(semi OT) For those that remember (and those that don't)

[Darrin Chandler]

On Wed, Dec 12, 2007 at 11:29:29AM -0600, alex at crackpot.org wrote:
> I agree with you 100% on this.

And it's my turn to agree with you 100% :)

> The only point I wanted to raise is that developers often seem to look  
> down their noses at folks like graphic designers, interface designers,  
> and other 'fluffy' jobs.  This is just wrong.  There are plenty of  
> designers who hold the same prejudice in the other direction, and  
> they're wrong as well.  Designing a useful interface is not an easy  
> thing, and it's crucial to creating a good package, one that fits your  
> definition of 'useful'.  It's a different set of skills that those in  
> your average software engineer.
> 
> By 'useful interface', I don't mean 'covered with rounded-corner  
> icons'.  I mean one that provides the functionality a user wants, and  
> leaves out unnecessary clutter.  Good design makes a product more  
> useful, and bad design makes it less useful.
> 
> I'm also not referring only (or even primarily) to graphic design.   
> Users still interact with text-based programs, and a well thought out  
> set of options (or well thought out set of command-line flags) are  
> pretty darn important.  A well-designed menu structure makes a website  
> far more useful.
> 
> If I had to choose good algorithms or good design for my application,  
> I'd choose good algorithms, but I'd consider it a crummy product/site  
> unless it had both.

Perhaps I should have stressed more that good UI design is very
important. It is. Very much so. And UI should be considered from the
beginning. In fact, it's important enough that it shouldn't be trusted
to junior coders spending hours tweaking minor UI elements. ;-)

Back to the author example: grammar, how to phrase something well,
spelling, layout, and other considerations are *extremely* important to
a finished work of writing. But having the author twiddle fonts and
formatting while they write is the kiss of death to their productivity.
And much of it is best left to editors and others who know that stuff
inside and out.

-- 
Darrin Chandler            |  Phoenix BSD User Group  |  MetaBUG
dwchandler at stilyagin.com   |  http://phxbug.org/      |  http://metabug.org/
http://www.stilyagin.com/  |  Daemons in the Desert   |  Global BUG Federation