The interface: why simple is harder to make

No one thinks about a good interface — they just use it. We notice an interface only when it is bad: when we cannot find the button, get confused, get angry. Invisibility is the highest praise for whoever made it, and at the same time the reason this work is so underrated.

It seems that making it simple means to do little. In fact it is the opposite. Behind every simple button stands a mountain of discarded options, arguments, and decisions about what to remove. The complex is easy to make: keep adding features until you get lost yourself. The simple requires the courage to give up the superfluous and respect for the person who has no time to figure it out.

In essence, a good interface is a form of empathy. It anticipates where a person will err and protects them in advance; it does not make you think where you do not have to. A bad interface silently tells the user: figure it out yourself, you do not matter to me. A good one says: I thought about you ahead of time.

“Perfection is achieved not when there is nothing more to add, but when there is nothing left to take away.”
— Antoine de Saint-Exupery

My opinion: the quality of a technology is measured not by how much it can do but by how easily an ordinary person can use it. Real complexity should stay inside, with the engineer, while simplicity comes out. This is true not only of programs but of laws, instructions, and everything made for people.