Magic Torch

A thought.

Most people don’t use the Web. A large majority (80% plus) of planet Earth are not online. One of the reasons for this, maybe not the main reason, but certainly a substantial reason, is that computers in their current form are simply too complex and require too much investment of attention to be useful to these people. They are not interested in simultaneously having a computer experience doing useful tasks and managing that computer experience (opening windows, moving things about, managing apps, maintaining security, wrangling updates, etc.). Not because they aren’t clever enough, just because doing things on a computer still involves too much computer to be useful to them.

The Apple iPad could possibly be the first main-stream device to successfully push past this “too much computer” bottleneck and present a new paradigm in interacting with data and functionality. Certainly, a strong argument can be made that this could be the case. Will others follow if this proves to be the case? Certainly. Will their subsequent attempts outdo Apple’s products? Could well be. The important bit is the paradigm shift itself, rather than which particular company is driving it.

So, let’s say Apple (for the sake of argument) does create this shift and makes computers useful for people who are currently uninterested. Their expectation of how a computer works will be based on this new paradigm, which will be fundamentally different in a few or many ways to the existing one.

Let’s also say that the number of users who come to exist within this paradigm far outnumber the users who exist in the “currently interested” paradigm. The numbers certainly suggest this is a possibility.

So.

What does the Web need to become to fit this new paradigm? How many of the design and functional norms that currently exist are children of the “currently useful” paradigm and simply not applicable in the new one?

Has web design up until this point been aimed at a skewed, early-adopter demographic and we haven’t really noticed?

And, if this is the case, what happens to us when everyone else arrives?

I was in the cinema when all the announcing was going on, but I’ve had a wee look just now.

The thing that struck me immediately is that the UI design has this deadly confidence about it. The Mail app, the Calendar, the whole thing. No hesitation, no glancing sideways at what other people are doing, certainly nothing left half-done.

You notice the same calmness and polish on the iPhone, but here it really gets a chance to stretch its legs.

Lovely.

I didn’t think I’d want one, but I really do.

John Gruber has an seriously exhaustive UI critique of the Safari 4 Beta over at Daring Fireball. I agree with most of it. I’ve recently moved back to using Safari as my main Mac browser after about 6 months of Firefox (I was in a forensic mood and Firebug kicks the Safari web inspector’s ass for hot code-perusing action).

But, Safari (3, at least) just feels part of the OS in a way Firefox doesn’t, and I was getting enough Firebug action at work so back I went.

But the nice feelings have pretty much evaporated with version 4. Mac UI conventions have been abandoned left, right and centre, and I’m having to exert substantial mental effort just to re-orientate myself with the bloody thing every time I use it.

Here’s one thing. A tiny, little thing that is driving me nuts.

I, like most people, love my browser tabs. I don’t go crazy, but I generally have 3 or 4 open at a minimum. With version 4, Safari has combined the tabs with the normally sacrosanct window toolbar. Many of the reasons why this is knob-headed are detailed over at the Fireball, but my one tiny thing is this:

When I click to switch tabs I clearly make some kind of a minute downward motion with the mouse. Previously this had no effect on the window as a whole. But now about 50% of the time, because tab and toolbar are one, the window gets dragged down a few pixels instead of the tab being switched.

I like my windows right up against the menu bar. Just how much is becoming clear to me, because I am starting to make strange moaning noises when the 3 pixel drag occurs.

UI anxiety is a laughably crap thing to have, so please stop giving it to me, Safari 4.

UPDATE: I gave in and changed the tabs back to the v3 configuration using the hidden preferences. The downside to this is that Safari no longer asks you the “Close multiple tabs?” question if you click the “close window” button. One thing replaces another.

ANOTHER UPDATE: Looks like the “Close multiple tabs?” warning does appear, after all. Must have unchecked the option at some point. Huzzah!