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Non techies have been using flat design interfaces for like a decade now and the world hasn't ended. If you personally like another style, totally fine. But it'

by woah 5y ago

Non techies have been using flat design interfaces for like a decade now and the world hasn't ended. If you personally like another style, totally fine. But it's odd that programmers always think they know more about usability than people who study it for a living.

throw_m239339 5y ago
The problem isn't techies but non techies, unless you think only techies should be using Linux GUI... > I have had to explain to people tons of times that the random word in the UI somewhere in an application is actually a button they can press to invoke an action. There is a reason why Apple backpedaled on all that flat insanity for MacOS and iOS. Graphic designers and trendsetters usually know very little about usability, these are 2 completely different disciplines, and the Flat style was imposed by graphic designers, not UX people.
Aeolun 5y ago
> But it's odd that programmers always think they know more about usability than people who study it for a living. I’m sure it has something to do with them needing to justify their existence. No reason to have a designer if nothing has changed in the world of design. Programmers learn new languages (or go back to old ones), designers do the same with interface design principles.
linguae 5y ago
Do non-techies have a choice, though? Given the lack of theming in many modern apps, its not like users have a choice between flat design and the designs of the 90s and 2000s. What about sticking to old versions? I can only use old versions of software for so long before it becomes infeasible for many reasons (security and interoperability being the biggest reasons), and even on Linux where users have a great deal of control, not all GUI software is themable. It's not just programmers who complain about modern UI/UX trends. The Nielsen Norman Group, a UI/UX consulting group that was founded by HCI legends Don Norman and Jakob Nielsen, have written articles against the overuse of flat design (https://www.nngroup.com/articles/flat-design/ https://www.nngroup.com/articles/flat-design/).
StewardMcOy 5y ago
I tend to see it from the opposite perspective. Physical looking buttons, borders, and always-visible controls were designs born from rigorous user testing in the 1980s and early 1990s. The push to flat design that really picked up steam around a decade ago did not have, as far as I can tell, the same level of testing, and was promoted largely by programmers who wanted designs that were easier to implement. Platform developers were incentivized to go flat because it lowered the cost of development and development time if developers were using fewer, simpler custom assets. At this time, both Apple and Google were bragging about how many apps were on their stores, and how fast they were growing, and neither wanted to fall behind the other. But admittedly, my perspective was that of a third-party developer. I have no direct knowledge of why Microsoft, Google, and Apple all embraced this trend, and I have only anecdotal evidence that it made things more difficult for novice users. There could be a treasure trove of research showing that flat is better, but I have never seen it presented.

by woah 5y ago

throw_m239339 5y ago

The problem isn't techies but non techies, unless you think only techies should be using Linux GUI... > I have had to explain to people tons of times that the random word in the UI somewhere in an application is actually a button they can press to invoke an action. There is a reason why Apple backpedaled on all that flat insanity for MacOS and iOS. Graphic designers and trendsetters usually know very little about usability, these are 2 completely different disciplines, and the Flat style was imposed by graphic designers, not UX people.

Aeolun 5y ago

> But it's odd that programmers always think they know more about usability than people who study it for a living. I’m sure it has something to do with them needing to justify their existence. No reason to have a designer if nothing has changed in the world of design. Programmers learn new languages (or go back to old ones), designers do the same with interface design principles.

linguae 5y ago

Do non-techies have a choice, though? Given the lack of theming in many modern apps, its not like users have a choice between flat design and the designs of the 90s and 2000s. What about sticking to old versions? I can only use old versions of software for so long before it becomes infeasible for many reasons (security and interoperability being the biggest reasons), and even on Linux where users have a great deal of control, not all GUI software is themable. It's not just programmers who complain about modern UI/UX trends. The Nielsen Norman Group, a UI/UX consulting group that was founded by HCI legends Don Norman and Jakob Nielsen, have written articles against the overuse of flat design (https://www.nngroup.com/articles/flat-design/ https://www.nngroup.com/articles/flat-design/).

StewardMcOy 5y ago

I tend to see it from the opposite perspective. Physical looking buttons, borders, and always-visible controls were designs born from rigorous user testing in the 1980s and early 1990s. The push to flat design that really picked up steam around a decade ago did not have, as far as I can tell, the same level of testing, and was promoted largely by programmers who wanted designs that were easier to implement. Platform developers were incentivized to go flat because it lowered the cost of development and development time if developers were using fewer, simpler custom assets. At this time, both Apple and Google were bragging about how many apps were on their stores, and how fast they were growing, and neither wanted to fall behind the other. But admittedly, my perspective was that of a third-party developer. I have no direct knowledge of why Microsoft, Google, and Apple all embraced this trend, and I have only anecdotal evidence that it made things more difficult for novice users. There could be a treasure trove of research showing that flat is better, but I have never seen it presented.