What is "ugly" software?

Posted by J J Weimer
Jul 12, 2018 at 12:35 PM

I consider two aspects equally important in good UI design. One is how an app lays out and styles its widgets (controls, information panes, and input panes). At one end of bad UI design in this case are apps that show every possible widget on the main view, typically with different sizes or colors or positions intended to indicate an aspect of relative importance or power in the widget. I find this approach as cluttered. An example toward this extreme is the current UI of DevonThink Pro. Another aspect of UI design is how an app uses ink and whitespace. At one end of bad UI design in this case are apps that use multiple colors or put various widgets in framed boxes, typically with the intent again to indicate that some additional or different level of importance should be associated with that portion of the view or with that widget. I can point to one aspect of the UI of DevonThink Pro as an example ... Aligned Columns with Borders. My brain associates this with having to “see past the borders to see into the columns”. A corresponding case are apps that spread out content with un-used whitespace in what might be called a case of lowering the information density. The transition going from OmniFocus 1 to OmniFocus 2 is a case where users complained about a decrease in information density (the whitespace between tasks increased).