Ask HN: User interfaces that have withstood the test of time?
have you encountered any?
i wanna say tally.so,hackernews, stripes navigating menu, libgen(could be better)
--video game character movement in general mouse and keyboard
>> makes you feel connected seamlessly or almost
12 comments
I saw this <https://infosec.exchange/@fugueish/111016439686006893> yesterday and had a good laugh because it's true: Craigslist. It just works. It loads fast. The search isn't even that terrible. It's probably running on an old Thinkpad under someone's desk
i forgot about craiglist >:( darn, which reminds me dont books have user interface too? like the table of contents?
The entire desktop metaphor is still basically perfect for systems that have a mouse. I can't really think of anything I would change about the Windows/Cinnamon/KDE experience.
Proboards type forums are also pretty much perfect. Section/Thread/Post, no further levels, full size posts with signatures, pagination for everything.
Excel has the distinction of being basically the only way a normal person might ever consider writing a program. In that, I consider it one of the coolest technologies out there. Not only that, but they had reactivity like what, 20 years before web dev commonly used it? In an alternate universe, somewhere millions of people are making programs with Excel 12.0, which lets you make pages that are actually Vue templates referencing your data.
Most editors have solved their editing domain pretty well. If you go back to 2000 or so, any most editor will be fine aside from lack of nondestructive stuff. They added over time but the core model is the same in new vs old Photoshop, gimp, DAWs, video editors, etc.
I like Android's UI, but lately touch devices have been getting so heavily gesture based and I constantly accidentally switch tabs or refresh pages.
The vast majority of UIs from 1990-2005 seem to have held up just fine. I think UIs that don't hold up are because they're trying to model something inherently hard and make it easy(Like anything 3D) or they're working with limited hardware and don't have full size screen and a mouse. Without a mouse you have to encode things in timing that would otherwise be encoded in the different button presses.
There's no separate hover and click, no right click, no middle click.
I wonder why there isn't more phones with touch sensors on the back that can actually as a mouse, or why GBoard doesn't have a laptop touchpad type interface for dealing with legacy non mobile sites.
Proboards type forums are also pretty much perfect. Section/Thread/Post, no further levels, full size posts with signatures, pagination for everything.
Excel has the distinction of being basically the only way a normal person might ever consider writing a program. In that, I consider it one of the coolest technologies out there. Not only that, but they had reactivity like what, 20 years before web dev commonly used it? In an alternate universe, somewhere millions of people are making programs with Excel 12.0, which lets you make pages that are actually Vue templates referencing your data.
Most editors have solved their editing domain pretty well. If you go back to 2000 or so, any most editor will be fine aside from lack of nondestructive stuff. They added over time but the core model is the same in new vs old Photoshop, gimp, DAWs, video editors, etc.
I like Android's UI, but lately touch devices have been getting so heavily gesture based and I constantly accidentally switch tabs or refresh pages.
The vast majority of UIs from 1990-2005 seem to have held up just fine. I think UIs that don't hold up are because they're trying to model something inherently hard and make it easy(Like anything 3D) or they're working with limited hardware and don't have full size screen and a mouse. Without a mouse you have to encode things in timing that would otherwise be encoded in the different button presses.
There's no separate hover and click, no right click, no middle click.
I wonder why there isn't more phones with touch sensors on the back that can actually as a mouse, or why GBoard doesn't have a laptop touchpad type interface for dealing with legacy non mobile sites.
> I can't really think of anything I would change about the Windows/Cinnamon/KDE experience.
Windows taskbar is getting degraded over time: -the "sleek" design means it is unclear which window is open -autogrouping - is an antipattern for most office workers, who have few things open (say few emails, few spreadsheets). In most jobs you constantly move around them - and when they are grouped you lose time -when you jump the hoops to disable auto grouping, windows still groups the programs by type (e.g. all folders are near each other, then all outlook emails, then all spreadsheets -> when often you would prefer to have them in the taskbar relational to the time they were opened) -Windows 95 radiobars and shading was just visually better, often the interface is unclear -you cannot sort the fucking control panel, seriously open it - it is sorted vertically? (it is living hell if you find a guide in English and then you try to translate to your own language, but you cannot sort easily alphabetically -> if windows wanted to have same icons in same place, then name them with numbers 1, 2, 3... but they dont want to do this, because then they would have to stay consistent and stop changing things for the sake of proving that product managers are needed)
Windows taskbar is getting degraded over time: -the "sleek" design means it is unclear which window is open -autogrouping - is an antipattern for most office workers, who have few things open (say few emails, few spreadsheets). In most jobs you constantly move around them - and when they are grouped you lose time -when you jump the hoops to disable auto grouping, windows still groups the programs by type (e.g. all folders are near each other, then all outlook emails, then all spreadsheets -> when often you would prefer to have them in the taskbar relational to the time they were opened) -Windows 95 radiobars and shading was just visually better, often the interface is unclear -you cannot sort the fucking control panel, seriously open it - it is sorted vertically? (it is living hell if you find a guide in English and then you try to translate to your own language, but you cannot sort easily alphabetically -> if windows wanted to have same icons in same place, then name them with numbers 1, 2, 3... but they dont want to do this, because then they would have to stay consistent and stop changing things for the sake of proving that product managers are needed)
Excel is such an interesting case because people don’t really understand how it is related to “writing software” and there are so many gaps such as:
* pounding out something in Excel vs, writing something correct. (There was that time I had gotten back to Ithaca and gave the same talk I’d just given in NYC and somebody pointed out I’d screwed up a graph because I made a common mistake people make with Excel. I can laugh about it but the person who made a $100M bad trade because of Excel has less to laugh about.)
