Ancestors

Written by Andy Polaine on 2024-11-01 at 17:49

Wow. I never use Google Slides but just had to for something. It's almost as shit at PowerPoint.

It amazes me that these companies with so much talent and money are unable to produce any apps with decent #UX.

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Toot

Written by Jochen Wolters on 2024-11-01 at 23:34

@apolaine Also, as for resources: I see dramatically better #UX and design craft from companies that are absolutely tiny compared to Apple, Google, etc.

Software craftspeople such as @OmniGroup, @redsweater, or @flyingmeat.

Their products are lightyears ahead of the mediocre creations that even Apple themselves ship these days.

(Pro tip: Don’t put a former branding and packaging designer in charge of HCI. It’s not going to end well …)

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Descendants

Written by Scott Jenson on 2024-11-02 at 00:15

@jochenwolters @apolaine @OmniGroup @redsweater @flyingmeat

Back around 2017, when I was still at Google, I created a Google Slides deck about several UX challenges and how easily they could be fixed. Apparently it was widely shared. But nothing has substantially changed. Once it is "good enough" there is very little incentive to change anything.

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Written by Andy Polaine on 2024-11-02 at 06:16

@scottjenson @jochenwolters @OmniGroup @redsweater @flyingmeat I guess “good enough” is a step up from MSFT Office’s “bad enough”

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Written by me on 2024-11-02 at 06:26

@apolaine @scottjenson @jochenwolters

Unrelated but as a consequence ... I have the same gripe with (F)OSS for collaboration suites sometimes ...

If feature parity means copy bad UX from BigTech then there is little intrinsic value to use it. Just principled motivation (no vendor lockin, privacy, choice etc) which is enough for me but not a lot of other people.

So why not develop or adopt better UX and show added value beyond the invisible? Even for word processors and spreadsheets there is a lot to gain instead of being stuck in decades old paradigms.

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Written by Jochen Wolters on 2024-11-05 at 00:32

@me @apolaine @scottjenson Oh, gosh, Joël, did you hit a sore spot with that comment!

I remember a design contest for OpenOffice.org about a decade, or so, ago. The public at large was asked to submit design ideas on how to make OOo better. There were all kinds of ideas, some interesting, some less so. (1/4)

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Written by Jochen Wolters on 2024-11-05 at 00:32

(One of them was from a developer whose concept looked like a full-featured IDE with all its inherent complexity. Others were actually really thoughtful and intriguing.)

Eventually, the powers that be adopted the Ribbon from Microsoft Office. 🤦‍♂️

So I completely agree with you: Why switch to a FOSS alternative if you essentially get all the Big Tech #UX awfulness, only with a few years’ delay? (2/4)

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Written by Jochen Wolters on 2024-11-05 at 00:32

(Dear #UX designers: Don't ever ask “What would Google/Apple/Amazon do?” unless you can clearly argue why their design solutions work in your product, in the given context, for the given problem, and for your own users. 😬)

As posted earlier, I do see a sweet spot in many indie developers’ products, at least on the Mac. The clarity and precision with which they implement truly "Mac-assed Mac apps" (tip o' the hat to @collin for that term) is truly remarkable. (3/4)

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Written by Jochen Wolters on 2024-11-05 at 00:32

P.S.: One key change for spreadsheets that I first saw in Apple Numbers (not sure if that product’s team "invented" it) and that I find simpluy brilliant, is to display multiple tables on a canvas, instead of making each sheet a huge, single table. Alas, plenty of the interactions around that great conceptual idea are just awful and get in the way of productivity All. The. Time. sigh (4/4)

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Written by Andy Polaine on 2024-11-05 at 18:01

@jochenwolters @collin agree. One of the many reasons I enjoy iA Writer from @ia

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Written by Jochen Wolters on 2024-11-05 at 00:20

@scottjenson @apolaine @OmniGroup @redsweater @flyingmeat How many folks incur those little #UX hiccups and their related costs (increased cognitive load and frustration, lost productivity, etc.) on a daily basis when using their companies’ own products — and yet, nothing is ever fixed.

Considering the size of these companies, lack of design, product, or engineering resources can't really explain this neglect, no?

Do you have a guess what's going on here?

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