Apple designers create spectacular user interfaces. They’ve been doing if for years, and they continue to get better. If you want to improve your design skills, if you want to bring the same elegance to your application you should study Apple products. If you are a software developer or designer pay close attention to how Apple crafts their UI.
My work has always been in the Windows world. Until recently, some of the UI tricks that you see in Apple application were difficult to create for my Windows applications.
That has all changed with WPF.
Look at the iPhone UI
I encourage you to watch the videos at http://www.apple.com/iphone/ .
Then keep this is mind.
- Every single UI trick
- Each animation
- Every single blended window
- How they merge video, animation and 2D graphics
- Every single feature in the user interface on the iPhone can be created today in WPF.
WPF gives you the tools to build application that look and feel like these screenshots.
What are you waiting for?
-Walt
I agree that everything you see on the iPhone can be done in WPF, but WPF doesn’t run on Windows Mobile. I suppose there is WPF/E thou…
It’s not just about the pretty colors and shapes, it’s about the interaction between the fingertip and the interface, as well as the physical interaction.
i.e. the momentum in the flick of scrolled list, the tilt-sensitivity, the seamless flow from address-list to address-detail to call screen.
The iPhone is well worth stealing ideas from – but more than anything it is a call for better UI design thinking. There is a world beyond dialog boxes and status bars, but it takes courage to break out of the wizard-generated world of Visual Studio-generated interfaces. The iPhone (like the iPod) is a triumph of focus on the user’s experience, and relentlessly refining and polishing that experience till no obstacles remain.
We can only hope more companies are willing to invest the effort in designing and refining and polishing to the same degree.
Speaking of Windows Mobile – they must be having a fun day. I imagine stunned developers sitting slack jawed in amazement, some quietly sobbing before going back to work on the new “Outlook for Phones” version. (Now with tiny ribbons across the top)
Christian.
Yes, the iPhone is a device and will have a touch screen. Some of the features, like flicking, don’t have a place in the average Windows app, because the user doesn’t have a way to make the gesture. But Tablet PCs do. If I was writing software for specific tablet use, I’d pay close attention to the Apple UI for devices.
My point of the post was to consider the power that WPF brings to the designer/developer palette.
I completely agree with you when you say:
” …but more than anything it is a call for better UI design thinking. There is a world beyond dialog boxes and status bars, but it takes courage to break out… ”
WPF gives us greater flexibility to create interfaces. Whether these UIs are outstanding or outlandish remains to be seen. I sure there will be plenty of both. But we need to study and learn and perfect and improve as we go. Certainly looking at the Apple UI will give us food for thought.
WPF won’t be available for Windows Mobile for a looong time. Yes, our desktop apps can be made to look more Apple like using WPF, but, not mobile ones. I am encouraged by how WPF enables us UI designers to achieve such beautiful effects, but, it’s unfortunate that I can’t use WPF when I do mobile apps.
[...] original post that the above reply was left to can be found here, originally talking about the Apple iPhone UI, and what WPF (Windows Presentation Foundation) can [...]