this post was submitted on 01 Sep 2023
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Programming
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Designing good UX can be as difficult as writing good code.
Source: Im UI/UX designer and project manager and also QA/QC and also devops and also write the specs and documentation. The only thing I dont do is write the code, DB schema and architecture . The hardest of all those roles is UX. The easiest is project management ("Did anything go tits-up today? No? Well carry on, then ")
Biases: I have no formal training in any of those things and was actually hired as a helpdesk tech.
It seems to be a rare talent indeed.
I am a programmer so my own approach is to find whatever similar project had to solve the same UUx requirements, either by searching the web or from memory, and to start iterating on that. Fortunately it is pretty uncommon to have to reinvent the wheel.
Well, most of the UX designer I have worked with don't do that, and most didn't seem to have that much experience using softwares. I have seen some weird shit in meetings, as the "non-expert" it can be very delicate to call those bad designs repeatedly. Even basic rules like when to use radio buttons vs checkboxes are sometime broken. All people working 6 figure jobs++.
I guess I have spent too much time on the computer over the last 2 decades and played around with too many interfaces to ever be satisfied with much of anything.
Thats pretty much what I did too. With no artistic flair or training, I just copied similar software that has a good UI. While Im not great at designing one, I know a good UI when I see one.
I unironically love the look of old grey winforms, but my developers dont like it. They want to use new flashy frameworks. But much of the software I design is intended to be used by warehouse and industrial factory staff. Most users are over 40. I know they feel comfortable with the old visual style of winforms, so thats what I insist on for many apps, particularly when its purely utilitarian, like an NFC scanning utility tracking machine components. For newer software projects, Im happy to work with something more modern, like Maui.
I agree with you honestly. Utility over prettiness. Honestly, a lot of modern apps and websites have pretty UI and awful UX....
Bro I swear. The amount of times I keep seeing bad UX drives me nuts.
PMs and UXers are the Tom Sayers of the software world, whitewashing aunt Polly's fence and making the other kids do the work and pay for the privilege.
Warm take. Engineers who don't know engineers shouldn't design interfaces have never had a non-engineer give feedback for their interfaces. We're all the same kind of weirdo.
I mean, yes, but also I’ve dealt with plenty of awful engineer designed interfaces that made my job harder than I’d like
I am programmer turned "everything else around the code" doer. I constantly have to correct/suggest UI and UX improvements and it can be such a time sink to tell devs to change stuff for it...
Basic fundamentals of user experience design are not a given apparently. I'm sorry, you wanted to be able to tab through boxes? The enter key should work? Who would have thought it.