I'd expand on this: used well, they show the user than a state change is happening directly because of a particular action of theirs, and hint at how they might reverse or modify it.
In fact I'd disagree with masking. If something appeared instantly with no hint as to why, that is a distinct anti-pattern on a touch screen.
Old Apple understood design is more than making things pretty. The glassy Apple is all about how it looks in a demo.
I want it to rotate an image by 90° when I tap the button that does that.
See, this is exactly my point when I say that animations are no end in themselves. They serve a supporting role to better get the actual job done.
The actual job is not "feel" it is "do". For vibes, there are movies, Art, and AI hallucinations.
Of course, "feel" can greatly enhance the "do", but only if it takes the back seat, which is exactly what I just said.
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The age-old debate "form follows function" vs "form over function", essentially.
One of them is correct tho, because in the real non-ZIRP world, correctness is defined as "achieves a tangible goal".
Which is not to say that stuff optimizing for other goals would be "incorrect" or "worthless", but it exists in a different category from "software". More like "software-adjacent Art".
The distinction being made based on "what is the primary goal we want to achieve here"
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Related:
Also caused by ZIRP but differently, we have that problem that software trying to invoke feelings usually does so because it wants to sell you something or has any other style of goal that might not be aligned with yours.
So that adds yet another layer.
Pure utility cannot scam people into stuff they actually didn't want to do.
> The actual job is not "feel" it is "do".
According to.. you? And subject to your expectations? If I click a button to rotate an image 90degrees on my phone's image editor, I personally expect (and want) it to have rotation animation.
So who's right? You, because you speak in absolutes?
But rotating an image is one of the rare use cases where I do want the animation. It makes me see what action happened, with which rotation angle, without having to think twice.
The motion itself indeed gets picked up intuitively by the brain.
Okay, I'm convinced that picture rotation should be animated to the exact degree that achieves this.
It's not a debate. If you are making app to do something, "form follows function " is always the right choice. If anyone on UI/UX team tells you different you should fire them, they are not interested in making good UIs. If it comes out ugly, well, you need to get good at making useful stuff also look nice
"form over function" only applies to stuff that is looked on more than used by overwhelming degree. Any other case is just someone using it as excuse for them being shit at producing useful stuff that also happens to be beautiful
I doubt the pleasure of aesthetically pleasing programs can weight up for much. Then there are the ugly and bad programs too. Those have no redemption to speak of.
The fact that it makes content move in a way that is illegal breaks my mind. You try to check "is this the end" and it all starts moving. What the hell. Why.
I kinda forgot just how much I hate this animation. Thanks for the reminder. Why, google.