2019/02/07

more about delight in the Apple Human Interface

Cool; I just used the "Back" function in Apple's Safari web browser - and happened to be paying attention enough, to see that what it actually did, was what I _wanted_, rather than what I asked for:

I happened to be in a tab created by a command-click of a URL in the previous tab; there was no "back" in this case - so it did _exactly_ the right thing - it closed the tab and returned me to the previous tab.

This is precisely the thoughtful design that Apple is known for:

  • Some of us (developers) know it directly, and know how much work it takes.
  • And the rest of us who use a Mac, iPhone, iPad, etc., know it simply because, when the interface surprises us, it's usually a pleasant surprise.

A delight if you will - which is actually an explicit part of the official Apple Human Interface Guidelines.

That's a lot of hard work, which is usually (by design!) unnoticed - the point is not the device, but what _you_ want to do with it.

Although, every once in awhile, it's nice to appreciate - thanks, folks!

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