Critique of cover flow from Apple (sort of)
TechCrunch, while writing about something else (Flowww, a visualized RSS feed algorithm), backs into a critique of the Apple cover flow mode:
The other issue I have is that, while the site is pretty, the Cover Flow metaphor just doesn’t work for me as a navigational tool. It is too slow and it forces you to look at the pre-selected sites in the order that the algorithm (or Zotter) picks them. If you want to read the middle story, you have to flip through all the previous ones to get to it. I’d rather pick my own stories from a list of headlines, thank you very much.
Over the last several years, I’ve seen many versions of this pop up in designs for client work. I’ve never liked it — the rate of information transfer is slow, the visuals rarely sit together nicely or in a way that allows for easy scanning, there’s a lot of guess work in locating yourself somewhere along the spectrum (and maddening to re-find something after you’ve moved away from it). I don’t like it, but I keep my mouth shut, usually. After all, Apple does it, and they . . . well, Apple does it!
The techcrunch writer asks for thoughts and a conversation is starting. It would be nice to have some data or real learning about this.