“Can’t Unsee” Tests Your Eye for iOS Interface Details

Originally published at: https://tidbits.com/2019/02/07/cant-unsee-tests-your-eye-for-ios-interface-details/

It’s obvious when an iOS app gets interface elements glaringly wrong. But can you tell when the errors are more subtle? The Can’t Unsee Web game asks you to choose which of two iOS-style screenshots doesn’t have a mistake.

I got 6680. There were a few where I could absolutely not see a difference. (Like the activity indicator tint.) There were also a couple where I saw the difference but chose the wrong one. In my defense I’ll say I did this in bed with the screen brightness on my iPad turned almost all the way down because my wife is trying to sleep. But I’m glad I’m a programmer and not a UI designer!

I had a number where I just had to guess too, and where I thought the differences were really small. But hey, I care deeply about Oxford commas, so I can’t talk about nitpicking details. :slight_smile:

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What’s your stance on starting sentences with conjunctions? :slight_smile:

Jeremy

It’s a good thing you care deeply about Oxford commas because I only support websites that do. :grinning:

Entirely acceptable, but I try to reduce the number of them when editing. I don’t know why, but both I and our regular authors seem to be using them more than in the past.

We follow Chicago Manual of Style when editing, and they’re totally fine with it too:

CMOS includes Bryan Garner’s opinion that there is “no historical or grammatical foundation” for considering sentences that begin with a conjunction such as and, but, or so to be in error (see paragraph 5.206). Fowler’s agrees (3rd ed., s.v. “and”), citing examples in the OED that date back to the ninth century and include Shakespeare. The conjunctions or and nor can be added to the list. None of this means that it is not possible to abuse the privilege. Sentences should begin with a conjunction only when the result is perfectly clear and more effective than some other alternative.

I had a blast with this one! Though I admit, I threw a Hail Mary on a few of them. 6,880 points!

6320 - oh dear. :neutral_face:

The trouble is, that with this quiz, there is a definitive yes/no answer, i.e. ‘spot the wrong one of these two’. Whereas in real life, you’d not know something was wrong after the fact, until you just happened to notice it.

Meaning we’d all most likely miss the screw-ups in real life testing… what a good thing to realise (not)! :roll_eyes: