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  2. UI: comprehensive, minimalist or customizable?

UI: comprehensive, minimalist or customizable?

Vincent Greco
4 replies
I am the kind of person who believes that the whole is the sum of all its details, and I value giving users choice. Consequently, the UI of my highlighting extension has become more complex with each added feature, as I wanted users to be able to enable or disable them. As a result, this UI now consists of a large collection of toggle switches. But initially, I aimed for a very simple user interface. To achieve this, I now decided to design an option page where users can enable or disable each individual toggle switch. This option page, as you may have guessed, is also composed of a large collection of toggle switches... The idea behind this design is that once users find their ideal settings, they can remove the controls for parameters that will never change. For example, if a user wants their search to be sometimes case-sensitive and sometimes case-insensitive but does not care about diacritics, they can keep the case sensitivity control but remove the toggle switch related to diacritic sensitivity. However, I must admit that I am uncertain about this approach. Some well-designed products, such as those by Apple, have interfaces that are as simple as possible and offer limited choices to users. This why I wanted to ask you the question: what is your own approach to UI design? Do you prefer a comprehensive, minimalist, or customizable UI? Thanks for your feedback. PS: For the most curious among you, this new customizable version is currently only available on Chrome. You can find it at: https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/multi-find-search-highlig/dffaiikpbncahnghlfnkhagffaemhgfo

Replies

Shirley Lewis
the choice between a comprehensive, minimalist, or customizable user interface depends largely on the specific needs and context of the target users, in general, a balanced approach that offers a minimalist and intuitive design for simplicity, coupled with enough comprehensive features to meet user requirements, and customizable options to adapt to diverse user preferences often leads to an effective and user-friendly interface.
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Vincent Greco
Multi Find: Search, Highlight, Explore
Multi Find: Search, Highlight, Explore
@shirleyl_22 I agree that the solution must strike a balance between ease of use and comprehensive access to features. Since the product focuses on a simple task (highlighting words), the interface should not be overly complex. This is one of the reasons why I am hesitant to add advanced features like "regex" search.
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Isabella Lee
Given the shifting tides of user needs and preferences, how do you balance the elegance of minimalist UI design, the in-depth functionality of comprehensive design, and the personal touch of customizable UI to create a universally appealing and engaging user experience?
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Vincent Greco
Multi Find: Search, Highlight, Explore
Multi Find: Search, Highlight, Explore
@isabella_l33 Yes, that's a good question. Currently, I don't see a way to present a minimalist version of the interface without first exposing users to the comprehensive one and allowing them to choose what to keep. The approach I chose allows users to customize their experience and remove unnecessary controls.
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