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I absolutely love the Isys Information Architects Inc. pages on UI, especially the Hall of Shame/Fame. They're a bit of a time capsule, but it honestly makes me

by jchw 3y ago

I absolutely love the Isys Information Architects Inc. pages on UI, especially the Hall of Shame/Fame. They're a bit of a time capsule, but it honestly makes me think that it's not just pointless cynicism, UI design really has very long ago lost track of what matters. I can relate to a vast majority of the thoughts, even if I think we could do better now, if we tried. http://hallofshame.gp.co.at/index.htm http://hallofshame.gp.co.at/index.htm I feel like the style of the UI, though dated, helps a lot: the borders and hierarchy force you to think about how UI components are related, not just where they are on screen. Unlike, e.g. modern Firefox tabs, which just feel like weird floating text with arbitrary ugly borders that never seem to feel less alien no matter how long you use them. They're not literally unusable... but they're not particularly good, especially compared to what we had before. This gives me hope for projects like SerenityOS. A bit of oldschool UI design with some modern amenities. In theory, this seems like a good idea.

thfuran 3y ago
There have always been ui stinkers, but the early days of GUIs had companies spending large amounts of money treating usability as the major output of a serious engineering effort. Now, for all the talk about usability, the actual focus for most companies is on keeping up with the art movement de jour or with maximizing engagement or a similar metric that's only loosely related to usability.
- stavros 3y ago
  Usability and engagement are usually inversely correlated. The more usable the software, the less time I need in it to perform my task.
  - kqr 3y ago
    And it's scary how often the developers themselves (in the widest sense of the word) don't realise this! They've picked targets and chase them without stopping to think that many applications are a means to an end, not an end itself. But it is a difficult balance. One has to define metrics that tell apart "user doesn't incorporate solution in their workflow" (bad) and "user completes their work using solution quickly" (good).
RodgerTheGreat 3y ago
The UIs of the 80s and 90s were designed to be learned, and carefully refined through focus testing. These UIs used consistent visual affordances, and contained contextual help. Constraints on memory, resolution, and color depth discouraged the inclusion of visual elements that did not contribute directly to usability and functionality. The UIs of today are largely designed by people who have experienced GUIs for their entire lives, and assume that everyone is already familiar with conventions. Focus testing is seen as slow and expensive, so designers lean on A/B testing and telemetry, randomly breaking live user experiences in small batches to creep toward local maxima. Needing a help system is viewed as old-fashioned; users should paw at UIs like a puzzle box to discover features. Computers and displays are powerful enough for every application to be a unique "branded experience".
- mysterydip 3y ago
  There's a good paper here on the (95) UI team's design goals and how they were achieved: https://socket3.wordpress.com/2018/02/03/designing-windows-95s-user-interface/ https://socket3.wordpress.com/2018/02/03/designing-windows-9...
  - wizzwizz4 3y ago
    Also https://dl.acm.org/doi/fullHtml/10.1145/238386.238611 https://dl.acm.org/doi/fullHtml/10.1145/238386.238611 (doi:10.1145/238386.238611).
- xattt 3y ago
  > … 1980s and 1990s … Leopard introduced the pop-over and HUD elements in 2007, and I think this was the last of intuitive UI that I’ve encountered.
- aworks 3y ago
  e.g. Spotify
- zelos 3y ago
  Our A/B testing shows that making the "Next Page" button on our app tiny and virtually the same colour as the background has massively increased user engagement! Just look at how much more time users spend on each page, scrolling up and down like they're really studying the content.

by jchw 3y ago

thfuran 3y ago

There have always been ui stinkers, but the early days of GUIs had companies spending large amounts of money treating usability as the major output of a serious engineering effort. Now, for all the talk about usability, the actual focus for most companies is on keeping up with the art movement de jour or with maximizing engagement or a similar metric that's only loosely related to usability.

stavros 3y ago
Usability and engagement are usually inversely correlated. The more usable the software, the less time I need in it to perform my task.
- kqr 3y ago
  And it's scary how often the developers themselves (in the widest sense of the word) don't realise this! They've picked targets and chase them without stopping to think that many applications are a means to an end, not an end itself. But it is a difficult balance. One has to define metrics that tell apart "user doesn't incorporate solution in their workflow" (bad) and "user completes their work using solution quickly" (good).

RodgerTheGreat 3y ago

The UIs of the 80s and 90s were designed to be learned, and carefully refined through focus testing. These UIs used consistent visual affordances, and contained contextual help. Constraints on memory, resolution, and color depth discouraged the inclusion of visual elements that did not contribute directly to usability and functionality. The UIs of today are largely designed by people who have experienced GUIs for their entire lives, and assume that everyone is already familiar with conventions. Focus testing is seen as slow and expensive, so designers lean on A/B testing and telemetry, randomly breaking live user experiences in small batches to creep toward local maxima. Needing a help system is viewed as old-fashioned; users should paw at UIs like a puzzle box to discover features. Computers and displays are powerful enough for every application to be a unique "branded experience".

mysterydip 3y ago
There's a good paper here on the (95) UI team's design goals and how they were achieved: https://socket3.wordpress.com/2018/02/03/designing-windows-95s-user-interface/ https://socket3.wordpress.com/2018/02/03/designing-windows-9...
- wizzwizz4 3y ago
  Also https://dl.acm.org/doi/fullHtml/10.1145/238386.238611 https://dl.acm.org/doi/fullHtml/10.1145/238386.238611 (doi:10.1145/238386.238611).
xattt 3y ago
> … 1980s and 1990s … Leopard introduced the pop-over and HUD elements in 2007, and I think this was the last of intuitive UI that I’ve encountered.
aworks 3y ago
e.g. Spotify
zelos 3y ago
Our A/B testing shows that making the "Next Page" button on our app tiny and virtually the same colour as the background has massively increased user engagement! Just look at how much more time users spend on each page, scrolling up and down like they're really studying the content.