4 ms·

Eh, UI consistency is overrated. I'm old enough to remember the 90s and early 00s when people said the webapps would never really be widely used outside of toy

Eh, UI consistency is overrated. I'm old enough to remember the 90s and early 00s when people said the webapps would never really be widely used outside of toy applications because of UI/UX inconsistencies.

jrm4 5y ago
This entire field of so-called *design" is WILDLY overrated. The biggest problem is that there is way too much mere fashion masquerading as "scientifically proven methodologies of human interaction with machines." There's so much ridiculousness in this space because "designers" treat their own preferences (or worse, those of their company) as nearly immutable laws. Just let me pick poofy or flat buttons and get over yourselves.
- lioeters 5y ago
  I'm inclined to agree. I'm always wary of design refresh/update in operating systems and commonly used applications like Firefox, because more often than not, it means worse user experience and no perceptible benefit. Your whole comment also rings true when "design" and "designers" are replaced with "software" and "programmers".
  - hnick 5y ago
    On this new update of Firefox, tabs are disconnected from the page. Are they even tabs anymore?!? They're just disconnected rectangles with round corners! I'm half joking but honestly I don't know why they bother with this. And for whatever reason, it gets under my skin and feels weird.
- lotsofpulp 5y ago
  How about let me have text on my buttons so I know what the hell they are for. And I can communicate to my parents what the hell they should be clicking on. And stop hiding every single button. I am specifically referring to Google.
azornathogron 5y ago
And instead, they are widely used and hated! Businesses are great at iterating to find out just how much customers are willing to put up with in quality reductions before they actually leave, and also great at putting up barriers to shift that tipping point further in the company's favour. It turns out people will put up with a lot. Even stuff they hate. We have the technology and ability to create things that are far higher quality, but it's usually a losing proposition from a profit-seeking perspective. It's just the same old "worse is better" story. (This is just a tangential thought, not some kind of disagreement or rebuttal.)
- solarkraft 5y ago
  It’s pretty sad, but unfortunately the exact reason why it seems like everything we use is terrible. Executives at companies don’t care for the aforementioned reason, but they discount the deep scorching branding damage this incurs that no amount of marketing will fix. Users who have the choice will switch eventually, whenever they get the chance, they will never come back and they will hate you and share their discomfort. This will lead to scales being tipped against you wherever possible. Now, you can still build a hard to avoid product and make a ton of money from it (Microsoft), so it‘s still not a losing strategy. So here I am just begging companies to stop building terrible products because they make people miserable. You can also build a high quality loved product and the effect above will reverse, but probably not at the same price (Apple, Jetbrains).
- spamizbad 5y ago
  I don't find the the experiences of native desktop apps particularly compelling. I think much of the thinking behind this mentality grew from an era where computers were scary and intimidating and you had huge swaths of the population that didn't even want to use them. So everyone bent over backwards trying to appeal to reluctant adopters. That world doesn't exist anymore.
deleted 5y ago
[deleted]

jrm4 5y ago

This entire field of so-called *design" is WILDLY overrated. The biggest problem is that there is way too much mere fashion masquerading as "scientifically proven methodologies of human interaction with machines." There's so much ridiculousness in this space because "designers" treat their own preferences (or worse, those of their company) as nearly immutable laws. Just let me pick poofy or flat buttons and get over yourselves.

lioeters 5y ago
I'm inclined to agree. I'm always wary of design refresh/update in operating systems and commonly used applications like Firefox, because more often than not, it means worse user experience and no perceptible benefit. Your whole comment also rings true when "design" and "designers" are replaced with "software" and "programmers".
- hnick 5y ago
  On this new update of Firefox, tabs are disconnected from the page. Are they even tabs anymore?!? They're just disconnected rectangles with round corners! I'm half joking but honestly I don't know why they bother with this. And for whatever reason, it gets under my skin and feels weird.
lotsofpulp 5y ago
How about let me have text on my buttons so I know what the hell they are for. And I can communicate to my parents what the hell they should be clicking on. And stop hiding every single button. I am specifically referring to Google.

azornathogron 5y ago

And instead, they are widely used and hated! Businesses are great at iterating to find out just how much customers are willing to put up with in quality reductions before they actually leave, and also great at putting up barriers to shift that tipping point further in the company's favour. It turns out people will put up with a lot. Even stuff they hate. We have the technology and ability to create things that are far higher quality, but it's usually a losing proposition from a profit-seeking perspective. It's just the same old "worse is better" story. (This is just a tangential thought, not some kind of disagreement or rebuttal.)

solarkraft 5y ago
It’s pretty sad, but unfortunately the exact reason why it seems like everything we use is terrible. Executives at companies don’t care for the aforementioned reason, but they discount the deep scorching branding damage this incurs that no amount of marketing will fix. Users who have the choice will switch eventually, whenever they get the chance, they will never come back and they will hate you and share their discomfort. This will lead to scales being tipped against you wherever possible. Now, you can still build a hard to avoid product and make a ton of money from it (Microsoft), so it‘s still not a losing strategy. So here I am just begging companies to stop building terrible products because they make people miserable. You can also build a high quality loved product and the effect above will reverse, but probably not at the same price (Apple, Jetbrains).
spamizbad 5y ago
I don't find the the experiences of native desktop apps particularly compelling. I think much of the thinking behind this mentality grew from an era where computers were scary and intimidating and you had huge swaths of the population that didn't even want to use them. So everyone bent over backwards trying to appeal to reluctant adopters. That world doesn't exist anymore.

deleted 5y ago

[deleted]