1BigMess
I’m a huge fan of 1Password. A single button in Safari lets me in to every site and all I have to remember is (you guessed) one password. Yesterday marks the day when version 3 was released. It uses a new and better keychain, has plenty of amazing features and support for 64bit Safari (yeah!). Well-done upgrade.
But my eyes hurt when I look at this:
I know not many people see this window very often, but I think whoever designed it went overboard. Let’s outline what is really wrong and why.
Sidebar is widely used in variety of apps since Leopard was released. As you can see it’s not exactly the same in every app but it’s conveniently similar. Finder and iTunes use slightly different background (other apps follow) and white text shadow for headers varies but they all look pretty coherent.
1Password on the other hand uses much darker background (with matching selection color) and oversized headers. Icons don’t match the same style and saturation and some of them are too big.
Main part of 1Password’s window is taken by a list with all passwords. What is wrong with that? Scrollbar. Take a look at scrollbars in Mac OS X:
On the left there’s default Aqua scrollbar, then Apple’s flat variation used for the first time in iTunes. I think we can all agree iTunes 9 looks like a glowing turd, but it actually manages to make that flat scrollbar prettier. And then there’s 1Password with its own invention. Let’s take a closer look.
Our password app wanted to have a flat scrollbar but it failed – bottom part is shorter, arrows lack shadow, there’s no depth and there’s no left border that would separate it from the table view. I’m not sure if you can choose iTunes-esque scrollbar in Interface Builder, but if you can’t you should build something better.
Next up: bottom toolbar.
They aren’t really the same, but every app using this interface element makes it in the same, unified gray. 1Password once again chooses the dark side and paints it with dark gray.
Lastly, there’s this thing:
Nobody tells guys at Agile Web Solutions to make editing data boring (Address Book), but I see so many custom elements and pointless decorations that my head hurts. And there’s more.
Text shadow everywhere, outer and inner. Misaligned labels. Custom (keyboard inaccessible) controls. Squeezed footer text despite plenty of space. Yellow band and tilted screenshot screaming “Look at me!” simultaneously. Paper clip, curled page, drop shadow, gradient and abstract drawing. I’m wondering where bevel is hiding. Christ.
I still love this piece of code for all the hard work it does. But Mac apps are details, fretted over and over. Interface should be recognizable but not juvenile. That’s why Cultured Code’s or Panic’s creations fit in the system yet are engaging. 1Password? Not so much.
