threehv

Facebook has had a redesign. There’s more to come. The redesign hasn’t gone down too well.

But what’s more notable is the number of pop-overs that appear on the new Facebook. “Click here to see this”. “Where’s my stuff gone?” “If you want this, then do that”. Surely, that’s the sign of a bad design?

It’s not just Facebook. “New” Twitter is now for everyone. Every time I use it I get slightly confused – how do I do that? Where do I go for this?

I’ve always said that Twitter is proof that user-interface design is hard. All it is is a list of posts in chronological order, plus a text-area to allow you to post. Yet there are a myriad of different twitter clients, all working slightly differently, all with an alternate take on the ideal Twitter UI.

It seems that no matter how simple things are, the current trend is for complexity. More popovers, more boxes, more sliding widgets!

It’s confusing, it’s annoying and it is a massive step backwards.

Recently I’ve been playing around with Balsamiq Mockups. This is an application that lets you chuck screen designs (for web pages, desktop applications or iPhone applications) together very simply and quickly.

Balsamiq Mockups

The UI is pretty straightforward – create a screen, select some controls (via drag/drop or by typing in a name) and place them where you want them. Each control can then be roughly edited (for example, the table control lets you put comma-separated values in) so that you can make it look something like the expected data.

I have to say that it’s a pretty good application. It’s the first thing I’ve found that comes anywhere near the convenience of a whiteboard (or even better a piece of A3 and a 6B pencil). Even more amazing is that it’s also the first Adobe AIR application that doesn’t want to make me gouge my own eyes out in frustration at its non-standard user interface.

So, overall I have to recommend it (and if you ask nicely, they may even give you a free copy).

Is it better than a piece of paper? No.

Is it better than everything else I’ve tried on a computer? Yes.