Last Updated on May 22, 2023

The importance of UI for UX

I read this really GREAT article (from 2013) while researching a talk on Responsive Design.  The subject of the article is the defaults that exist in web communication and how it is important to set some new ones.

The article is sadly no longer available, but the assumptions then are just as relevent today as they were ten years ago. Websites need to be accessible.

“EVERYONE HAS A MOUSE”
OK but many mouseover interactions are completely dysfunctional on a touch device.

“EVERYONE HAS BROADBAND INTERNET”
If you recall your last train ride, you know that people use crappy, unreliable connections all the time.

“EVERYONE’S COMPUTER GETS FASTER EVERY YEAR”
Maybe that is not important. The most important thing for a phone, for instance, is battery life.

“ALL MONITORS ARE CALIBRATED”
Only the monitors of visual professionals are calibrated.

We need new defaults – new patterns of interaction: we need interfaces that work on any device.

You can read other posts on my blog about Web Design right here.