Thread: iPod Touch (threads merged)
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Milhouse is offline Milhouse
2007-10-11 , 21:52
Posts: 3,401 | Thanked: 1,255 times | Joined on Nov 2005 @ London, UK
#334
Originally Posted by Karel Jansens View Post
It may be finger friendly, but I'm quite certain that it is not as consistent as the fanboi crowd wants us to believe.
Maybe so, but what I saw looked pretty consistent - far more so than the disjointed Nokia UI.

Originally Posted by Karel Jansens View Post
You can't have it both ways: If Nokia dictates how developers should make their applications look and feel, it can no longer be called an open platform. And I don't want it that way; just one example: Horizon is a beautiful app (if not quite finished), yet its user interface breaks all Hildon conventions. Regardless, I cannot see a better way for tht application to be controlled than the way it is now. Should they be forced to comply to Nokia's idea of a user interface?
As I said, Nokia is not responsible for the UI that is used/abused by community developed applications, which is meant to imply that Nokia *IS* responsible for the UI on applications that it ships with the device and certifies for subsequent download.

Nokia is perfectly capable of enforcing a consistent UI on it's own device, and also when it sponsors or engages third-parties to create applications, but beyond that it has no ability (or right) to enforce the UI on community developers.

That said, if the UI is well designed then chances are the community developers will happily go along with what Nokia provide (by and large). If the native UI is good they'll use it, if it's not they'll abuse it. Even Nokia themselves abuse it, so what does that tell us?

Originally Posted by Karel Jansens View Post
That's how open platforms work: without central control. Like it or leave it...

That last one was no joke; we're dealing with the fundamental philosophy of openness here: the developer is free to do what he wants. Period.
Agreed. But when the UI is well designed (and more importantly, well defined), the developer doesn't have to re-invent the wheel unless it's absolutely necessary, which probably applies in the case of Horizon. However with a good UI, examples such as Horizon will be the exception rather than the norm.