We really have two sorts of software: the immutable types that developers depend on to behave exactly as they did forty years ago, and then the slop relegated to the general public that seems to need a redesign every 5 years, much like the inside of a grocery store.
UI redesigns are mostly a waste of time (2019)
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Re: UI redesigns are mostly a waste of time (2019)
#32As a counterpoint, when you change the insides, no one notices: https://devblogs.microsoft.com/oldnewthing/20040525-00/?p=39... >And with Calc, that’s exactly what happened: Massive technical improvements. No visual improvement. And nobody noticed. In fact, the complaints just keep coming. “Look at Calc, same as it always was.”
If nobody notices massive technical internal improvements, that tells me that what was improved wasn't of great importance to the user in the first place. Perhaps those technical improvements were a waste of time, but perhaps those technical improvements benefited development without adversely impacting users. That would be an enormous "win" in my book.
> Anyway, my point is that—whether you like it or not—if you don’t change the UI, nobody notices. That’s why so much effort is spent on new UI.
I think this is wrong on two counts. First, if the change you made to the business logic really improved the things that users value, they'll absolutely notice even if the UI doesn't change.
Second, that comment implies that one way or another, a user-noticeable change must happen. It could very well be that the software is ideal for its user base as-is and no change at all is preferable to change for change's sake.
Re: UI redesigns are mostly a waste of time (2019)
#33Earlier quoted context omitted.
It's the other way around for me. The product that goes through more redesigns (and inevitably hides or drops features as a result) seems shakier. In comparison, I'm still using foobar2000 and Craigslist 20 years later.
It depends on the product. If it's a site that you're directly making payments on, customers usually want to see something something that looks modern and recently updated. I don't have the wording for the survey question, but the result boiled down to old looking sites/creaky clunky sites are seen as less trustworthy to ecommerce buyers, at least the ones one of my former clients surveyed.
Yeah, the average user gets very used to "modern UI design" and then immediately starts noticing older designs. This flags the site as being "less safe" and when money is involved, "less safe" is a pretty big red flag.
I'm sure PMs and Data Analytics teams have actual data to back me up on this, and if the data shows to the contrary please correct me. I'm working with a small subset of friends and family who are, for the most part, your "average" user, so it's all anecdata for me.
On the flip side, stop fucking with messaging app UI.
Re: UI redesigns are mostly a waste of time (2019)
#34Can anyone here explain why YouTube (namely the mobile interface) goes through a total redesign every 1-2 years? Is it just to earn some unknown manager another promotion? I'm getting really sick of it at this point.
I think people are being a bit cynical with that take, although it's not completely unfounded. There are other factors like new technologies that are overall better, and also restructuring of teams due to people leaving and/or layoffs. What you end up with is a codebase or parts of the codebase that accumulate "damage" (or increase in entropy), and sometimes the easiest thing to do is to start something from scratch again.
So yeah sometimes the path of least resistance is building something new.
Re: UI redesigns are mostly a waste of time (2019)
#35People like to use software they can trust. Having an out-of-date UI is a violation of trust. It says that whoever owns it doesn't care about it anymore.
Of course, websites that look like they are from 2000 make people think "what is wrong with this thing?". But it is not necessary to do redesign every year. Just make website mobile adapted and update it only when UI trends change significantly (every 5-10 years) and it will not look abandoned
Re: UI redesigns are mostly a waste of time (2019)
#36My take is that this happens because the industry at large, especially web, does not treat engineers as proper engineers, and instead makes engineers do all sorts of other work. This leads to the type of engineering work that accumulates a lot of damage relatively quickly and needs to be rewritten over and over again.
The ideal engineering solution, even for UIs, should be something that is abstracted properly, written only once, and then accumulates new features without any friction whatsoever. The new features rest on top of the platform seamlessly, giving users more options with no downsides.
A good UI, imho, is one that users can configure, it only adds new things and never take out existing features, and is robust, reliable and responsive. This is a serious technical challenge and most organizations are not setup in a way to solve this problem properly without the solution deteriorating and needing a rewrite... and yes in part it's because on the business side there is no perceptin that this is actually needed and so it is deemed easier to just rewrite and build something new every time.
Re: UI redesigns are mostly a waste of time (2019)
#37Reddit comes to mind. Who knows how much money they spent on their redesign with users hating it and actively choosing to use their old site design YEARS after they rolled out their new design.
I also run a site and when I ask people what I should improve next, nearly no one says design, even when the design is clearly not very good.
An example of a site that never changes is Craigslist. I can't even recall the last time it looked different. It's probably overdue for a redesign even.
Re: UI redesigns are mostly a waste of time (2019)
#38My take is that this happens because the industry at large, especially web, does not treat engineers as proper engineers, and instead makes engineers do all sorts of other work. This leads to the type of engineering work that accumulates a lot of damage relatively quickly and needs to be rewritten over and over again. The ideal engineering solution, even for UIs, should be something that is abstracted properly, writt…
>A good UI, imho, is one that users can configure
It is better if UI works good out of the box. Of course, it is impossible to adapt to everyone's preferences, but configuration should be not too complicated, otherwise most users will not configure anything
Re: UI redesigns are mostly a waste of time (2019)
#39Getting a new car with a new design is a waste of time and resources. What is new after all? You have all you need. A box with engine, wheels and steering wheel.
I am curious, what car model and from what year this gentleman uses? I hope everything around him is only made by following his advice and principle.
There is a problem in UX/UI design. Twofold problem.
Developers hate to work on frontend implementation, and designers have mediocre knowledge about their craft and refuse to think objectively.
Both of the problems can be solved with actual effort in education.
Instead, big corps are wasting money and energy to replace all of them. AI will solve all of this by removing capitalism, human expertise, and design. Right?
Sidenote. Today, I have tried seven times to update my Mac Mini. After hours of fight with Apple logic, I give up. What's going on there?