Preamble
This year’s macOS and iOS releases are my least favorites of all time. Apple’s 1984-esque push to make everything look like translucent goo that can’t stay put is one thing. Although it’s a big thing. It puts way more cognitive load on users as text on translucent surfaces can be extremely hard to read. The general lack of contrast also amplifies this. And unnecessary, battery-draining animations and lighting effects sometimes cause nausea. I find it very depleting to use these new operating system versions.
But these aside, the bigger issue is that the compatibility layer for apps built for previous operating system releases is severely broken, which forced us to move forward to goo-land.
Vive la Résistance!
Since we value our user’s time, and frown upon conformity, the decision was to push back. We do prioritize our design language and don’t want our apps look like ghosts. So we carefully examined each interface element and each use case to keep usability-compromising things out of the apps. There’s some degree of “blend-in” for a seamless user experience where appropriate – this reduces cognitive load. Sometimes the workarounds we applied to stock elements are subtle, but even those proved to significantly lessen the overall visual stress.
Our apps will definitely look different. But being different is a good thing.
Given the sheer amount of our apps, this is still a work in progress. We do release those we are satisfied with one-by-one. And here is the earliest bird…
ShutterCount 7
The most prominent change you’ll encounter is on the iPad. With the new windowing mode ShutterCount became strikingly similar to the Mac variant.
Menus are almost identical to the Mac – as well as keyboard shortcuts. If you are using the iPad with a keyboard and mouse, you’ll find the app quite easy to use. Combined with the fact that iPadOS has a much better USB camera connectivity than contemporary macOS, I wouldn’t be surprised to see iPadOS becoming the premier platform for this app.
The iOS variant retains the former interface even on the iPad. We don’t like to change things around for the sake of change. It upsets professional users. So now you have multiple ways to access the same features: the original touch-oriented ones plus through the menu bar.
Version 7 is a free update to all previous ShutterCount owners. New users can download it from the respective App Store.
