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Ask HN: What are good high-information density UIs (screenshots, apps, sites)?

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Re: Ask HN: What are good high-information density UIs (screenshots, apps, sites)?

#11

Post by yeknoda »

mg wrote: post #9

I am developing this project, which replaces product lists with what I call "product charts": https://www.productchart.com The idea is to sort products not by one parameter (like price or release date) but by two - which creates an x/y chart. The product info is displayed dynamically - by default only the image is show. On hover, more info is displayed in a tooltip. And when you click "details", all data is shown. Th…

This is good. The users this caters to are also higher than normal earners. Hate to ask, but what is the monetization plan?

Re: Ask HN: What are good high-information density UIs (screenshots, apps, sites)?

#16

Post by n4kana »

Project management software that includes customizable dashboards, gantt charts or kanban. Spreadsheet apps are the definition of high information density UIs that you manage through zooming.

Audio DAW or video production apps jam tiny buttons and indicators all over the place. A mixing console is the epitome of this. Shit, the cockpit of a plane. AutoCAD. Stock trading apps. These aren’t great in the web UI sense - the pattern that emerges is that dense UIs are for experts or people who dedicate a lot of time to learning the UI and appreciate the long-term efficiency that short term inefficient brings.

Re: Ask HN: What are good high-information density UIs (screenshots, apps, sites)?

#17

Post by chromy »

Look for tracing/profiling/binary analysis UIs:

- https://superuser.com/questions/1117466/using-windows-perfor...

- https://github.com/wolfpld/tracy

- https://github.com/WerWolv/ImHex

3D modeling / CAD software:

- Blender/Rhino etc

- Similar for audio you can search for 'DAWs' (https://blog.landr.com/best-daw/)

Many examples on https://x.com/usgraphics/media only some software.

Not on the data side but can be useful just for contrast from todays software:

- https://www.zachtronics.com/wmp-skins/

- https://cari.institute/aesthetics

Re: Ask HN: What are good high-information density UIs (screenshots, apps, sites)?

#18

Post by aristofun »

SOunds almost like the opposite sides of the spectrum.

With some exceptions and edge cases (like trading or aviation where you have to see a lot of information at once, density is the product in itself) I argue that by "good" UI most UI users really mean "well structured and carefully prioritized information that doesn't overwhelm you" (aka "low information density").

It is really hard to find good UI in that sense. Apple is doing okay job in their iOS and macOS UI in general. Modern car makers (some of them at least) reached a pretty good point when a lot of complexity is hidden behind a very intuitive UI.

Btw, Apple was expected to be good at UIs because of its history of _inheriting_ xerox's military UI research achievements.

Re: Ask HN: What are good high-information density UIs (screenshots, apps, sites)?

#20

Post by xnx »

yeknoda wrote: post #11
mg wrote: post #9

I am developing this project, which replaces product lists with what I call "product charts": https://www.productchart.com The idea is to sort products not by one parameter (like price or release date) but by two - which creates an x/y chart. The product info is displayed dynamically - by default only the image is show. On hover, more info is displayed in a tooltip. And when you click "details", all data is shown. Th…

This is good. The users this caters to are also higher than normal earners. Hate to ask, but what is the monetization plan?

Probably affiliate commission
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