Ask Slashdot: Should Open-Source Developer Teams Hire Professional UI/UX Designers?

Posted by BeauHD on Wednesday October 17, 2018 @11:30AM from the deciding-what's-important dept.

OpenSourceAllTheWay writes: There are many fantastic open-source tools out there for everything from scanning documents to making interactive music to creating 3D assets for games. Many of these tools have an Achilles heel though -- while the code quality is great and the tool is fully functional, the user interface (UI) and user experience (UX) are typically significantly inferior to what you get in competing commercial tools. In an nutshell, with open source, the code is great, the tool is free, there is no DRM/activation/telemetry bullshit involved in using the tool, but you very often get a weak UI/UX with the tool that -- unfortunately -- ultimately makes the tool far less of a joy to use daily than should be the case. A prime example would be the FOSS 3D tool Blender, which is great technically, but ultimately flops on its face because of a poorly designed UI that is a decade behind commercial 3D software. So here is the question: should open-source developer teams for larger FOSS projects include a professional UI/UX designer who does the UI for the project? There are many FOSS tools that would greatly benefit from a UI re-designed by a professional UI/UX designer.

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Re:No by sexconker · 2018-10-17 12:47 · Score: 4, Interesting

WRONG!
Using a non-free font is a fucking minefield. Typically, you have to buy the right type of license (print, online, ads, logos only, video, etc.), then for most of those you have to agree to embed tracking bullshit in your distribution or work only with publishers that do, then you have to buy more licenses if you cross a threshold of impressions.
Fact: Nobody tracks it, and those who claim to know it doesn't work right, and no one know how much they're really supposed to pay. Nearly every single website elling legit font licenses is, in fact, just a different front (often just a domain name and a skin) that ties back into a single actual font whore house that draws up the draconian license agreements no one has ever read and just sues you if they THINK you might not have put in your pound of flesh.