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A History of Steve Jobs' War on Buttons

by , 3:20 PM EDT, July 26th, 2007

Steve Jobs has been on a war against buttons for a long time. The original Macintosh had no cursor keys. Apple's Cube had a touch sensitive area instead of a power switch. The Apple remote control has only six buttons. Apple's mice of old clung to one button. So it's not surprising that the iPhone's virtual keyboard goes up against the entire smartphone industry, according to Nick Wingfield at the Wall Street Journal.

Other companies load their electronic gadgets up with buttons which just confuse most customers. The iPhone, an extremely sleek and minimalist device is continuing evidence of Mr Jobs' decades long war on buttons. They are, in effect, blemishes that add complexity and detract from the clean lines of a product.

That simplicity even extends to Apple's retail stores. The elevator in Apple's store in Tokyo has no buttons. It simply stops on every floor. "I got used to this," said customer Hiroshi Kawano. "It's simple, and I like it."

When Mr. Job's unveiled his Front Row remote control, he reveled in the simplicity of the Apple remote and compared it on a Keynote slide to a huge, complex remote with more than 40 buttons. "I don't know that there's ever been a slide that captures what Apple's about as much as this one," Mr. Jobs said.

Sometimes, Apple's own customers are confused at first. Apple's iPod has no clearly labeled on/off button. Nowadays, every one understands.

Fortunately, few other executives have this particular feeling for aesthetics, and it remains Apple's undisputed hallmark. Just like the black turtleneck -- which, by the way, doesn't have buttons either.

  

Observer Comments

Show: Subjects Only | Full Comments
View Name:Guest
Subject: Unfortunately, SJ isn't always right about this.
View Name:Guest
Subject: I think once you get used to the Nano, you won't have to loo
View Name:Guest
Subject: Of course!
Close Name:gslusher Posts: 2001 Joined: 13 Nov 2002
Subject: Mouses

"Apple's mice of old clung to one button."

And, now, they have NO buttons.

Close Name:daemon Posts: 305 Joined: 17 May 2007
Subject: Re: Of course!

Quote
Anonymous wrote:
'That simplicity even extends to Apple's retail stores. The elevator in Apple's store in Tokyo has no buttons. It simply stops on every floor. "I got used to this," said customer Hiroshi Kawano. "It's simple, and I like it."'

That's brilliant. Seriously. Who else would think of tampering with the classic elevator paradigm when building a simple retail store? And yet, it makes so much sense. If you've got a limited number of floors with a constant flow of traffic, why *not* stop on every one every time?


Yea, but the simpler idea of "stairs" kinda wins out.

Close Name:gslusher Posts: 2001 Joined: 13 Nov 2002
Subject: You'll learn

Quote
Guest wrote:
Unfortunately, SJ isn't always right about this. I just got a nano, and find the way the volume control works to be clearly inferior to my previous $20 radio.

On my radio, I can adjust the volume, and even change stations without taking the radio out of my pocket - with the iPod, I can't do anything without looking at it, which is bad because I use it most while bike riding. An old fashioned analog volume dial on top would be nice.


When I got my first typewriter, I couldn't type as fast as I could write. I learned. When I first tried playing a hammered dulcimer, I couldn't play it as well as a piano. I learned. When I first drove a car, I couldn't handle the manual transmission. I learned. When I first started riding horses, I couldn't ride a canter or jump. I learned.

You will, too.

Close Name:gslusher Posts: 2001 Joined: 13 Nov 2002
Subject: Stairs

Quote
daemon wrote:
Yea, but the simpler idea of "stairs" kinda wins out.


Stairs take up more floor space than elevators. If you have a small store, they're a waste of space. They also impede people with disabilities.

Close Name:Sir Harry Flashman Posts: 578 Joined: 08 Feb 2007
Subject: The Tao of Buttons

There is a balance between too many buttons and not enough and it is device specific.

My cable TV remote has 57 buttons including one rocker. There are several sets of up/down keys that are used on different navigation screens, but could be combined. A few of the keys I never use on purpose. Many of the keys have the same shape and it is hard to tell in the dark which one you want to press, a backlight would help.

I do think that the iPod hits the sweet spot with the click wheel, center select button and the lock/unlock slider. As to the guest's remark about a volume control on top, there are remotes available.

View Name:Guest
Subject: Ummm
Close Name:Bosco Posts: 966 Joined: 03 Jun 2002
Subject: Actually, this is Jobs' third war.

The first was a war against shoe laces. Followed by a war on zippers. Now, he is conducting his penultimate war against buttons.

