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Ask HN: Is there an end to the dumbing down of user interfaces?

2 points by eecsninja ↗ HN
I'm noticing more and more over the years how difficult it is becoming to perform power user tasks like copy/paste, moving the cursor around, switching windows, copying and uploading files, etc. Especially with the predominance of smartphones.

This is while the number of people working on software is at a all time high.

I get that designers want to make things easier for beginners, but it comes at the expense of those of us who want to do more. And I think future generations of users will be stymied in the potential to develop their skills in using computers because it becomes less obvious or convenient how to do things beyond the bare basics.

The programming world is no exception. The growing popularity of of Macs among developers is another example. Macs are great for many things, but they are terrible for coding: no home/end/pgup/pgdn keys, poor or inconsistent support for various keyboard shortcuts found on Linux, difficulty in accessing system library files, etc. Hell, Xcode doesn't even come with gdb, which I found out when I compiled something with gcc and wanted to locate a segfault.

Meanwhile you get questions like this: https://www.quora.com/Why-do-most-professional-programmers-prefer-Macs

2 comments

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thedevindevops
From a business standpoint, 80% of your users will only need 20% of the functionality of your app so for most value added, a simpler interface meets all the requirements. From a user perspective it's become expected that interfaces not be cluttered or 'busy' with clear calls to action - Users have become impatient and fickle, opting to choose apps that are clean and stylish over functional and detailed.
informatimago
Well, a Mac is needed to develop macOS and iOS software. But you can also use it to develop Android software; And in general, linux or unix software (either by installing GNU tools and libraries, or via a virtual machine); And of course, also MS-Windows software in a virtual machine. And web applications and back-end (you can run all browsers, either natively or in a virtual machine).

All this, with virtually zero system administration overhead, and nice non-programming tools for the occasional need.

So to the professional software developper might prefer to use it.

I use emacs on mac, and x11 with xterms open to various linux boxes; basically the same as when on linux. But with nicer fonts, nicer mail UA, much less administration. Granted, linux is still better by a few percent on the development tasks, but macOS compensates on the other tasks, and by its versatility. Anyways, we keep linux boxes and VMs.