No, I don’t think you’re missing anything. That’s the issue at hand here: creating proper, usable software takes time and effort. FOSS-developers tend to prefer pouring their time and effort into functional code, with the UI primarily shaped by their own needs rather than a thorough analysis of what other users could want. Often, tools are the result of someone building something for themselves and figuring they’d share it with others.
To properly design for a broad audience is an extremely selfless ask, and for all that these devs donate their time to the public, they only have so much to give. I think it’s fair that they’d prefer working on things they benefit from too, but that means sacrificing general usability for personal expediency.
And that’s why so many tools are clunky: they’re “good enough” for the developer, and nobody cares to also make them good enough for the rest of the user group.
Yeah, I think the extension of “We need to acknowledge that UX is important” is going to be “We need to negotiate a mode of working that enables UX volunteers to help efficiently.” I’ve been out of software development for years, only tangentially worked with UX designers for a university project (and even that was basically just a bunch of UI mockups I was supposed to implement, so I never saw the process). I don’t know how the industry has solved that question (if at all), but the less hierarchical FOSS system may have to find its own way.
I’m glad that you have any interest in the topic at all, and thank you for shedding some light on your side of the issue.
What i did more than once was directly get in contact with a mantainer or the lead developer(more often than not i befriended them too) and suggest some GUI improvements directly, it’s ofc not doable everytime because otherwise the devs would just have too many people to manage.
Instead, ask if you can join the development team as the “UX/UI person” and show what works you already did, there is a good chance that you can either join or they will ear you out more often when you make an Issue/PR
No, I don’t think you’re missing anything. That’s the issue at hand here: creating proper, usable software takes time and effort. FOSS-developers tend to prefer pouring their time and effort into functional code, with the UI primarily shaped by their own needs rather than a thorough analysis of what other users could want. Often, tools are the result of someone building something for themselves and figuring they’d share it with others.
To properly design for a broad audience is an extremely selfless ask, and for all that these devs donate their time to the public, they only have so much to give. I think it’s fair that they’d prefer working on things they benefit from too, but that means sacrificing general usability for personal expediency.
And that’s why so many tools are clunky: they’re “good enough” for the developer, and nobody cares to also make them good enough for the rest of the user group.
Confirms what i thought, thanks. Maybe we need to make a better process for this, or champion it if there is always one.
Yeah, I think the extension of “We need to acknowledge that UX is important” is going to be “We need to negotiate a mode of working that enables UX volunteers to help efficiently.” I’ve been out of software development for years, only tangentially worked with UX designers for a university project (and even that was basically just a bunch of UI mockups I was supposed to implement, so I never saw the process). I don’t know how the industry has solved that question (if at all), but the less hierarchical FOSS system may have to find its own way.
I’m glad that you have any interest in the topic at all, and thank you for shedding some light on your side of the issue.
What i did more than once was directly get in contact with a mantainer or the lead developer(more often than not i befriended them too) and suggest some GUI improvements directly, it’s ofc not doable everytime because otherwise the devs would just have too many people to manage.
Instead, ask if you can join the development team as the “UX/UI person” and show what works you already did, there is a good chance that you can either join or they will ear you out more often when you make an Issue/PR