Apple spends as much time trimming out things that aren’t necessary as they do coming up with the latest cool new idea. They realize that every extra unnecessary option increases the complexity for everyone, and if you’re not ruthless with cutting out things that most people don’t want you’ll end up with an experience that is cluttered, complicated, and difficult to figure out how to use on your own. It’ll look like a Cockpit UI.
Apple has a massive document for programmers called the Human Interface Guidelines (affectionately referred to as the HIG) that covers a huge range of user experience issues and ways to make your apps as elegant as possible. The intro is worth reading for anyone curious, it’ll give you a sense of the level of care they put into software craftsmanship.
One example is that on PC software you’ll often be greeted with a pop-up message from the system that warns you about something, and it leaves you with 2 choices “OK” and “Cancel.” The problem is that you never really know what those mean, does ok mean you can’t save and clicking it will destroy my data? or does it mean something else? In the HIG, it states:
“Ensure that the default button name corresponds to the action you describe. In particular, it’s a good idea to avoid using OK for the default button. The meaning of OK can be unclear even in alerts that ask if the user is sure they want to do something. For example, does OK mean “OK, I want to complete the action” or “OK, I now understand the negative results my action would have caused”?
Using a more focused button name, such as Erase, Convert, Clear, or Delete, helps make sure that users understand the action they’re taking.”
There are tons of little details like this that most people never notice, but subconsciously improve their daily lives. I can assure you that a lot of thought and energy go into these types of details.
Anyone who want’s to understand why Apple is one of the greatest tech companies just needs to read the HIG, and they’ll see why.