* tools for making enterprise software with the convenience, accessibility and reactivity of Excel
* all these gawdawful “reactive” javascript frameworks that seem uninformed by the reactivity of Excel, workflow engines, etc.
It just seems to me there is a “no code” revolution hiding in plain site that is obscured by “this is a spreadsheet” and “this is a programming language” which is is hard to breach as the “can’t you tell that a phone is a phone and a computer is a computer, silly?” mindset that is so widespread today. (For that matter it is so amazing Lotus Notes disappeared without a trace before the patents expires…)
* pounding out something in Excel vs, writing something correct. (There was that time I had gotten back to Ithaca and gave the same talk I’d just given in NYC and somebody pointed out I’d screwed up a graph because I made a common mistake people make with Excel. I can laugh about it but the person who made a $100M bad trade because of Excel has less to laugh about.)
* tools for making enterprise software with the convenience, accessibility and reactivity of Excel
* all these gawdawful “reactive” javascript frameworks that seem uninformed by the reactivity of Excel, workflow engines, etc.
It just seems to me there is a “no code” revolution hiding in plain site that is obscured by “this is a spreadsheet” and “this is a programming language” which is is hard to breach as the “can’t you tell that a phone is a phone and a computer is a computer, silly?” mindset that is so widespread today. (For that matter it is so amazing Lotus Notes disappeared without a trace before the patents expires…)
Emacs and Vim are both up there. Modern VS Code is basically Sublime Text with extra steps, which is TextMate with extra steps, which has been around for more than 15 years now. While it didn't pioneer it, TextMate popularized the "command palette" that so many text editors and IDEs use today. If you liked TextMate in 2008, you'll be fine with VSCode in 2023.
The tabbed web browser hasn't changed fundamentally since forever. People keep trying out new ways of managing tons of tabs, but all the major browsers today look pretty similar to early releases of Opera.
Aside from the ribbon, Microsoft Office remains mostly unchanged in terms of basic interactions. Even keyboard shortcuts from 20 years ago continue to work the same way today. Remember that the Office ribbon came out in 2007, which makes it 16 years old now! You could say it has stood the test of time very well, too.
Desktop and mobile operating systems have figured out sets of basic interactions that work for them. It's been a while since a new iOS update changed the way I work with my iPhone. Likewise for Windows and macOS. Once you get used to them, they become invisible, humming along without drawing attention to themselves. In contrast, tablet/convertible UIs are constantly in flux, trying to figure out how to make all their diverse input methods (touch, stylus, mouse and keyboard) work together in harmony.
I'd say most software we use today is pretty damn good, and doesn't change all that much. That's why everyone gets mad when e.g Spotify decides to suddenly change how the UI works. People aren't used to their tools changing very much anymore.
The tabbed web browser hasn't changed fundamentally since forever. People keep trying out new ways of managing tons of tabs, but all the major browsers today look pretty similar to early releases of Opera.
Aside from the ribbon, Microsoft Office remains mostly unchanged in terms of basic interactions. Even keyboard shortcuts from 20 years ago continue to work the same way today. Remember that the Office ribbon came out in 2007, which makes it 16 years old now! You could say it has stood the test of time very well, too.
Desktop and mobile operating systems have figured out sets of basic interactions that work for them. It's been a while since a new iOS update changed the way I work with my iPhone. Likewise for Windows and macOS. Once you get used to them, they become invisible, humming along without drawing attention to themselves. In contrast, tablet/convertible UIs are constantly in flux, trying to figure out how to make all their diverse input methods (touch, stylus, mouse and keyboard) work together in harmony.
I'd say most software we use today is pretty damn good, and doesn't change all that much. That's why everyone gets mad when e.g Spotify decides to suddenly change how the UI works. People aren't used to their tools changing very much anymore.
IRC was great. mIRC if you had to pick. I'd take it over Discord any day. IRC was just missing features like being online all the time, creating channels, notifications. Nothing UI. Emojis on messages do add to it, but that's the only thing I'd add.
Old reddit and HN are nice. Maybe I just strongly dislike avatars. It becomes about who said what instead of what was said.
Forums like SMF could work, but only if they're mobile friendly. Sorting by down/upvotes creates an unfriendly atmosphere.
Old reddit and HN are nice. Maybe I just strongly dislike avatars. It becomes about who said what instead of what was said.
Forums like SMF could work, but only if they're mobile friendly. Sorting by down/upvotes creates an unfriendly atmosphere.
I'd say how Windows evolved, the core idea was there, it was iterated on, and peaked at 7. Sadly then M$ decided it needs a new identity and more ads. The UI was good, M$ just decided to ruin it for no good reason
mc,mcedit: classic dos like text based interface/menu
Anki
The book