more easily selectable drag bar. The drag bar in other applications like Firefox, TextEdit, OpenOffice, all of them are skinny and are difficult to select.
You’re a fucking idiot and a shitty designer. It’s a new product, and it looks better than anything I’ve seen from you.
craig, kicking swans is quite dangerous, do watch out..
anyway
– why can’t i see an app in a browser on a compu which isn’t osx, i can with the ios store
– amazon is13 years old now, they could have learned something..
– nice apple prices, $14 for keynote is quite astounding, isn’t it…
I totally agree with your points.
And I am just not sure why apple keep all those stores in the same strange UI system while they can do much better with things like mobile me.
i am trying to download the update for the mac app store but when i look for mac osx software updates, it does not appear.
any ideas why this may be?
I think the reason they jacked up the standard draggable top of the Window is that Apple is trying to get rid of the concept of individual windows. One of the “features” of Lion is a new full screen mode where you switch between apps in full screen mode. Like on an iPhone. Where they made that trade off due to necessity. And they think it will be a trade off people want to make on a full computer. *sigh*
@Dude: Thanks, anonymous person. You stay classy.
@romanista: Yep, the prices are astonishing, although I’m waiting for confirmation regarding on some rather worrying Mac App Store terms regarding ‘personal, non-commercial use’. I really hope Apple’s just got some bonkers wording and it’s not saying “Hey, guys! Here’s our new store, but don’t use these apps for any commercial work”. (I suspect Apple’s talking about enterprise deployment not being allowed with App Store purchases, but no-one in the field’s yet had confirmation.)
@qna: What’s even more bonkers is that while the Mac App Store app pages look horrible, the web-based preview pages are really rather nice. Very strange.
“There’s no standard ‘blank’ drag strip, enabling you to drag the window about. Instead, you must aim for and click specific blank areas between the various navigation items. This reduces usability and also obliterates accessibility for users who have less dexterity.”
Or you could click on the gaping large spaces of gray between the OS X controls and navigation items and search box. It actually seems a lot easier to grab the window and move it around this way.
@Steve: Are you on Snow Leopard? If not, too bad, I’m afraid.
@3D: I think you’re probably right, but the Mac App Store looks awful in full-screen on an iMac. It’s fine on a smaller screen, but anything over a 20-inch display… bleh.
@Russell: The gaps in unified toolbars can be grabbed in every app that properly adheres to the guidelines. However, my point is mostly about consistency. People who are very comfortable with computers can easily adapt. They’ll figure out UI changes fairly quickly. But having watched my folks battle with their Macs over the years, it’s pretty clear that this kind of UI diversion won’t be good for beginners. And, of course, beginners are precisely the people easy installation of apps helps most.
Well, I am amazed that no one here has pointed out the most glaring issue with the new App Store, which is the overwhelming and confusing presentation of the apps themselves. Are you all suggesting that you have no problem to click on an icon, wait for the next page to load just to quickly see what this app is about and if you like it – then hit the back button to look for another app? Over and over again?
Maybe everyone’s been blinded to that by the iOS App Store. However, I don’t find that UX too hateful, since it’s essentially the same as every online shop, ever. (Caveat: the Mac App Store inexplicably omits ‘more from this dev’ and ‘related’ items, which is a bit annoying.)
One of the major annoyances of iOS App Store was the stupid implementation of the “Genius” feature. You browse through pages of apps and then choose to view one and when you try to get back to the list it puts you back on to page-1. Frustrates me so much but I still see the utility of this feature and keep using it again and again. May be Mac App Store would survive on a similar saga as well, who knows!
I have one word to sum up my feelings regarding the Mac App Store…
yawn.
You know what? Saying you want to kick a swan makes me despise you! I am a designer and I work on problems like these everyday and enjoy the challenge. BUT what infuriates me is how humans make a connection of violence to each other or animals when critiquing work.
Kick a swan? Come on you have more brains than that to think of something more original, non-violent and provocative.
saw an app (compartments, productivity) figured I’d see if a similar app exist. Searching I noticed compartments was not in the productivity list. so whats the category for if the app is not listed in it. what other apps are in the lost realm. looks like its developments was rushed.
