Mac Polish
Friday, August 5, 2005
As I mentioned in the previous post, I posted a reveiew of the digital video management application FrameVault. To sum up the review, I said the application worked as described, but that it had almost no “Mac Polish.” to it. What is Mac Polish? Here’s a few examples:
* Excellent UI design
* Drag-and-drop
* Keyboard access
* Authentic Apple Help (ie. using Help Viewer)
* Other little things that are always overlooked (like setting a table cell editable on insertion)
I think that I have been sniffing too much of the polish, because I tend to frown upon applications that aren’t covered in it. Applications like Delicious Library, NetNewsWire, VoodooPad and Transmit are four of the top applications according to my unofficial measurement of polished applications. Let’s just analyze VoodooPad and look at some of the nifty little features that I think make it a polished application. I pick VoodooPad because the other three get far more love in my eyes, so I want to spread it around. :-)
When you first launch the application it starts you out with some sample data to work with. The sample data is an explanation of what the application is and how to get started using it. Having sample data is more inviting than presenting them with a blank screen. The sample data includes a lot of the features that make the application unique: links to other pages in the wiki, embedded images and external links. The user can click around and see what the application is all about.
One other thing I like on the interface front is the small Buy Now link that Gus includes in the bottom right-hand corner. Rather than nag the user everytime the application starts (or every fifteen minutes like some applications), there is a constant, non-intrusive reminder at the bottom to support the shareware. Nice touch.
Looking at the menu structure of the application you will see the normal ones: the application name, file, edit, window, applescript and help. Along with that are format, page and plugin. Each menu is structured with relevant commands and the more frequently used ones are given keyboard shortcuts. One thing that bugged me about FrameVault is that every single function had a keyboard shortcut. If I mistyped a command, I was going to cause something else to happen.
One thing that all applications need to do is have a descriptive, but not too long application name window.
Good examples: VoodooPad, NetNewsWire, Safari, iCal.
Bad Examples: The Missing Sync For Windows Mobile, FmPro Migrator 1.91, Virex 7.6
The menu name should be short and descriptive. How could we correct the offenders?
- The Missing Sync
- FmPro Migrator
- Virex
They are short, don’t take up too much space and describe what the application is. I assuming Mark/Space has such a long descriptive name because they have three products called The Missing Sync (PocketPC, PalmOS, HipTop), but the icon for the application adds enough description for the person to know which device is syncing. As for FmPro Migrator and Virex, there is no need to put the version number on your application name. Save that for the about window.
I think that’s enough for this edition. Next time: Toolbars!
Update: Check Out Part 2
Comments
josh says:
VoodooPad has an excellent UI…except for the toolbar icons. Why oh why can’t they get some professional help there?
Posted August 5, 2005 at 8:39 am
vassili says:
Agreed about the icons, but it’s not about lack of professional help, more like the right kind of help. The current ones are certainly not the painted-by-the-engineer kind. They have a clean consistent style, the problem is they fail as a communication tool. Any given two icons are more alike than different. Form, a strong blue faux-3D ball that jumps right out at you, dominates the message, which this insignificant picture inside. Hey, am I writing the next blog post here or what?
Other than that, I love VoodooPad too.
Posted August 5, 2005 at 8:39 am
August Mueller says:
(I’m the guy who wrote VoodooPad).
On the icons, I actually went to a pretty well known professional to get the icons redone at one point- but it turned out that he used VoodooPad and was surprised that I wanted to change them because he liked them… so I kept them :)
But with that said, I’ll probably have them changed a bit for version 3.0.
Posted August 5, 2005 at 8:39 am
Neil says:
I agree with four out of the five criteria you’ve listed that defines a polished app. The one that I think isn’t necessary (in fact, I prefer applications that don’t have this) is applications that use the Help Viewer.
Even in Mac OS X 10.4 the Help Viewer applications is atrocious. The search barely works, you can’t print the entire documentation out (creating double the work for a developer that wants to provide printable docs), it’s not bookmark-enabled, and much, much more. I personally find it very awkward to use.
In 10.4 now that PDFs are so well supported (searchable, bookmarkable, etc.) I think all applications should switch over to PDF-based documentation. The two downsides to this that I can see is the lack of ability to include embedded content (like QT movies) and probably some increased file size. But besides that, it’s a superior option.
Posted August 5, 2005 at 8:39 am
Stewart says:
I agree with Neil. I prefer applications that don’t have their help in Apple’s Help Viewer format. On my old PowerBook, Help Viewer is painfully slow.
Posted August 5, 2005 at 8:39 am
Mark says:
You are right-on with this post. I can think of tens of Windows applications that could use some Mac Polish :)
Posted August 5, 2005 at 8:39 am
Justin Williams says:
I am not nearly as opposed to PDF help as I am to “home brew solutions” as long as the PDF is as cleanly organized as what is stored in the Apple Help Viewer normally. What constitutes organization?
Even so, I think that Apple has done a pretty decent job in making Help Viewer suck less (especially compared to Jag-wire and below). My main argument for the viewer as part of the polish is that users should have a central place to expect help rather than having one application open a PDF, the other use the Help Viewer, and a third use their own solution.
Posted August 5, 2005 at 8:39 am
BoBB says:
I agree with everything you said 100%, I don’t think app’s need to have pdf documentation, i think the help viewer needs some mac polish ;-) I just discovered VooDooPad recently as well and I love it.
Posted August 6, 2005 at 8:39 am
Danny says:
There’s an app called exPressit SE 2.2 that has quite possibly the most poorly designed UI ever. Mac polish? This app doesn’t even know what “Mac” is. It’s made by Memorex to be used in designing DVD jackets, labels, etc. I actually had to return all of my jackets because the Photoshop templates they supposedly made were NOT included on the CD, and this exPressit app wouldn’t even let me rotate my canvas to design things. I couldn’t even laugh at it. Anyways, I agree with everything you said, Justin. And everyone stay away from Memorex labels.
Posted August 6, 2005 at 8:39 am
Larry says:
OmniOutliner and OmniGraffle have some Mac polish (in my opinion);
Sofa (the music collection player/displayer app) was pretty awesome (and original).
Posted August 6, 2005 at 8:39 am
Marc Driftmeyer says:
I don’t use an application based around its icons. I use an application on whether or not it has compelling features that can make me productive.
Icons should be the last focus and done after the design and implementation are complete.
Posted August 6, 2005 at 8:39 am
Andy says:
A agree that the Mac Polish is essential, but, on a related note, is Safari really that much more descriptive as a name than Virex? Heck, it’d suit the Finder as much as it would a web browser.
(And with all this talk about VoodooPad, I’m thinking I should really try it out…)
Posted August 8, 2005 at 8:39 am
Sasha says:
Check out myNotes (search on Macupdate for it). Pretty stylish app.
Posted August 19, 2005 at 8:39 am
Dan Donner says:
Any app that only provides PDF documentation gets a serious downgrade on my list. I don’t care that it takes extra work for the developer to create both PDF and Apple Help. If they don’t use the help system, it’s a bummer for me. (I’m not sure that is really is extra work, by the way, just print all the HTML to a PDF file. There are tools that do this for you.)
This is a nice list, I hope that more developers pay close attention to it. And, yes, Voodoo Pad is cool.
Posted August 6, 2007 at 8:39 am