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The article is about taste, not usability. It is intentional. It is possible that usable solution still ugly. But in ideal world we should have both.

by tablet 12y ago

pwnna 12y ago
I'm not sure if that's possible. The screenshot in the article shows a lot of screens with a lot of information and a lot of possible actions to take. For software that I need to use to interact with large amount of complex data, I do not want options to be hidden behind 4/5 clicks. When I was a part of a team that did enterprise-ish management software, one of the complaints of our initial design is that it's too simple and it takes too long to perform actions (>1 clicks from the main UI), and actually making it far more complex (users had to learn where the buttons are). Also, "Taste" is pretty subjective. Personally, I find software that's easy to use to be of good taste. A high learning curve (lots of options) is not necessarily bad as long as I can be efficient when I'm familiar with the software (think: Vim vs Google Maps)
- PaulHoule 12y ago
  It may be possible but it is also difficult and adds one more constraint. There certainly are cases where usability falls by the wayside for looks, and plenty of cases where the people involved are oblivious to everything and are just trying to get something based on mainframe or first wave client-server technology to be accessible by the web. The learning curve issue is a real one and it has a few dimensions. One is the case of an app you use every day where click minimization is the number one thing. The other is the app that you use only occasionally and the user's long term memory is the bottleneck. One trouble is that even the app you use every day probably has some corner that you go into every six months, so even that kind of app has learning curve issues that don't go away.
  - TeMPOraL 12y ago
    In serious software for serious work there is a simple way to cut down the learning curve - training sessions. Instead of dumbing down the UI and slowing everyone down, you can just take new employees to a few hours long session where they get familiarized with the parts of the tool they need for the job.

The article is about taste, not usability. It is intentional. It is possible that usable solution still ugly. But in ideal world we should have both.

by tablet 12y ago

The article is about taste, not usability. It is intentional. It is possible that usable solution still ugly. But in ideal world we should have both.

pwnna 12y ago

I'm not sure if that's possible. The screenshot in the article shows a lot of screens with a lot of information and a lot of possible actions to take. For software that I need to use to interact with large amount of complex data, I do not want options to be hidden behind 4/5 clicks. When I was a part of a team that did enterprise-ish management software, one of the complaints of our initial design is that it's too simple and it takes too long to perform actions (>1 clicks from the main UI), and actually making it far more complex (users had to learn where the buttons are). Also, "Taste" is pretty subjective. Personally, I find software that's easy to use to be of good taste. A high learning curve (lots of options) is not necessarily bad as long as I can be efficient when I'm familiar with the software (think: Vim vs Google Maps)

PaulHoule 12y ago
It may be possible but it is also difficult and adds one more constraint. There certainly are cases where usability falls by the wayside for looks, and plenty of cases where the people involved are oblivious to everything and are just trying to get something based on mainframe or first wave client-server technology to be accessible by the web. The learning curve issue is a real one and it has a few dimensions. One is the case of an app you use every day where click minimization is the number one thing. The other is the app that you use only occasionally and the user's long term memory is the bottleneck. One trouble is that even the app you use every day probably has some corner that you go into every six months, so even that kind of app has learning curve issues that don't go away.
- TeMPOraL 12y ago
  In serious software for serious work there is a simple way to cut down the learning curve - training sessions. Instead of dumbing down the UI and slowing everyone down, you can just take new employees to a few hours long session where they get familiarized with the parts of the tool they need for the job.