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The front end developer at one of the companies I was working for nearly fainted when I told him I like Craigslist's web interface. The only criticism he could

The front end developer at one of the companies I was working for nearly fainted when I told him I like Craigslist's web interface. The only criticism he could muster was "But it looks like the 90s". And then he proceeded to tell me off "because you don't want to learn how to use a new interface". Of course I don't want to, it is a skill with zero transferability. Learning how to be productive with an interface that only works with 'a' given app, for 'a' duration of six months until some bozo changes the whole UI, because some focus group decided that "it would look so pretty if ..." (and that is the best case scenario, mostly it is because some UI/UX guy was inspired while sacrificing chickens to a graven image of Steve Jobs) is bunk. The two most hated things that came out of Redmond in the last 20 years were the 07 rejig of the Office UI (so you had muscle memoried a bunch of key strokes that made you super productive, well the F U buddy, we are going with this weird ribbon thingie for no discernable reason - fixed that by recording a bunch of macros that did what Office 03 did) and the Win 8 UI. I mean which diseased mind thought that it would be a good idea? And if that was not retarded enough, to force it on server users.

gmmeyer 9y ago
Craigslist has an amazing interface. It's so easy to use. It's ugly, but who cares! I don't care if it's pretty. It does exactly what I want. There was a great article on this a few years ago that I think is perfect: https://m.signalvnoise.com/why-the-drudge-report-is-one-of-the-best-designed-sites-on-the-web-c34f764c3c4c https://m.signalvnoise.com/why-the-drudge-report-is-one-of-t...
- wtetzner 9y ago
  And honestly, to make it not be ugly would really only require some tasteful CSS, not a redesign or rewrite in some JavaScript framework.
SirZimzim 9y ago
Having to build pixel perfect pretty UIs is one of the main reasons I've been holding back on getting a new job.
prepend 9y ago
Craigslist UI/UX is great. The problem is that simple/super clean interfaces don't require designers. So pretty much every designer will be against it out of principal. Of course, every site can't be craigslist.
rpedela 9y ago
The Office ribbon was/is far superior to the original, flat UI for novice and intermediate users. By flat, I don't mean aesthetics but rather the layout. Every menu option and button had the same visual importance of every other button/option which makes it difficult for novice and intermediate users to find the right one. It was fine for power users because they will put in the effort to learn the interface no matter how crappy it actually is. And power users usually get upset when the interface changes because they now have to relearn it. But that doesn't mean it was a bad change in absolute terms, it is a lot better for non-power users which are the vast majority of users.

gmmeyer 9y ago

Craigslist has an amazing interface. It's so easy to use. It's ugly, but who cares! I don't care if it's pretty. It does exactly what I want. There was a great article on this a few years ago that I think is perfect: https://m.signalvnoise.com/why-the-drudge-report-is-one-of-the-best-designed-sites-on-the-web-c34f764c3c4c https://m.signalvnoise.com/why-the-drudge-report-is-one-of-t...

wtetzner 9y ago
And honestly, to make it not be ugly would really only require some tasteful CSS, not a redesign or rewrite in some JavaScript framework.

SirZimzim 9y ago

Having to build pixel perfect pretty UIs is one of the main reasons I've been holding back on getting a new job.

prepend 9y ago

Craigslist UI/UX is great. The problem is that simple/super clean interfaces don't require designers. So pretty much every designer will be against it out of principal. Of course, every site can't be craigslist.

rpedela 9y ago

The Office ribbon was/is far superior to the original, flat UI for novice and intermediate users. By flat, I don't mean aesthetics but rather the layout. Every menu option and button had the same visual importance of every other button/option which makes it difficult for novice and intermediate users to find the right one. It was fine for power users because they will put in the effort to learn the interface no matter how crappy it actually is. And power users usually get upset when the interface changes because they now have to relearn it. But that doesn't mean it was a bad change in absolute terms, it is a lot better for non-power users which are the vast majority of users.