Polish and Delight: A Series
The details add up.
Why is ChatGPT for Mac So Good?
Claude, Copilot, and making a good desktop app.
This year, even as Anthropic, Google, and others have challenged OpenAI’s model performance crown, ChatGPT’s lead as an end-user product has only solidified. On the Dithering podcast last week (paywalled), Ben Thompson called out an aspect of why this is: I need someone to write the definitive article on why...
UX Entropy
Zoom’s arc from hero to hulk.
In the olden days, video calls were hard. Circa 2012, if your next meeting was online, it was important to start the process 5-10 minutes early. The process, at that time, was some or all of the following incantations and rituals: Find the meeting URL Find the meeting passcode Download...
Figma Slides is a Beautiful Disaster
Some highlights and lowlights.
I think of presentation slides as having 3 main jobs: Emphasize key points, so people remember Break up complex concepts, so people learn Entertain, so people pay attention This calls for slides that are mostly images or very short phrases. A minority of slides justify designing something to match the...
An Unreasonable Amount of Time
A method for magic.
Years ago, Teller performed a magic trick.1 First, he’d have you pick a card. He would attempt to produce the card, but fail, indicating the card may have travelled elsewhere. He’d then lead you on a short walk to a nearby park, and then be inspired to dig a hole....
Link: On Refining Apps’ Text
I recently wrote an article on tuning microcopy – the tiny bits of text that lead folks through your product – over on the Steamclock blog:
Just like that, the complaints stopped. We went from receiving frequent annoyed reports that transactions were broken, to occasional kind suggestions that it would be nice if people could see more than 3 months of transactions. Everybody rejoiced.
So satisfying.
iTunes: An Error Occurred
Like all good things, iTunes comes to an end.
Once upon a time, Apple debuted an application for playing music. Yes, an application. That’s what we called apps back when dinosaurs roamed the Mac. And one of the most-loved applications back in that ancient era was for playing your MP3s. It was called iTunes. iTunes brought together a...
Navigation Should Be Boring
Apps should be interesting, but not like that.
When launching a product, especially a consumer-oriented one, you want it to be interesting. A novel, bold, or distinctive UI can make an app stand out from the crowd, be memorable, and inspire curiosity. Plus, it’s cool. Luckily, there are a lot of ways you can make an interface interesting....
When Used Properly
The Aeropress box causes me great pain.
It is well known in the tech world that to be successful, you need a fussy way to make coffee. A couple years ago, after seeing some great recommendations, I thought I might finally try the legendary AeroPress. Next time I was down at our local fancy coffee shop, waiting...
Schrödinger’s Shift Key
I get upset about a shift key.
In iOS 7.1, Apple changed the design of the shift key. This was the worst thing to happen in the history of software. When the shift key is on, it blends in with the letter keys. When it’s off, it blends in with the function keys. Neither state sticks out...
Maximum Viable Products
We try to make the best products we can.
“Minimum Viable Product. It’s an interesting term, and I don’t… I’ve never… really thought about it before. We don’t really do Minimum Viable Products, I guess we do Maximum Viable Products.” – Cabel Sasser A Maximum Viable Product is a product that is as good as the market will...
Providing joy at 60 fps
We make an app feel fast.
At Steam Clock we go to a lot of effort to make sure we ship apps with a high level of polish. Making your app solve the user’s problems well is the first 90% of building a great app. Polishing the hell out of that experience so it’s a joy...
Cancelling “Yes or No”
We say no to bad modal dialogs.
Curtis inquired in a comment on my last post about “Yes” and “No” being poor menu options. There are many UI design sources that suggest this, but I go as far as to say dialogs should never use Yes and No as options. OK is almost as bad unless it’s...