It all goes back to his early childhood, when his Mom would scream at him, "Stevey, before you go outside and draw fonts with your friends, you need to tie your shoes, zip up your fly, and button your shirt."

It was, of course, the absurd implication that he had to do this for his friends that set young Steve off. Surely his Mom knew he had no friends, and if he did, the last thing they would be interested in is his vision of thousands of distinct fonts. One is a lonely number, but a number he was used to long before he invented the Macintosh.

Close Name:gslusher Posts: 2001 Joined: 13 Nov 2002
Subject: Re: Actually, this is Jobs' third war.

Quote
Bosco wrote:
The first was a war against shoe laces. Followed by a war on zippers. Now, he is conducting his penultimate war against buttons.


(Emphasis added)

Hmm, you already know that he will have one and only one more war?

View Name:Guest
Subject: Lonely is the number one...
Close Name:Sir Harry Flashman Posts: 578 Joined: 08 Feb 2007
Subject: This means war!

Quote
gslusher wrote:
Quote
Bosco wrote:
The first was a war against shoe laces. Followed by a war on zippers. Now, he is conducting his penultimate war against buttons.


(Emphasis added)

Hmm, you already know that he will have one and only one more war?


The war on velcro or perhaps snaps?

Cell phones will be his next war and the iPhone is already out of the sheath.

"We few, we happy few, we band of Macs;
For he to-day that iphones with me
Shall be my brother; be he ne'er so vile,
This day shall gentle his condition:
And gentlemen in Redmond now a-bed
Shall think themselves accursed they were not here,
And hold their manhoods cheap whiles any speaks
That fought with us upon Saint Jobs' day."

Close Name:Bosco Posts: 966 Joined: 03 Jun 2002
Subject: Steve's last war.

It will be his war on meat. With shoelaces, zippers, and buttons, Steve is just a bit eccentric. But when he finally declares war on meat (for both health and ethical reasons), we'll all think he's totally lost it.

Close Name:iJack Posts: 254 Joined: 13 Jun 2001
Subject:

Quote
gslusher wrote:
Quote
Bosco wrote:
The first was a war against shoe laces. Followed by a war on zippers. Now, he is conducting his penultimate war against buttons.


(Emphasis added)

Hmm, you already know that he will have one and only one more war?

Bwaahahaha! Good catch!

View Name:Guest
Subject:
View Name:Guest
Subject:
Close Name:macinnerd Posts: 1614 Joined: 15 Jun 2005
Subject:

Well, if there are only two floors in the store the buttons don't change a thing. So why not get rid of 'em?

View Name:Guest
Subject:
View Name:Guest
Subject:
Close Name:LaurieF -   TMO Forum Mod Posts: 3463 Joined: 15 Jun 2001
Subject:

Quote
Anonymous wrote:
Is it me, or is this article just way off base?
It's just you.

View Name:Guest
Subject:
Close Name:LaurieF -   TMO Forum Mod Posts: 3463 Joined: 15 Jun 2001
Subject:

I was thinking "pithy".

View Name:Guest
Subject:
Close Name:LaurieF -   TMO Forum Mod Posts: 3463 Joined: 15 Jun 2001
Subject:

Excuse me while I atypically, surprisingly and exasperatedly transmogrify into a fourteen-year-old girl going through the pubic wars: "Whatever!"

The original anonymous poster (was it you? it's impossible to tell) missed the point (perhaps through an ignorance of GUI operating design history?). The article was not about software buttons, it was about hardware buttons. The lack of physical buttons is a design aesthetic, allowing for a clean profile. I'm not that familiar with Apple hardware prior to the original iMac in 1997; since then however there has been a overall lack of bas-relief style of buttons. Those physical buttons that exist tend to be touch-sensitive, or flush with the surface.

Even prior to that, and what anti-Mac bigots continue to ignorantly pillory Apple for, existed the one-button mouse. It's not that Apple couldn't make a two-button mouse, or that it was a design flaw; the operating system didn't actually require it. Even with OS X, it's possible to use a single-buttoned mouse perfectly adequately, and only relatively rarely control-click to get the right-button functionality. I personally prefer two buttons, but can get along perfectly happily without them.

When I bought my Cube in 2000, I got the precursor to the Mighty Mouse, which only had one button being the mouse surface itself. The Mighty Mouse appears to be the same, but actually incorporates two buttons internally, although the outside is smooth. The aesthetic continues.

View Name:Guest
Subject: More Casualties From Jobs
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