Design is more than visuals

So much tech today is worried about design and that can be a very good thing. When, however, the definition of design is limited to just the visual aspects of the interface (ie it looks pretty) then the focus on design isn’t just wasted but could be actively harmful to the app itself.

I see this a lot in developer tools. So many have great looking interfaces that are pleasant to look at and… do nothing. On the flip side some of these tools, such as Docker Desktop, worry about all the visuals while there is a really well designed CLI underneath.

I understand some folks prefer GUI tools and some don’t (for what it’s worth I’m very firmly in the latter camp). As I build Kana, however this whole fact isn’t lost on me. I’m working so hard to make sure Kana has a well-designed CLI interface and I really hope that can be useful both to myself and to anyone else using it.

This post was prompted by trying to do something in Docker Desktop that I should’ve just done in the CLI.