4 ms·

Reading this makes me feel like we have not learned any lessons at all in software engineering and UI design since the 1980s.

by kleiba2 3mo ago

bux93 3mo ago
IBM CUA (1987) should be required reading https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IBM_Common_User_Access https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IBM_Common_User_Access
- Someone 3mo ago
  Maybe, but I’ve searched for it many times out of curiosity, but have never managed to locate it online, and wouldn’t know if paper copies exist. From Wikipedia, I get to https://web.archive.org/web/20010204033600/http://publib.boulder.ibm.com/cgi-bin/bookmgr/Shelves/CEESL002 https://web.archive.org/web/20010204033600/http://publib.bou... That has one live link: https://web.archive.org/web/20010107084700/http://publib.boulder.ibm.com/cgi-bin/bookmgr/BOOKS/F29BDG00/CCONTENTS https://web.archive.org/web/20010107084700/http://publib.bou..., but from there, the trail runs dead. Do you have a link?
  - kleiba2 3mo ago
    This one maybe? https://archive.org/details/ibm-saa-cua-basic-interface-design-guide/page/n131/mode/2up https://archive.org/details/ibm-saa-cua-basic-interface-desi... PDF link in the box on the right.
    - sixsell1 3mo ago
      pdf contains plenty of labels "PICTURE 73 HERE" but not pictures. That's pretty important for a book about UI...
    - Someone 3mo ago
      Thanks! No pictures and way uglier than Apple’s HIG book, but much more than I ever found.
  - benji-york 3mo ago
    This appears to be a successor document: https://archive.org/details/common-user-access-basic-interface-design-ibm-corp https://archive.org/details/common-user-access-basic-interfa...
acheron 3mo ago
There were lots of very in-depth UI studies in the 90s, which were implemented in the second half of the 90s and early 00s. Then someone let “designers” in the door and it was all thrown out.
- kleiba2 3mo ago
  Yes. It was around the time when "UI design" changed to "UX design".
- jandrese 3mo ago
  While it started beforehand, it was really smartphones and especially the iPhone that gave so many UI guys an excuse to discard all of the studies of the past and start from scratch. "Oh, but it's a touch interface, these lessons are about mouse users, certainly discoverability and clearly differentiating UI elements don't apply anymore. Our users are so smart they will just know that a half swipe from the middle of the object is different than a half swipe from the edge, and they don't have to be told about functionality that is infused at birth now."

Reading this makes me feel like we have not learned any lessons at all in software engineering and UI design since the 1980s.

by kleiba2 3mo ago

Reading this makes me feel like we have not learned any lessons at all in software engineering and UI design since the 1980s.

bux93 3mo ago

IBM CUA (1987) should be required reading https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IBM_Common_User_Access https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IBM_Common_User_Access

Someone 3mo ago
Maybe, but I’ve searched for it many times out of curiosity, but have never managed to locate it online, and wouldn’t know if paper copies exist. From Wikipedia, I get to https://web.archive.org/web/20010204033600/http://publib.boulder.ibm.com/cgi-bin/bookmgr/Shelves/CEESL002 https://web.archive.org/web/20010204033600/http://publib.bou... That has one live link: https://web.archive.org/web/20010107084700/http://publib.boulder.ibm.com/cgi-bin/bookmgr/BOOKS/F29BDG00/CCONTENTS https://web.archive.org/web/20010107084700/http://publib.bou..., but from there, the trail runs dead. Do you have a link?
- kleiba2 3mo ago
  This one maybe? https://archive.org/details/ibm-saa-cua-basic-interface-design-guide/page/n131/mode/2up https://archive.org/details/ibm-saa-cua-basic-interface-desi... PDF link in the box on the right.
  - sixsell1 3mo ago
    pdf contains plenty of labels "PICTURE 73 HERE" but not pictures. That's pretty important for a book about UI...
  - Someone 3mo ago
    Thanks! No pictures and way uglier than Apple’s HIG book, but much more than I ever found.
- benji-york 3mo ago
  This appears to be a successor document: https://archive.org/details/common-user-access-basic-interface-design-ibm-corp https://archive.org/details/common-user-access-basic-interfa...

acheron 3mo ago

There were lots of very in-depth UI studies in the 90s, which were implemented in the second half of the 90s and early 00s. Then someone let “designers” in the door and it was all thrown out.

kleiba2 3mo ago
Yes. It was around the time when "UI design" changed to "UX design".
jandrese 3mo ago
While it started beforehand, it was really smartphones and especially the iPhone that gave so many UI guys an excuse to discard all of the studies of the past and start from scratch. "Oh, but it's a touch interface, these lessons are about mouse users, certainly discoverability and clearly differentiating UI elements don't apply anymore. Our users are so smart they will just know that a half swipe from the middle of the object is different than a half swipe from the edge, and they don't have to be told about functionality that is infused at birth now."