Great analysis.

Back before I got a Mac, I'd go to Apple's web site just to look at all their redesigned pages whenever something new came out. It was beautiful looking at how they displayed their products, and the manner in which they'd move things around to display everything as prettily as possible.

Now I do have a Mac, and I have friends who do the same thing I once did. Reading Apple.com is like reading a glamorous car brochure: you get the same thrill looking at the way they present information.

apple.com is very difficult to navigate for me. It is optimized for people who are conditioned to click on large glossy pictures. Examples of good usability would be http://cr.yp.to/ or - if you are looking for a corporate example - amazon.com.

Usability gurus often advice not to try to make everybody happy. You are probably very far from Apple's niche market.

DJB's cr.yp.to is the most minimal possible site, which has it's merits. But navigating the site is highly impractical. No search, no breadcrumbs, no menu. The text uses 100% width of the page making it hard to read, specially in wide monitors. Black on white is hard on the eyes for long text.

To be fair, the site keeps the same layout and hierarchy all across.

I am the same - I often don't know where to find something on it. I just never think to even look at clicking on big glossy images.

I respect that as I come from a text-mostly low-level hacking background. But don't you notice the mouse cursor changes when it hovers over the pictures? Also the shadows and backgrounds of click-able pictures resemble buttons (smooth round edges.) Apple is famous for working very hard on perfecting the user experience.

Yes I do notice, but for some reason the cursor isn't enough. I probably assume it will unpleasantly popup a larger picture of the same.

The top menu is not an Apple innovation, rather an Amazon.com innovation. During the dot-bomb era, EVERYONE ended up having one.

That goes for most of the stuff on that list really.

I forced myself into reading the full piece but just the way this piece was written smelled of Apple-camp brainwashing and gave the impression that there is nothing in the world the author would wish for more than personally be within the same room as Steve Jobs.

While some of the points on good design were certainly valid, they are hardly exclusive to apple. All in all it was quite an embarrassing read, really.

I would suggest that Apple is useable because they don't need people to navigate a wide range of products. Just ~7 top level items, then get more specific.

  Download, songs.   
  Buy, iPod
  Buy, MacBook Pro

And then they get a world of options. Amazon is stuck because, most of their options don't really help. I want to buy Electronics, Home Appliances> Air Conditioners, Fans & Heaters> Space Heaters > (Showing 1 - 24 of 1,338 Results) now what?

While I do most of my shopping at Amazon, I think the sight is clunky but functional. Type what you want into the search bar or pick one of the nice pictures that looks correct, and is in your price range. Granted it works, but it's not really elegant.