WebMarketEdge

Any developer who has tangled with a Web app demanding lot of interface flexibility and options has had the added challenge of presenting an advanced interface in an intuitive fashion. User behavior can be hard to predict, but the Internet has been evolving long enough to identify a lot of habits that we as interface designers can draw from. New technology and development techniques make it easier to build a slick user experience, but we can also argue that as development evolves along with increased user sophistication we are just scaling up our pot of stew.

Is dumbing down user interfaces really necessary to create a user-friendly experience in a complex system? Not necessarily, at least not anymore. While not a definitive variable, we can note the interface usability as an element to the success of the Windows line of operating systems. Computers leapt from an archaic ASCII jungle to an interactive experience that users could cope with when graphical user interfaces became available.

However, we no longer face the same challenges that interface designers did back then. With new tools and browsers that can play relatively well with basic client-side scripting and CSS, we can put our experience to use. By replicating the simplicity and usability of a “dumbed down” interface but retaining the power advanced users demand, we can enjoy the best of both worlds.