What are some recent less known innovations in UI/UX

I have always loved the way GMail protected you from dangerous actions, like deleting an email.

Usually software would protect you with a confirmation pop-up: "Are you sure you want to __________ ?" Instead, GMail just let you do it. Then it added a yellow strip at the top, "Message deleted. [Undo]". So, instead of double-confirmation, GMail implemented Undo more thoroughly.

This was better in two ways:

(1) It wasn't a pop up! I hate pop-ups. I don't think anyone likes pop-ups.

(2) A computer asking you "Are you sure?" is as annoying as a human being questioning everything you say. It is nice every now in then, when it really was an accident. But most of the time, it isn't. Another metaphor is a mechanical device that is failing. You press the button, and it doesn't work. You have to press it again.

The whole approach breaks your flow, implies contempt, and by definition is frustrating.

The approach of "just let you do it and provide an undo" isn't recent anymore, and sadly, Google seems to be drifting away from it. I see more and more pop-ups and "Are you sure?" messages.

I'm not sure what you mean by recent, but I think the most interesting concept in UI/UX that I can think of off the top of my head is the OS-level back-button on Android. I love Apple laptops, but the OS-level back-button on Android is at least 1/4 of the reason I prefer Android to iOS.

It's just such a specific and weird feature that I never would have had the audacity to think "hey, every single application will benefit from this being a constant fixture in the operating system." I know that applications can add a back button when they feel it's necessary, and I know you can swipe to go back in iOS in various applications, but it's just not the same.

For an ongoing list of good, helpful, usually somewhat hidden and quirky UI improvements, check out https://littlebigdetails.com/

There are always new things that incrementally improves the theming of widgets. Like some people are trying to find better alternatives to material design, but they didnt really catch on

But other interfaces that had bigger improvements recently are audio and haptics

For user experience, to me this is kinda domain driven because of workflow improvements, but there's a lot of things that are changing in almost every domain. And its kinda hard to find out which one is right because an improvement in the UX might not mean better UX for the users. IE: company A does X but company B does it differently

You can even argue self driving is a major improvement in the UI and UX for drivers, including the screen dashboards. IE: tesla adding that ipad screen, and other vehicles are trying to copy it.

I marvel at the "mini toolbar" in Microsoft Office. It shows up when selecting text and neatly manages to get out of the way when not needed:

1) Initial toolbar placement does not obscure selected text.

2) Toolbar fades away if mouse does not move towards the toolbar.

This may not be recent, or lesser known, but one thing I appreciate more and more, and I believe is becoming more prevalent is the ability to exit a modal by clicking anywhere in the dead space surrounding it. Saves a click, and since the target area to click is much bigger, it's faster/easier to me than zeroing in on a small 'X' button.