DIGG IT! I got an IPod for Christmas and simply love the UI. What I find interesting is the use of persistence in the menu. \0
The IPod UI is a tree with forms/feedback placed at the leafs of the tree. The thing that makes this wildly different is that the tree and the controls are persistent providing the application an intelligent feel that is lacking in similar products. Essentially if you navigate down the tree, the tree is marked with your selection at each node, if you navigate to another node, then return to a original node, the default selected item is your last default selection. Here is an example:
I navigated to:
Navigate to / Browse / Artists / Phish / All
Press Play on "Bouncing around the Room" //clearly a solid choice! ;)
Press Menu *5 to return to /
Navigate to / Extra / Clock
//here is where it gets interesting...
When I navigate back to / Browse the menu defaults to Artists (not so cool being the first item) but selecting Artists, the selection then defaults to Phish. Actually at each node in the tree each level persists the last selection. Even cooler is the fact that if I turn the IPod off and turn it back on, the GUI returns to the exact state including tree persistence.
This makes the IPod 1000 times more usable as I have fewer decisions to make as prior decisions are by default selected. Clearly someone at Apple should be applauded for the design. For a product that I am using more and more, the IPod seems to mold to my habits as if by magic. Less think, more music!
GUI persistence matters!
Cheers,
ted ;)
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