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I don't want my image editor to feel like something in a creative manner though.

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.

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What I'm gathering here is that your argument simply boils down to that it's your personal preference (in this example) that rotating 90 degrees should have no associated animation.

> 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?

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I disable all animations everywhere (Android, Windows, Gnome) because I hate that they make me feel like I'm losing time waiting for something that could be instant, and they sometimes make me dizzy. I'm particularly exasperated that iOS doesn't offer that possibility.

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.

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Huh, good point. True.

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.

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> The age-old debate "form follows function" vs "form over function", essentially.

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

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I'm imagining someone doing the maths on the suffering created by programs prioritising form over function. How many times have people got annoyed (or worse) at a program because they couldn't get it to work, compared to how many times people have got annoyed because a program didn't look all that great?

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.

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