

Apple - google - you - jgamman
http://swissmiss.typepad.com/weblog/2008/03/apple-google-an.html

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Alex3917
I think that being constantly bombarded with images of the Apple and Google
UIs, with their unattainable zenlike simplicity, has given me the hacker
equivalent of an eating disorder.

Complex GUI -> GUI Complex

Not that it's necessarily a bad thing. I suppose a little cognitive purging
now and then never hurt anyone.

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ph0rque
GUIrexia?

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BrandonM
Actually, I think GUIlimia works better on both counts...

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wave
A way around accessing websites crammed with ads and unnecessary features is
to access its mobile pages even when you are using your computer. Just compare
the followings:

<http://bofa.com>

<https://www.bankofamerica.com/mobile> Which one would you prefer accessing?

You can use Google to search for mobile pages or use <http://tiltview.com> to
be redirected to a mobile version of a page.

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joshwa
Yeah, but when you're not a product company, your UI is driven entirely by
business requirements. I'd love to see if Google's internal apps (e.g. HR) are
as clean as their homepage? I know that Gmail and Greader are not "simple" or
"minimal".

Complex requirements -> complex UI.

That said, if your UI is intuitive, and matches the users' mental model of the
requirements, those complex UIs can still be very usable (e.g. gmail).

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tojileon
Original Source: <http://stuffthathappens.com/blog/2008/03/05/simplicity/>

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hernan7
Some interesting comments on that one if you want to waste a minute or ten.

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randomhack
Vim : a blank screen or maybe just lines of "~"

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tlrobinson
Unfortunately there's a huge difference between Apple / Google style
minimalism and vi style minimalism:

[http://rob.tc/index.php/2007/08/20/everyones-first-vi-
sessio...](http://rob.tc/index.php/2007/08/20/everyones-first-vi-session/)

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technoguyrob
Just so you know, I modded you down due to blog spam. That was short enough
you could have put it in your comment (not to mention, the "everyone's first
VI session" skit is probably older than me, and definitely not due to the
website you linked).

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tlrobinson
I'm sorry I wanted to give the blog where I heard it from credit...

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mynameishere
Adwords is quite a bit more complicated than the cartoon of "your company's
app".

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marcus
True, but AdWords isn't meant for the average web-user.

The point is not to automatically simplify the design to its bare minimum its
to consider your users needs and their ability to handle complex UIs.

Its a scale with power users on one end that want all those flags and options,
and the average lay-person who wants things as simple as possible, always
remember who your target audience is.

I strongly believe in following the Google approach of data-mining usage stats
for your apps, to test different UIs on 1% of your audience and select the one
with the best results.