[…] Craig Grannell: As expected, it pretty much confirms my thoughts that someone decided to shoot most of Apple’s designers some time around when brushed metal appeared, along with giving everyone at Cupertino a taste-ectomy. The app UI is just hideous, kicking conventions in the bollocks, laughing in the face of clarity, and mercilessly setting fire to UX and pushing it off a cliff. […]
You people wouldn’t know good design if it turned into a swan and kicked you back in the balls. Apple has hit another HOME RUN with the mac app store and you people just don’t get it.
It’s fine but my big problem is IT SLOWED MY COMPUTER WTF! The spinning beach ball won’t stop showing up! UGH! If anyone knows how to solve this pls. help.
@RebateSense: I agree that the implementation of Genius in the App Store is poor. In my case, it invariably recommends items I’ve already bought and very obvious choices, which is a pity. By comparison, iTunes does a lot better at recommending music. What I’d like to see in the Mac App Store is complementary apps. You’ve bought ‘x’ and so you really need to check out ‘y’, rather than ‘you own BBEdit, so you might like Coda’.
@Josh and every other swan lover: I’m not really going to go kick a swan. If I wanted to, it’d be easy. I live near a lake with lots of swans. They hiss at people who go by all the time, so they might even deserve a kick, but I’d never do so. Besides, I’m British and so if I so much as touch a swan, the Queen would be at me with her Corgis, and I’d be imprisoned in the depths of Windsor Castle, kept alive only by fetid water and print-outs of my blog.
Actually, no, that’s not entirely true, because it’s a joke, like the heading was a joke. Man, did everyone lose their sense of humour for Christmas?
@frank: Categorisation was and is a massive problem on iOS, particularly for gaming. Apple clearly has similar problems with the Mac App Store. As I’ve said elsewhere, I’d love to see a robust tagging solution to aid with navigation and general search, but Apple seems happier to allow keyword spamming.
@Makie: You’re right—I don’t get it. That’s why I ended my post with a number of comments about how great the Mac App Store is apart from in terms of UI. NO, WAIT.
@nik: No such problems here, but I know a couple of other people have suffered similar problems. They found an extra restart helped. If not, you could run Disk Utility (or a similar app) over your HDD, to check all’s in order.
[…] to this will be a resounding silence, or “we don’t care”, or, if most of the Mac fans who showed up yesterday are still around, “you’re a shit designer and an moron who should die in a fire, so who […]
[…] 7, 2011. Apple, Design Tim Morgan has similar thoughts to me about the Mac App Store, adding that the back/forward buttons don’t stand out (unlike in […]
[…] the decline, possibly replaced by a new brand of crazy army: Love Android Or Die. And then I wrote Mac App Store UI is so hideous that it makes me want to kick a swan, which spread fairly wide and attracted the loving gaze of those who feel the need to coddle Steve […]
hmmm… I don’t see too much difference from the ipad/iphone app store and everything works fine. I must say I really like it…
d
@craig, i do really hate that in amazon’s recommendations as well, i bought one book over baseball’s history, so i don’t need antoher one… they make apps or non-fiction books the same as music or novels, which they clearly aren’t, one book / app more often than non can satisfy your need..
That’s a very Digitiser-esque article title, Craig.
*hugs Emirate Xaaron for ‘getting it’*
[…] update 10.6.6, and has so far garnered quite diverse reactions. They span from articles titled Mac App Store UI is so hideous that it makes me want to kick a swan to more balanced reviews, like over at lifehacker.com, with their two early opposing […]
RANT RANT RANT
Get over it already. Stop being jealous Apple didn’t ask for your advice when they were designing it.
Muscle memory? No-one has muscle memory that allows them to click any particular spot in the traffic light quickly. Your mouse is coming from one of over (x * y) points, to a handful of points that can also be just about anywhere – muscle memory doesn’t cover that.
At least something with an interface as basic as Firefox can’t have its interface as bad as that.
*sees Firefox 4*
ARRRGG”%”$%£^$”(%”
I agree with you. Apple should revert to standard menu bar/window design on iTunes as well as App Store. Gratuitous variations such as these violate HI Guidelines and annoy us old-time Mac users. I don’t know if I’d call it “hideous,” though. 😉