> I'm sure that UI developers would hate this. Having to maintain old UI code, or implement pixel-perfect imitations of it using the new UI code. Needing to worry about how to shoehorn new features into an old UI that was not designed for them. Etc.
Programmers and coders would (and do) get blasted for being lazy if the user has to learn something that can be done automatically with code, no matter how difficult. But when a designer changes the UI, we excuse it as "cost of progress". It's about time that UI design is held to the same standard as functional design.
To be fair, we are seeing a natural progression of an entire industry. First make it work -> make it work well -> then make it pretty -> make it work well AND look pretty. This is pretty much the lifecycle of every other industry, and fortunately the tech industry is finally approaching maturity and starting to think about that last stage.
Programmers and coders would (and do) get blasted for being lazy if the user has to learn something that can be done automatically with code, no matter how difficult. But when a designer changes the UI, we excuse it as "cost of progress". It's about time that UI design is held to the same standard as functional design.
To be fair, we are seeing a natural progression of an entire industry. First make it work -> make it work well -> then make it pretty -> make it work well AND look pretty. This is pretty much the lifecycle of every other industry, and fortunately the tech industry is finally approaching maturity and starting to think about that last stage.