The Rise of Interface Elegance in Open Source Software
One of the most important acts of a software project manager is to say ?no?. No, this patch introduces more code than it should. No, this feature will confuse more people than it will help. No, you?re ugly and stupid (sometimes the manager has a bad day).
(plus, simplifying the UI release after release sounds like an intriguing idea)
Ronco Spray-On Usability
UI development is the hard part. And it?s not the last step, it?s the first step. In my estimation, the difference between:
- software that performs function X; and
- software that performs function X, with an intuitive well-designed user interface
isn?t just a little bit of extra work. It?s not even twice the work. It?s an entire order of magnitude more work. Developing software with a good UI requires both aptitude and a lot of hard work.
(I’m not sure I like the phrase it’s not the last step, it’s the first step – having an excellent backend providing rich functionality is a requirement for a great app – as is a great UI – and separating both is also considered a good idea by many software architects including yours truly)