UI vs Functionality

Let me start off by admitting I like a pretty face even though I am a geek. I am all for elegance and simplicity but some people mistake simplicity for dumbing it down for the users. If you have no idea what I am blabbering about let me apologise and introduce you to the topic. I am discussing the constant battle between User Interface and Functionality faced by a product developer.



If you give it a second thought you might realize these properties are completey independent of each other. Yet stuff(esp. softwares) used all of us in the past have shown us otherwise. Windows with its loads of buttons and text fields offering you a whole lot of customization and Mac which is beautiful and seems to offer just enough; But is it enough?

For most users this may be the case however it can be pretty irratating for us geeks out there no matter how small their numbers are. As soon as we find an absent functionality for the sake of simplicity the software is as good as dead for us.

On the other hand end users hate the fact that you need to be a geek to operate a lot of stuff out there. While geeks like a lot of control on the stuff they design too much meaningless information can overwhelm the user.

So where do you draw a line?

One way out of this problem while desiging software is keeping it simple at the surface and hiding a whole lot of stuff under the "Advanced" tag which most users can safely ignore. While this does work it is causing incovenience to the geeks who have to push extra buttons to reach where they want.

A better solution would be a customizable interface with a very elgenat and simple default view and the customization option hidden under the "Advanced" tag. This makes sure geeks only have to hit it once. This approach offers the best of both worlds while causing no one harm.

Not even to the developer who now can cater to a wider audience.