Flat Pixels
Skeuomorphic realism certainly didn't start with the iPhone. Anybody who has dabbled in music production knows it's been around since the 90s. Here are some pieces of software I've been using for the better part of the last decade:<p><a href="https://farm1.staticflickr.com/16/92028519_6c7f4a6d50.jpg" rel="nofollow">https://farm1.staticflickr.com/16/92028519_6c7f4a6d50.jpg</a><p><a href="http://www.migmusic.com/bin/pro52.jpg" rel="nofollow">http://www.migmusic.com/bin/pro52.jpg</a><p>Unlike apps for the iPhone, these virtual knobs and sliders don't benefit from a touch screen. No keybindings. No tabbing between them. Just reduced functionality and wasted screen real estate for the sake of looking ``cool'' to people with crappy taste.<p>For this reason, I've come to despise so-called realism in technology. Even the tried-and-true desktop metaphor seems like an outdated crutch for helping old people understand computers. How does imagining manilla folders help the next generation of computer users understand directory structures when they've seen more computers in their time than file cabinets? It's time to can the metaphors and let computers be computers.