Good piece, with accurate criticisms. I've lost count of the number of times designers insisted on re-styling links in some unintuitive way. I suspect (but can

Good piece, with accurate criticisms. I've lost count of the number of times designers insisted on re-styling links in some unintuitive way. I suspect (but cannot prove) that people struggle to channel their natural inclination toward creativity into constructive channels. A big part of the job of a UI is to be familiar and hence easily understood. The best UIs often don't stand out -- they just let you get your work done effortlessly.