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Sometimes I laugh when I see articles like this. Yelling at people is so effective. Before there was UX there was UI. UX is a modern concept that basically cam

Sometimes I laugh when I see articles like this. Yelling at people is so effective. Before there was UX there was UI. UX is a modern concept that basically came with the web. Yet people designed effective interfaces in applications long before the web (which is why it was called UI). Back in the 80's the idea that artist type people could design interfaces was not common at all, in fact it was more of a programmer speciality (today people laugh at this). The point was that you were trying to identify how people could effectively interact with your application and generally you had to do that in code. There was no Photoshop to draw pictures in. I used Hypercard in those days when I needed to show how I thought it should work to product managers or other programmers. Then I did the implementation. In those days you usually had to figure it out yourself as their were few resources to even look at. Today the concept of UX is very different and few UX people would ever consider implementation part of their job of even consider it in their design work.

nekopa 13y ago
On a related note: I read somewhere that your HyperCard methodology was the reason PowerPoint was created- to explain complicated processes visually, so engineers could talk to business people. It's sad to see where that ended up.
- coldcode 13y ago
  I actually worked on Persuasion which shipped before Powerpoint. That category (presentation software) was another late 80's "invention". Hypercard was an amazing product that sadly died young.
  - nekopa 13y ago
    If you don't mind me asking, what happened with Persuasion? I was working in the industry at the time (not coding though) and I can't remember hearing about it.
seanmcdirmid 13y ago
> Before there was UX there was UI. UX is a modern concept that basically came with the web. Yet people designed effective interfaces in applications long before the web (which is why it was called UI). In a submission about design bullshitting, nice job (by Po's law, I can't tell if you are serious or not)! UX has been around for far longer than the web. The term UX gained popularity in the 90s to emphasize that its not just about the visuals. These days, things are a bit more specialized: we have visual designers whose primary tool is Illustrator (a few are still crazy pixel-based photoshoppers, but most have moved onto vector), but then we also have lots of interaction designers whose primary tool is visio and powerpoint (many designers in web do both and might even code, but this doesn't work for complex products). Most programmers still don't get design and can't really tell the difference.
- coldcode 13y ago
  I'm talking about the 1980's, the 90's was the transition period to UX from UI. In the early days the visuals wasn't much since the OS's had so little to work with. Basically we were inventing what an interface was in those days. Most application categories (besides the web) were first seen in the 80's.
  - seanmcdirmid 13y ago
    Graphic (visual) designers existed in the 80s and much longer before that, even if they weren't working on computers back then. Interaction design, on the other hand, comes about in the 70s but doesn't get its name until the 80s. Even today, most people don't grock what interaction designers do (hint: its not visual).

nekopa 13y ago

On a related note: I read somewhere that your HyperCard methodology was the reason PowerPoint was created- to explain complicated processes visually, so engineers could talk to business people. It's sad to see where that ended up.

coldcode 13y ago
I actually worked on Persuasion which shipped before Powerpoint. That category (presentation software) was another late 80's "invention". Hypercard was an amazing product that sadly died young.
- nekopa 13y ago
  If you don't mind me asking, what happened with Persuasion? I was working in the industry at the time (not coding though) and I can't remember hearing about it.

seanmcdirmid 13y ago

> Before there was UX there was UI. UX is a modern concept that basically came with the web. Yet people designed effective interfaces in applications long before the web (which is why it was called UI). In a submission about design bullshitting, nice job (by Po's law, I can't tell if you are serious or not)! UX has been around for far longer than the web. The term UX gained popularity in the 90s to emphasize that its not just about the visuals. These days, things are a bit more specialized: we have visual designers whose primary tool is Illustrator (a few are still crazy pixel-based photoshoppers, but most have moved onto vector), but then we also have lots of interaction designers whose primary tool is visio and powerpoint (many designers in web do both and might even code, but this doesn't work for complex products). Most programmers still don't get design and can't really tell the difference.

coldcode 13y ago
I'm talking about the 1980's, the 90's was the transition period to UX from UI. In the early days the visuals wasn't much since the OS's had so little to work with. Basically we were inventing what an interface was in those days. Most application categories (besides the web) were first seen in the 80's.
- seanmcdirmid 13y ago
  Graphic (visual) designers existed in the 80s and much longer before that, even if they weren't working on computers back then. Interaction design, on the other hand, comes about in the 70s but doesn't get its name until the 80s. Even today, most people don't grock what interaction designers do (hint: its not visual).