The author of the piece is clearly not a designer, and clearly doesn't have much of a handle on web design. They refer to HN and Pinboard as 'eschewing user-fri

The author of the piece is clearly not a designer, and clearly doesn't have much of a handle on web design. They refer to HN and Pinboard as 'eschewing user-friendly interfaces' which is the complete opposite of what these clean, fast, simple designs do; for the user in general, but especially for their intended audience. I fear this is simply evidence of how years of exposure to appalling design has blinkered some people. I like your analogy, but I think a better one would be taking a typical paperback novel from your shelf and claiming it were 'ugly' and 'difficult to read'.