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Comment on "Satisfying UI Design is Often Illogical"
by sam — Nov 06
Or, put another way: I know where "File" is. But tell me, quick: Is "Bookmarks" the sixth or the seventh item in the Firefox menu bar? (Answer: Both, depending on whether you count the Apple menu.)

If I had to count menus to find them, that would be a step back. In Safari, Bookmarks a little to the right of the center of the menus. All I need is a tiny cue to differentiate it from History and Window, and the current translucence doesn't slow that process up at all, even for new programs.

To me, making (probably) the single most-used text-based element of the user interface harder to read is not a step forward in UI design, even if some users may eventually train themselves out of the need to read it at all.

Then presumably, easier-to-read would be a step forward. But the menu bar could be easier to read even in Tiger, using whiter background, bolder and wider letters, maybe some optimum colors (yellow on blue I hear is easiest to read), or flashing letters.

There is already some compromise with cosmetics and readability in Tiger, and the optimum compromise is subject to opinion. I don't buy the claim of so many Mac webheads that harder-to-read is objectively worse; appearance is relevant too.

Even if the menu is the single-most text-based UI element, it is still scarcely glanced at. It's not like I'm reading War and Peace in the menu bar.
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