5 ms·

The desktop apps of the 90s was the heyday of UX. There are many positive things that could be said, but in the interest of brevity, I'll mention just two. Cus

by js8 9y ago

The desktop apps of the 90s was the heyday of UX. There are many positive things that could be said, but in the interest of brevity, I'll mention just two. Customizability. Users could set up their own hot keys, and even their own tool bars. Discoverability. Every UI widget (knob) had a tooltip, which explained its function. When a menu item was being browsed, there was a help line on the bottom that explained its function. Items that could be clicked were either visually distinct (such as buttons), or highlighted when hovering over them.

oblio 9y ago
> The desktop apps of the 90s was the heyday of UX for power users. Regular users didn't set up their own hotkeys or their toolbars. And they definitely didn't read the help or tool tips. The best UX for regular users, not interested in computers, is somewhere between websites and mobile apps.
- badsectoracula 9y ago
  Every time i hear about "Regular users" being the reason why modern UIs suck so much i get the feeling that regular users tend to be the enemy of actual users.
- reitanqild 9y ago
  That's because they don't get a chance anymore. Many of us have graduated from users to superusers to sysadmins or devs but modern software feel quite dumbed down compared to the options we had.
  - oblio 9y ago
    That's only because you were interested in IT, either as a career or as a hobby. Most people aren't.
- TeMPOraL 9y ago
  Regular users are not interested in computers. They're interested in getting shit done, and getting on with their lives. Which is precisely what modern UX makes harder. You see, regular users aren't "neanderthal users". They have a brain and some amount of focus, and if they have to use an application/website more than few times, they'll figure out and appreciate any feature that lets them do their work more efficiently. Unfortunately, modern UX trends are all about removing productivity, turning tools into toys.
  - zzzcpan 9y ago
    This is just giving UX a bad name. There cannot exist the best UX for regular users. There are things that are used once or very rarely and have to be designed to rely on people's prior experience with other things, like most websites. And there are other things that are used often and have to be designed to be learned. Every case is different and not simple. As for trends, maybe you are thinking about UI trends. People do like to follow those and confuse UIs with UX and make things harder for everyone. But you can't really say there are UX trends.
    - js8 9y ago
      > This is just giving UX a bad name. It's a question if UX already isn't an orwellian term for "be cheap on UI" or "target lowest common denominator of users". I don't know, but you should ask that question yourself. If you're more interested in name than substance, it might be an indicator. > There cannot exist the best UX for regular users. Categorical claims of non-existence require extraordinary amount of evidence. > Every case is different and not simple. That might be the thing. UIs (and usability) in the 90s focused on consistency. But then interactive websites ("applications") became a thing and the consistency (for example in the looks) was thrown out the window. So everybody has to target the lowest common denominator (aka "regular users") now, because of the mess that this artistic explosion created. (There are other factors, too, such as that touch screens by definition lead to worse UIs.) I don't entirely lament the mess (the artistic explosion is nice). But please, don't claim that we made progress in usability. > But you can't really say there are UX trends. I would say UX itself is a trend. As someone already noted, it had a name before - ergonomics. It's really similar to "data scientist", which is largely a modern trend of how to call a statistician.
rahimnathwani 9y ago
2-year-olds can use simple apps on tablet computers. I don't recall any desktop app from the 90s whose features would be discoverable by even a 3-year-old.

by js8 9y ago

oblio 9y ago

> The desktop apps of the 90s was the heyday of UX for power users. Regular users didn't set up their own hotkeys or their toolbars. And they definitely didn't read the help or tool tips. The best UX for regular users, not interested in computers, is somewhere between websites and mobile apps.

badsectoracula 9y ago
Every time i hear about "Regular users" being the reason why modern UIs suck so much i get the feeling that regular users tend to be the enemy of actual users.
reitanqild 9y ago
That's because they don't get a chance anymore. Many of us have graduated from users to superusers to sysadmins or devs but modern software feel quite dumbed down compared to the options we had.
- oblio 9y ago
  That's only because you were interested in IT, either as a career or as a hobby. Most people aren't.
TeMPOraL 9y ago
Regular users are not interested in computers. They're interested in getting shit done, and getting on with their lives. Which is precisely what modern UX makes harder. You see, regular users aren't "neanderthal users". They have a brain and some amount of focus, and if they have to use an application/website more than few times, they'll figure out and appreciate any feature that lets them do their work more efficiently. Unfortunately, modern UX trends are all about removing productivity, turning tools into toys.
- zzzcpan 9y ago
  This is just giving UX a bad name. There cannot exist the best UX for regular users. There are things that are used once or very rarely and have to be designed to rely on people's prior experience with other things, like most websites. And there are other things that are used often and have to be designed to be learned. Every case is different and not simple. As for trends, maybe you are thinking about UI trends. People do like to follow those and confuse UIs with UX and make things harder for everyone. But you can't really say there are UX trends.
  - js8 9y ago
    > This is just giving UX a bad name. It's a question if UX already isn't an orwellian term for "be cheap on UI" or "target lowest common denominator of users". I don't know, but you should ask that question yourself. If you're more interested in name than substance, it might be an indicator. > There cannot exist the best UX for regular users. Categorical claims of non-existence require extraordinary amount of evidence. > Every case is different and not simple. That might be the thing. UIs (and usability) in the 90s focused on consistency. But then interactive websites ("applications") became a thing and the consistency (for example in the looks) was thrown out the window. So everybody has to target the lowest common denominator (aka "regular users") now, because of the mess that this artistic explosion created. (There are other factors, too, such as that touch screens by definition lead to worse UIs.) I don't entirely lament the mess (the artistic explosion is nice). But please, don't claim that we made progress in usability. > But you can't really say there are UX trends. I would say UX itself is a trend. As someone already noted, it had a name before - ergonomics. It's really similar to "data scientist", which is largely a modern trend of how to call a statistician.

rahimnathwani 9y ago

2-year-olds can use simple apps on tablet computers. I don't recall any desktop app from the 90s whose features would be discoverable by even a 3-year-old.