[jrockway]

I like how the sites are presented visually, as though a pretty visual design would imply a good application.

That's how Rails got so popular.

[railsjedi]

The nice thing about a good ui is its universal. Whether the codebase sucks or not, you cant deny when an app looks and feels right on the ui side.

It tends to make sense to put most of the effort on frontend usability, especially for web apps.

[GavinB]

Pretty and functional do have significant correlation. At this point looking pretty (or at least clean like HN) is a basic qualification to get me as a user.

Developers who think through clear UI are more likely to get the back end right.

[jrockway]

Citation needed.

I don't really care about design; that's someone else's job. But I bet I can code the backend fine.