Blog
Jan 7, 2011
On non-standard window controls
Recently I've noticed a few apps that give the window controls more room than the system default. I first noticed this with the Reeder for Mac app, where the top bar of the window is higher than we're use to seeing on the Mac. The window controls (Close/Minimize/Maximize) on the other hand remained the same size but shifted a bit downwards to the middle of the bar.
I didn't give it any more thought after I initially noticed it, until yesterday the Mac App Store was released. This app too sports a higher than regular top window bar and fuses it into some sort of hybrid title/toolbar, just like Reeder. Besides: remember the vertical window controls introduced in iTunes 10? That's another variation on the standards we're so used to seeing.
What we're used to:
What we're seeing more often:
I'm not sure whether this "toying around" with the window controls and the entire title bar is a trend, a coincidence or the next innovation in UI design, but I do see some problems.
Take the three little circles that form the window controls. Suddenly they have more space around them, but their size stays the same. The result is that you overshoot the cursor quicker than before. Fitt's Law comes into play here, and it's not for the better.
Fusing title-bar and top-bar together into one is an interesting solution with merit. First, it frees up some precious screen real estate. It might not be much, but especially on smaller resolutions every little bit helps. I agree that sometimes the title-bar seems kind of redundant or even unnecessary; the window controls however aren't. Ever.
But where do OS-supplied window controls stop and does the app-specific toolbar begin? Ironically enough, the two apps by Apple itself in the example above aren't quite clear in this respect. The Mac App Store places the window controls right next to the left-most elements of the toolbar without any form of separation, as does iTunes 10. The Back/Forward buttons of the Mac App Store, placed like they are, might just as well mean "Move the window left/right". A clear separation between both parts isn't a luxury: it helps establish correct mental models concerning window management across an OS.
A possible solution to the Fitt's Law issue (though this has issues as well):
