iPhone X: final level of UX Inferno

>At the time, I was wary–if Apple keeps adding gestures to this simple language, I wrote, “it will kill what made these devices successful in the first place.”

I remember having this thought at the time as well. Then, the gestures became useful after I learned to use them. While most of these gestures (mostly on iPad) weren’t needed by the average user to do the important things, they’re nice to have if you’re a power user. That’s where I thought this UI divide was heading. Power users (gestures) and regular users (no gestures), still able to accomplish the same things but in different ways.

Now, it’s gone too far. Now the ecosystem is fragmented and gestures are necessary to use the device. I decided to pass on the X because I didn’t want new gestures and muscle memory to interfere with the way I use my iPad and iPhone currently. Of course the fragmentation issue will be resolved when this language is applied across the lineup, but for now it’s not.

Still, I doubt I will see an infant pick up an X and know how to use it without instruction like I’ve seen an infant use an iPad.

Desktop UIs were once amazingly consistent and intuitive too. Anyone over 30 probably remembers the standard menu, context sensitive help, standard keyboard shortcuts, etc. This was before abominations like Office "ribbons," skins, themes, and Electron.

UIs seem to be like Egyptian monuments. The greatest pyramids were built first. By the new kingdom they just bored holes in the ground.

We knew how to design damn near perfect desktop UIs by 1998 and damn near perfect mobile UIs by around 2010. What happened?

I think it's because tech is as much fashion as function and fashion must constantly change. It doesn't matter if a UI is excellent if it looks 5 years ago. Each new platform begins with a well thought out UI but then it must change, and change, and change. Good design principles must be thrown out if they might make your product look old.