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The original was posted on /r/opensource by /u/khronoblakov on 2024-09-29 01:06:47+00:00.
UI and UX are the parts that lack the most on so many FOSS projects, and it holds so many Open Source projects back. A lot of the programs are used mostly or only by open source lovers and not by professionals or even hobbyists because of this. People who can’t afford proprietary software prefer to pirate them instead of using FOSS alternatives because of this. There are truly not many Open Source projects that have good design and thought through user experience (also features that users actually need).
It took Blender more than a decade to finally decide and rewrite the UI, after which it started rising in popularity after almost a decade, and after improving its UI (~2013, 2.49 vs 2.5), making it easier to understand, and use, and the second rise after adding heavily requested or needed features like real time rendering (2019, 2.8). While GIMP is still unusable, and only people who praise it, or say that they use it everyday aren’t designers or are just open source lovers, due to bad UI and bad UX.
I know I will get a lot of hate on this post, but I don’t care. I just want the community to start understanding how important the interfaces and user experiences are. You can learn UI design, product and UX design, or attract designers to contribute to open source projects. Yes there’s already a lot on open source developers’ plates, but might as well start learning, and improving stuff by not putting more time, but by just doing some stuff differently, thinking differently, having knowledge instead of guessing. And of course this might not change much, especially in the beginning, but it will be a small step in the right direction for the whole community.
UI doesn’t mean aesthetics or beauty, it’s usability, clarity, non-obstructiveness. UX doesn’t mean plethora of features, just few features that make the experience simpler, and easier, maybe even removing some features. Also, I’m not saying that UIUX is the most important thing, it certainly is not.
Developers don’t need to create hundreds of design concepts, do UX researches and interviews, create complex design systems, and everything else. Developers already design the programs, think of features, create the program workflows, and do it the way they think is the best, by thinking, guessing, relying on gut. Knowing basics, basic to mid level of design allows to eliminate early mistakes, guesswork, additional planning, rewrites, spending hours thinking of how to do something. That is enough for most cases, no need for dedicated UIUX designers, deep/advanced knowledge or additional workload, just doing stuff you already do with a acquired knowledge. That will allow most projects to get most of the way there. And being 70% there is huge.
Here’s a free resource you can start with:
A talk about Blender’s UI, which turned it into what it is today: