From a194189b46c81c57235b7fe16dd33d2de01ba3f8 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: Zhiming Wang Date: Tue, 26 Jan 2016 12:18:03 -0800 Subject: 20160126 Dropbox, Noteworthy, and damned skeuomorphism --- ...1-26-dropbox-noteworthy-and-damned-skeuomorphism.md | 15 +++++++++++++++ source/img/20160126-dropbox-noteworthy.png | Bin 0 -> 157000 bytes source/img/20160126-pdf-expert-note.png | Bin 0 -> 28615 bytes 3 files changed, 15 insertions(+) create mode 100644 source/blog/2016-01-26-dropbox-noteworthy-and-damned-skeuomorphism.md create mode 100644 source/img/20160126-dropbox-noteworthy.png create mode 100644 source/img/20160126-pdf-expert-note.png diff --git a/source/blog/2016-01-26-dropbox-noteworthy-and-damned-skeuomorphism.md b/source/blog/2016-01-26-dropbox-noteworthy-and-damned-skeuomorphism.md new file mode 100644 index 00000000..b56d8cda --- /dev/null +++ b/source/blog/2016-01-26-dropbox-noteworthy-and-damned-skeuomorphism.md @@ -0,0 +1,15 @@ +--- +title: "Dropbox, Noteworthy, and damned skeuomorphism" +date: 2016-01-26T12:18:36-08:00 +date_display: January 26, 2016 +--- + +I just opened a note in a PDF within Dropbox's iOS app (never done that before), and instead of readable text what I saw was basically spaghetti: + +![|300| A PDF note in Dropbox iOS. Noteworthy (scream). I know there's a typo, by the way.](/img/20160126-dropbox-noteworthy.png) + +That font is unmistakably Noteworthy, the default font in Apple's Notes app in Mountain Lion, when Apple was still practicing the damned skeuomorphism. (In case you can't recall how it looked like, let me point you to [the John Siracusa review](http://arstechnica.com/apple/2012/07/os-x-10-8/7/#notes) for screenshots.) Just like your coworker's average handwritten notes, it is hardly legible and takes tremendous effort just to decode, especially when clustered in a paragraph rather than a short one-liner. Compare that to the same note, legibly rendered in Helvetica in PDF Expert: + +![|258| The same note (typo corrected) in PDF Expert Mac.](/img/20160126-pdf-expert-note.png) + +This is an example of sacrificing usability for design aesthetics (an old-fashioned one for that matter, and an abonimable one if you ask for my opinion). Hard to believe we can still see it in 2016, from an otherwise great developer that is Dropbox. diff --git a/source/img/20160126-dropbox-noteworthy.png b/source/img/20160126-dropbox-noteworthy.png new file mode 100644 index 00000000..0f3769e5 Binary files /dev/null and b/source/img/20160126-dropbox-noteworthy.png differ diff --git a/source/img/20160126-pdf-expert-note.png b/source/img/20160126-pdf-expert-note.png new file mode 100644 index 00000000..3e5ffb5a Binary files /dev/null and b/source/img/20160126-pdf-expert-note.png differ -- cgit v1.2.1