Okay, I just ragged on an electronic Sudoku user interface, so now I equally want to commend an application for a user interface job well done in a small (but in my opinion significant) way. The application? Skype.
Let me start by saying that I really agree with Jeff Atwood’s assessment of icons, toolbars, etc. and how they relate to a user’s ability to interact with and understand an application. (I alluded to this in my last post.) I think this is evidenced by some of the improvements in Office 2007 - those guys spend a lot of time and money on usability, and it shows in the new interface.
Skype’s user interface has done a really good job with “fitting a lot into a little” by incrementally showing more information to the user, as they ask for it. Sometimes the user directly asks for it. Consider below where I progressively want to get more options about my Skype account:
Other times the user doesn’t directly ask for more information. Watch what happens as I increase the horizontal width of the window. I might be asking myself “What does the flag with the zero mean?”
These are two examples of how User Interface design, or at worst just putting some extra thought into your UI can make a big difference. These are also unfortunately the types of things that take extra time that is often not accounted for in the development schedule when the goal is to roll out a new feature, not a well-designed user interface. Maybe that’s where agile software development approaches like Scrum make a difference, I don’t know.
Update: I apologize for the poor quality of the images, I had to take them using Alt+PrintScreen over Remote Desktop. I would’ve rather used Kenny Kerr’s Window Clippings, but it doesn’t work over terminal services–something about needing a 32-bit color display. 
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