Slashdot Mirror
Ask Slashdot: A Point of Contention - Modern User Interfaces
Reader Artem Tashkinov writes: Here are the staples of the modern user interface (in varying degree apply to modern web/and most operating systems such as Windows 10, iOS and even Android):
- Too much white space, huge margins, too little information
- Text is indistinguishable from controls
- Text in full-CAPS
- Certain controls cannot be easily understood (like on/off states for check boxes or elements like tabs)
- Everything presented in shades of gray or using a severely and artificially limited palette
- Often awful fonts suitable only for HiDPI devices (Windows 10 modern apps are a prime example)
- Cannot be controlled by keyboard
- Very little customizability if any
How would Slashdotters explain the proliferation and existance of such unusable user interfaces and design choices? And also, do you agree?
That doesn't explain it.
I can explain the proliferation of unusable user interfaces in two words: Graphic Artists
I saw this trend start in the 1980's. We were designing a new version of a successful Macintosh product. We were working on the user interface. The graphic designers could make things look good, but had no grasp of principles. The big eye opener to all of the developers but zero of the graphic artists was when an artist was describing an operation and then indicated using a certain button as doing something very different than it was described as doing earlier. Something unworkable. Something that revealed the entire mindset was about how good it looks aesthetically.
In our ensuing discussion it was recognized how a lot of consumer electronics at that point (late 1980s) looked fantastic on the shelf, but had horrible user interfaces.
Back in the day Apple had Human Interface Guidelines. And I understand that Microsoft did too.
Today all of that has gone out the window. I'll just give one example. Google's Material Design. Not that I'm criticizing it. But just criticizing the NAME. The name screams it is all about the aesthetics and not how well it interacts with human beings.
And we wonder why things have such badly thought out UIs. You have to start with basic principles. Get a good book like The Design Of Everyday Things. It explains the user interfaces of things like Door Handles, Faucets, and things you would never think about. It describes a lot of principles that you wouldn't think about, yet suddenly recognize. Once you read the book, you can answer what an affordance is when designing a UI.
I'll see your senator, and I'll raise you two judges.
This
As part owner and lead engineer and developer for an online GPS tracking platform I experience this on a weekly basis.
Just fired a guy 1/3 my age and 1/10 my experience for telling me I am too old school and think I know everything.
Fucking guy insisted on using microscopic fonts and all grays with almost zero contrast ratio.
I could not even read that shit on a 28" monitor.