Launchpad

I’m not usually one to write blog posts, but I thought I would start. I feel like I’ve got worthwhile points to make, that I occasionally mention on Twitter, but this blog is hopefully a medium to go a little more in depth, failing that, ramblings of a mad user interface designer.

These are currently very exciting times for developers and designers, and even everybody else. 10.7 Lion is just around the corner and iOS 5 following shortly after. And they come with a whole new range of UI changes, with many similarities between the two of them.

One of those new features in Lion, and one I’ll be talking about today is Launchpad. “A home for your apps”. What do Apple say about Launchpad exactly? Let’s have a look.

Say goodbye to hunting for the app you need in an applications folder. Launchpad gives you instant access to all your apps.

On the surface: “Wow, that sounds great! Hunting for apps in my Application folder is a right ballache!” — Which is exactly why I don’t do it. Each user has their own way of launching their apps they want to use easily. I personally use Spotlight. Cmd+Space, start typing for what I want and hit Enter. Other people might use third-party applications like Alfred or LaunchBar for example, and I’ve even seen users who cram every application they’re ever likely to use into their Dock, or even simply, have their Applications folder in their dock for quick and easy access. Although the latter still requires you to trawl through your content. Like a mini Launchpad.

So what are the features that Apple offer along with their new application?

1. See icons of all your apps in a dynamic full-screen view.

Just like on your iPhone or iPad you probably have! Yes, your Mac is sure to look like your favourite touch-screen device with all those big shiny icons that have appeared. Don’t they look inviting? Waiting for you to come along and prod them with your fingers. Maybe not you, the reader exactly, but the thousands and thousands of people who go into Apple stores all around the world daily who have just come from playing with the iOS devices by the entrance as they go to launch PhotoBooth or Safari on the desktop counterparts. Chances are that these people might not have Macs, especially if PhotoBooth is the app they will be launching and may be new to the OS. Understandably Apple want to make things nice and easy for users but I feel this simplicity is just going to cause confusion. A MacBook Air running Launchpad for example is just going to look like a big, silver iPad with a keyboard attached to it. As I was discussing with my work colleagues earlier, it would be interesting to hang around the Mac section of the store, with Launchpad running and just seeing how many people go running towards them with an outstretched arm and finger like E.T. 

It may sound like I’m insinuating these people are stupid, absolutely not, I know for definite that had I never used a Mac before, or even an iPad/iPhone that I would be tapping away at the screen expecting stuff to ‘work’.

2. Group apps in folders by dragging one app on top of another.

Just like on your iPhone or iPad you probably have! Again, taking a leaf straight from iOS’s skeumorphic book. Whilst I’m not “hating” this feature, I find the way it has been designed very unnecessary. Exactly like iOS. Whilst that isn’t exactly the best way to go about it, it works for various reasons. One being that it is a smaller screen and you’re limited for space, and you are able to drag app icons around with your finger for example. With dragging an icon into a folder, exactly like iOS, the screen splits to reveal the now-infamous Linen pattern. Which could easily have a blog post of it’s own. On a screen size of 2560x1440 for example, that’s ridiculous. And you don’t even get the Star Trek-esque sliding door sound effects to go with it.  Why isn’t this something like a popover for example? That’s keeping things along the iOS tracks, right?

Another thing with this is you can only drag one item at a time. So if you’ve got a good number of apps, you’re going to be spending a bit of time organising those not being able to do multiple selections.

3. Delete apps quickly and easily from your Mac.

Just like on your iPhone or iPad you probably have! Okay, you get the picture. It’s exactly the same. 

Launchpad makes it easy to delete apps you downloaded from the Mac App Store. Hold down an app icon until all the icons start to jiggle. Then click an app’s Delete button (x) to uninstall the app. You can also delete an app by dragging the icon to the Trash. When you delete an app from Launchpad, it is completely removed from your computer.

What? Why would you even want that on your desktop? That is just plain dumb. What ever happened to ‘right-clicking’? You can’t do that on iOS understandably, but this is a desktop machine with cursors and whatnot, dammit! Dragging the icon to the trash makes sense, that’s standard throughout all PCs and Macs but jiggling icons with a large Delete button in the top left corner? Makes you wonder if Apple’s HIG group took suggestions on board from Fisher-Price for this one. 

Another thing here is that if I don’t want a particular application to appear on my Launchpad, but don’t want to uninstall it, means that I’m pretty much stuck with it. Meaning I have to hide it in a folder somewhere or on another page, much like an ugly child would be hidden towards the back in a school class photo.

So those are the three main points Apple have made about Launchpad, and my take on them. I do like the fact however how newly purchased apps from the Mac App Store will automatically appear in Launchpad. I’d much rather have this than how it currently is on Snow Leopard with the icon going into my dock which I’d have to immediately drag out. Along with many other things in Lion, you can navigate between Launchpad pages with a three-finger swipe. I would instinctively use a two-finger swipe as if I were to ‘scroll’ through the pages, but with how the three-finger swipe is used throughout Lion, I can see why this was chosen.

So what’s next? Is this correlation an early sign of things to come in the the future as Apple try to merge OS X with iOS? Only time will tell.