[andybak]

This was one of the first lessons I learned about good UX design and was the canonical example when discussing what Mac OS classic did right and Windows did wrong.

I think it was Norman Nielson thing or one of those old school gurus.

How are people allowed to work on UIs without learning the core syllabus? The basics of their trade? I grew up on this stuff and I'm not even a UX specialist or a UI designer.

Or are they getting overridden by bad product managers and other shitty stakeholders?

[internet101010]

They are being overridden by people trying to justify their jobs by changing things for the sake of changing things.

[amatecha]

Right? When I worked in the office I kept a copy of Apple's Macintosh Human Interface Guidelines on my desk. It's amazing how "solved" a ton of that kind of stuff was, 30+ years ago. If you design software / UI and don't know the history of HCI and its top players, well…

[permo-w]

Slightly tangentially, just now reading the first section of the guidelines concerning metaphors, it's interesting, and an illustration of how far computers have taken over our lives, that now that a lot of the traditional UI metaphors are likely far better known for their software purpose than their original real world meaning

[syncsynchalt]

See also Fitt's Law (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fitts%27s_law) and with regards to Apple OS design, Bruce "Tog" Tognazzini (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bruce_Tognazzini), now at Norman Nielson Group.