[KronisLV]

> A week after launch they sent out a user survey and nearly every respondent complained about the flat UI.

When have most users ever enjoyed a new UI in a system that they're used to? Genuinely asking, because while I enjoy things like new icon themes and even the UI of Windows 11, most of the time I've seen people complain about any new UI that displaces something that they're familiar with.

If I'm wrong and it's just the flat design that is the real issue (which might also be true), then wouldn't the solution be to pick any other modern look and feel, instead of necessarily reverting to the very old one? Not that there's necessarily anything wrong with the more old timey UI design, I think that Windows 9X versions had really good design, perhaps despite some usability issues like no proper fuzzy search in the actual OS etc.

I quite like how themable PrimeVue/PrimeReact/PrimeNG is and swapping themes shouldn't be something impossible, though I don't doubt that with many of the libraries out there that ends up being the case: https://primereact.org/inputgroup/ (click the little palette in the corner to switch themes)

[cardanome]

> When have most users ever enjoyed a new UI in a system that they're used to?

Blender.

Is has seen some drastic changes in UI but barely any backlash. Even holy-cows like right-click select got mercilessly slaughtered and I am not even mad about it, in fact I love the changes.

The main thing is that they are focusing on providing value to users and are dog footing their own software to create movies.

But yeah, generally people hate change and you should avoid changing things as much as possible. Sadly that doesn't work with the way incentives in most companies work.

[b3ing]

Yeah, you have to change things and make things look good and on trend to get hired or promoted. If you work on something that looks a few years old in your portfolio, you will be on the job market longer

[KronisLV]

Honestly, Blender is probably the best example anyone could bring up - thanks for that, they really did wonders with the UI/UX!

[neepi]

Well the problem was that they got a new UI anyway when they didn’t need or want one.

I think that was the problem.

[skydhash]

Flat design doesn't help with discoverability, because you're never sure what's an icon and a button, and if it's one, what it is for. But familiarity is another constraint, especially spatial relations and action flows.