> What if our phones and computers had adequate ambient light sensing that the shadows can be Aligned to the environment?
That is an interesting concept. I suspect the only times it would work would be when you are sitting near a desk lamp or are outside in the sun (directional light from a points source). Otherwise you will likely have omnidirectional lighting.
You could use the accelerometer, which would either work like those dynamic backgrounds.
Personally I'm OK with "flat" stuff in predictable places like the macos menubar - all things in a constrained space are either drop-down menus, or are for information with clickable settings
But in free-form where anything can appear, always on shadows for buttons might be boring but they are GOOD.
Shadows and lighting are actually cues we take into account when finding physical switches, handles, etc. yet adding them to the screen uses a lighting source “origin” that is unrelated to the real world. We literally look through a screen into an alien world.
What if our phones and computers had adequate ambient light sensing that the shadows can be Aligned to the environment? That the shadows on the screen point the same way as the shadows of the keyboard keys, or of something sitting on the desk or against the wall behind your screen?
That might actually make an interface easier and more intuitive.