Ripping Vista A New Arsehole

Oh man, I knew there was a reason I wasn't running out to upgrade to Windows Vista, or as we call it, Windows Shickza (sp?)....

Review: Windows XP

O'er The Background We Watched, Was So Gallently Deadspace

Here is yet another example of the Tourist-Using-Native-Language Syndrome (no link, I made that term up) which I mentioned in a previous post, where they think you are fluent just because you managed a couple good sentences.

Man can people really abuse GUI design! I was just reviewing some screen mockups, and was horrified to see that there was more background showing than data!

I am putting it down to horrible lack of training or interest in Graphics Design, yaddayaddayadda. For God's sake, I was talking last week to a Software Engineer who didn't even know what a serif was!!!!

I will lay more blame at the feet of the VB6-generation, with such a non-existent container or layout component, people are forced to sprinkle globs of UI into Group Boxes, and poop them all over the background, sometimes not even bothering with the little things, like edge alignment and consistent sizing!

Whatever the root causes, there is considerable lack of aptitude and/or training in the ability to perform even the most rudimentary Microsoft Outlook-style of GUI layout.

What stings my bung even more about the whole thing, is that these UI abominations go unchallenged by even more ignorance, i.e. they are approved and built without any regard for even the most basic use cases.

"Good work Jimmy! But can you spread out those buttons more, and make them bigger, because, you know, this can be used on a touchscreen...."

"Sure, but won't that mean shrinking the size of the main data display?"

"Just worry about those buttons...."

Hmmm. Just how big is your finger, anyway? Yes, I know about Fitts' Law, but it's yet another trade-off between ease-of-target-acquisition, and information density. As someone who personally has touched many-a-button incorrectly sized and adjacent to another button (think delete row) I can tell you cramped margins and insufficient sizing is no way to go.

Just what is the compulsion to put every last UI element on the screen at once? Why do we need a UI with 10 tabs on it, when 8 of them are used to configure the system, then never needed (until another configuration change)? Hmmmm, sounds like a good place for a modal dialog or 8....

What is the penchant for "inventing" new ways to do the same old thing? A dropdown list is not a "cool" way to invoke commands; buttons are, or perhaps a menu. Why bother with those staid elements, when we can "invent"...?

The horrible assumption is that all software designers are capable of designing usable graphic interfaces, and I am being very liberal here with that word.

The abjectly horrible reality is that most software designers are not capable graphically. Hmmm. Need to arrange a row of UI elements, here's a novel idea, use a ToolStrip!!! Need it to align to one edge, dock it there!

Resizability is another ignored yet critical issue. Web designers deal with this on a regular basis, it is called fluid layout. Sorry no link, but visit this gem to refresh (or more-likely initialize) your memory. Today's GUI frameworks provide more than enough layout containers to mimic this technique, with less code than ever. There is absolutely no reason whatever for big swatches of background to stick out between the major blocking areas of an interface.