Why did UI’s turn from practical to form over function?

E.g. Office 2003 vs Microsoft 365

Office 2003

It’s easy to remember where everything is with a toolbar and menu bar, which allows access to any option in one click and hold move.

Microsoft 365

Seriously? Big ribbon and massive padding wasting space, as well as the ribbon being clunky to use.

Why did this happen?

  • Naich@lemmings.world
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    27
    arrow-down
    2
    ·
    2 months ago

    What makes it even worse is that screens got wider and shorter, but the new designs use more vertical space than before, leaving even less height to do anything in.

    • webghost0101@sopuli.xyz
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      11
      arrow-down
      1
      ·
      edit-2
      2 months ago

      16:9 was pushed on us because it was cheaper to produce on mass for tv and pc. 16:9 was better for movies.

      There are some monitors from just before this massive market manipulation and those have 16:10, sometimes with display port before hdmi was even mainstream.

      Apple is actually one of the few companies to make the jump from 4:3 to 16:10 avoiding the 16:9 with very few exceptions.

      To this day i see people work with old software designed for the area of more vertical screens but doing so on screens designed for movies.

      Most people dont even understand what i mean when i explain this. But the good thing is my issue with it was considered a disability so they had to accommodate me with something more sensible.

      Sorry long comments but this is a personal vice for me.

      • AA5B@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        2
        arrow-down
        1
        ·
        2 months ago

        Ha, but the presence of vertical monitors means we can do this , amirite? We’re just better using the screen space people have …. Who have spent hundreds of dollars extra on extra hardware to make this shitty ui usable

    • Buffalox@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      6
      ·
      edit-2
      2 months ago

      My $300 32 inch IPS 16:9 monitor laughs hard at my old $2000 19 inch 4:3 CRT.
      If you are on a desktop, it’s insane how both cheap and good monitors have become.
      Still I absolutely agree, wasting vertical space is more annoying than horizontal.