Product dev blogs
I read through the archives of Jensen Harris’s Office UI blog the other day. It talks about things like UI decisions, hidden or non-obvious features, and how Office has changed over the years. I particularly like the Why the new UI? series.
And while I was reading I noticed I was gaining more respect for the product. Not because it’s technically complex, but because of how much effort needs to be put into the design decisions.
All major software products should have developer blogs like this. They’re a great way to raise interest in the product. Microsoft has the best selection, with over 3000 developers blogging (some of my favorites include Coolbeans, Shawn Hargreaves, and The Old New Thing). Google has quite a few but I haven’t found any I like yet (the Reader blog looks promising). And I just discovered Adobe’s blogs; maybe one of them will give me some respect for Acrobat.
Jumping back to the Office UI blog real quick - one of my favorite things is that all the screenshots are in PNG format. It’s good to know that someone gets it.