Craig Villamor points out something a brilliant about Apple’s iPad UI in a recent post – the Popover.
‘The Popover’ is a new iPad UI element that’s just like a web overlay – allowing you to hide elements from the main interface.
But iPad’s popover looks kind of familiar, doesn’t it. Check out what it looks like with an iPhone superimposed over it.
What a brilliant decision.
In Craig’s words:
Think about it. Apple could have gone any number of ways with the UI. They could have copied the desktop or they could have invented an entirely new UI construct. Instead, they logically extended the iPhone interface whose interaction model, size, shape and (importantly) scalability have been proven out over the last few years.
I completely agree. But I also think this design decision does something very important. It allows people to learn the interface before they’ve even used an iPad. That’s pretty clever.
It allows users to leapfrog directly over the “awkward novice” stage. Instantly they understand what they’re doing. As interface designers, Apple have you at “Hello”.
