An archive of various Windows 10 and Windows 11 builds.

In other words, revisiting the code you've already written and making it more concise could improve its readability (and also why code review is a thing).

This also aligns with the "Writing code that is easy for others to read" chapter in the Programmer's Brain book.

Just a simple demo of transforming one iOS app design to another where upon using an app we try to ask to the following questions:

- Where am I?

The app should make it clear right away, so Im not left wondering where I am or how I got here

- What can I do?

I shouldn't have to guess – actions should be clear and easy to understand

- Where can I go?

A clear sense of next steps to keep the flow going and helps me avoid hesitation or second-guessing

I wish some professional software answered those questions. As well as mine, really. Should rewatch it from time to time.

The language models’ greatest feat is also their most significant drawback—by absorbing the personal voice from every piece of content they have ever encountered, they produce a whole bunch of nonspecific, generic, mean-reverting Whatever that manages to say much but convey very little. All it can ever be is a circumlocution machine. It won’t tell deeply embarrassing tales of its youth, wear its grudges on its sleeve, passionately hold an unpopular position, or tug at threads without knowing ahead of time what the other end might be attached to. It doesn’t wander off onto interesting tangents that bring the reader along on a little shared journey of discovery. It has no discernible soul, no passion for its work, no real ability to justify the screen space it has filled up—let alone the time and attention the reader is now giving it. We can tell when it’s genuine. God dammit, we can tell.

And some talk about SQL and relational models.

Designing for UI density goes beyond the visual aspects of an interface. It includes all the implicit and explicit design decisions we make, and all the information we choose to show on the screen. It includes all time and the actions a user takes to get something valuable out of the software.

So, finally, a concrete definition of UI density: UI density is the value a user gets from the interface divided by the time and space the interface occupies.

Speed, usability, consistency, predictability, information richness, and functionality all play an important role in this equation. By taking account of all these aspects, we can understand why some interfaces succeed and others fail. And by designing for density, we can help people get more value out of the software we build.