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Also: > Power users need the app to be efficient. Naive outsiders fret too much over æsthetics and the potential usability for newbies. In turn change does not

Also: > Power users need the app to be efficient. Naive outsiders fret too much over æsthetics and the potential usability for newbies. In turn change does not work out for the better. This is exactly the sort of naive guess the designer made in the first place. It was not known what power users wanted, clearly, and users of different products will have different needs. It assumes power users are the users the company wants to appeal to: Maybe they’re trying to make life easier for new users. There’s no “lesson about power users” here. There’s a “lesson to understand your users and your business needs.” I am a power user of all sorts of software that I sorely wish had a less cluttered and “more white space” or “more aesthetic” experience. This designer may not have been wrong in their choices in that situation despite designing for software with “power users.” Design is a set of tools. You have to know what you’re trying to do before you start saying stuff like “screwdrivers are for newbs — when making things for power users only user chainsaws!”

keybored 3y ago
This is exactly the sort of contrarian response that makes everything into a philosophical dilemma which cannot be concretely acted upon. The story reported: a new design was tried (for whatever reason) which didn’t work better (it worked worse) for the concrete users of that app: productivity-focused (or -forced) support staff. It is anyone’s guess why you want to argue over a retelling of the article which we are commenting on. Since that (following your own example) could be motivated by a thousand different reasons I guess it’s best to not speculate.
- deleted 3y ago
  [deleted]
shuntress 3y ago
> I am a power user of all sorts of software that I sorely wish had a less cluttered and “more white space” or “more aesthetic” experience I would add to this with the observation that the existence of "power users" is very likely a sign that the system is poorly designed. Obviously some things are just really complex and there is no way around that. But most things are not. A good system will easily and intuitively solve the user's problems without them needing a degree from NASA to understand how to use it.
- pmontra 3y ago
  Well, as you wrote NASA I'm sure that the space shuttle cockpit could have been made simpler than it was but how much simpler? To a point that one could fly it with a joystick and no instruments? I don't believe so and I think that one really needs a degree from NASA. I u715e9
pmontra 3y ago
Sometimes there is space for white space and sometimes there isn't. Excel (actually Libre Office for me) doesn't have padding inside cells and its good as it is. I want to fill my screen with data of I want to and I don't want to be able to see only a 15 by 10 grid. Some other program might be better with a more white padded UI. I wish the GNOME tools didn't get that way.

keybored 3y ago

This is exactly the sort of contrarian response that makes everything into a philosophical dilemma which cannot be concretely acted upon. The story reported: a new design was tried (for whatever reason) which didn’t work better (it worked worse) for the concrete users of that app: productivity-focused (or -forced) support staff. It is anyone’s guess why you want to argue over a retelling of the article which we are commenting on. Since that (following your own example) could be motivated by a thousand different reasons I guess it’s best to not speculate.

deleted 3y ago
[deleted]

shuntress 3y ago

> I am a power user of all sorts of software that I sorely wish had a less cluttered and “more white space” or “more aesthetic” experience I would add to this with the observation that the existence of "power users" is very likely a sign that the system is poorly designed. Obviously some things are just really complex and there is no way around that. But most things are not. A good system will easily and intuitively solve the user's problems without them needing a degree from NASA to understand how to use it.

pmontra 3y ago
Well, as you wrote NASA I'm sure that the space shuttle cockpit could have been made simpler than it was but how much simpler? To a point that one could fly it with a joystick and no instruments? I don't believe so and I think that one really needs a degree from NASA. I u715e9

pmontra 3y ago

Sometimes there is space for white space and sometimes there isn't. Excel (actually Libre Office for me) doesn't have padding inside cells and its good as it is. I want to fill my screen with data of I want to and I don't want to be able to see only a 15 by 10 grid. Some other program might be better with a more white padded UI. I wish the GNOME tools didn't get that way.