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The fact that we are discussing this generically as UI Design shows the immaturity of the concept. I can see at least two clear ideas needed to discuss this in

The fact that we are discussing this generically as UI Design shows the immaturity of the concept. I can see at least two clear ideas needed to discuss this in a more detailed and rational manner. 1. We need to clearly separate the difference between UI design and UI decoration. Design should be driven by user testing that measures speed and rate of completion of tasks. If every feature of the latest UI is not measured to be a quantitative increase, then it is not a design improvement. Decoration is about being fashionable and has nothing to do with usable, efficient, elegant UI. I see no reason they cannot exist side by side, but today the prevailing policy seems to be that decorating UI in a trendy fashion trumps usability. 2. There needs to be thought about the adoption and transition of users from an old interface to a new one. Right now the philosophy seems to be "Stop whining and suck it up - our designers are smarter than you." This is not reasonable or professional. New designs should be measured not just for usability of new users, but also against users that are used to the previous interface. There are probably many techniques to improve the user experience of UI upgrades but we'll never discover them until we recognize that it is important and spend some time and effort studying this phenomenon.

throwawayaway 12y ago
Think they are too tightly coupled to use HN parlance. Would like to see stylesheets or backwards compatible skins becoming de riguer. Particularly when the program does nothing new.
Zarathust 12y ago
You get two groups. One uses the old interface and the other uses the radically new shiny thing that might perform better. Surprise! The new interface performs better in selected metrics. Old interface hits the recycle bin and the new one become the norm. This us what seems to be the standard decision process. I would propose the introduction of a third and maybe fourth group where returning users would also measure those selected metrics.

throwawayaway 12y ago

Think they are too tightly coupled to use HN parlance. Would like to see stylesheets or backwards compatible skins becoming de riguer. Particularly when the program does nothing new.

Zarathust 12y ago

You get two groups. One uses the old interface and the other uses the radically new shiny thing that might perform better. Surprise! The new interface performs better in selected metrics. Old interface hits the recycle bin and the new one become the norm. This us what seems to be the standard decision process. I would propose the introduction of a third and maybe fourth group where returning users would also measure those selected metrics.