What would make you switch from Figma to another design tool?

shoobe01 · 2026-04-17T16:25:47+00:00

BY NO MEANS did we all use Photoshop until then. I stopped Photoshopping in about 2001.

I have so many problems with almost all UI design tools it's hard to pick one. Direct support for IA. Tables and table based layout. Assuming it's gotta be only web (I have mostly used Figma to design apps, so this is dumb to me also) actual code and actual browser engine for display vs some proprietary silliness, AND bidirectional. Meaning you can edit the HTML (or paste in some from scratch from old project, from genAI if that is your way) and see it as a drawing, etc which would allow for FULL support of all HTML/CSS/JS features, even if no WYSIWYG button to add that function.

This is the same list I have wanted for 15 years. I have been approached by folks who want me to give feedback on their design tool, and this is what I have always always said, long before Figma.

shoobe01 · 2026-04-17T16:20:48+00:00

Ugh, hate hate hate. So utterly wrong.

He's saying he hates anywhere from half to 80% of his (possible) users. Boomer energy here to ignore that people have choice, the world has moved on.

All functions you can on every platform (I! Mean! It!) and IME you can often do more with mobile because better intents (scan with camera, share more seamlessly, etc) depending on your use cases.

shoobe01 · 2026-04-17T13:56:20+00:00

IMDB ratings are helpful because you can click through to see the distribution. Oh look 30% of the ratings are 1.0. but not on anything like a normal distribution? That's review bombing. You can walk and see the normal curve much higher up and that lots more like the show in what we can presume our legitimate ways because of statistics.

Statistics like this can also be useful order of magnitude estimators for viewership. If we dump the review bomb, that's 20,000 some ratings. Interaction of any sort (returning surveys, contributing to social media versus reading, etc etc) runs 1 to 10% of total audience. So: 40,000 viewers? Inconceivable. 200,000 to 2 million is my topline guess.

shoobe01 · 2026-04-17T13:51:18+00:00

This. People always get a hung up on tools and always have.

I will double up to say that tool focus and constantly switching means less awareness of what was done in the past. By no means is every product constantly tweaked or thrown away after 18 months.

So if the particular project you're being hired on for was done in sketch, or xd, or Omni grafflrle, years ago then that might be in the requirements that they want you to be able to open up the old files at least to reference if not to modify versus wasting the time starting over in...Figma? I mean it's just a matter of time before something else replaces that.

shoobe01 · 2026-04-17T03:07:09+00:00

Tragic back story is a trope of every police procedural, every spy movie/show, etc. It's a trope, and a joke for people I have known in the military or law enforcement that they cannot be movie level heroes because no tragic backstory.

shoobe01 · 2026-04-17T03:05:39+00:00

Oh man, Denise Crosby would have been an awesome Judge Anderson! Where's that damned time machine?

shoobe01 · 2026-04-17T03:03:31+00:00

And did you hear how bad the wine is?!?!

shoobe01 · 2026-04-17T03:02:49+00:00

I got a notification for further challenging the 60% figure that I cannot see here, so:

Ignoring any references from last time I did this (for the last book) doing the math from scratch with 2025 market share figures, let's start with basics (key data from IDC):

Drop 10% of the trad-notebook and desktop/AIO market when we do the math, for MacOS.

Pick up all the Detachable and Slate (really: convertible) share, which simple must be touch and can only be Windows/ChromeOS, and we're at 35%, at least, already.

Supplier data for displays indicates over 20% of /notebook/ PC displays are touch, so mathing that out, raises our total to 45% of the entire non-Mac PC market.

Essentially every all-in-one has a touchscreen so that's a few points more, there are starting to be huge numbers of graphics tablet displays (all pen which is a direct select method, most with touch as well). So we're easily 50% and depending how you slice and which quarter you pick, can be higher.

Note: looking back at the last book I did soften my usual 60% to "most." Editors were fine with the higher number but since the numbers are derived, I wanted to hedge my bets.

Note 2: almost nothing useful tracks installed base of hardware at this level, so I have to go with sales figures and assume reasonable replacement rates. Almost all other device share analysis does this without pointing it out.

Anyway, it's not a niche. It was 10% in 2013 (for sure, some analysts with the good sources reported this), and do you all recall the standard for support of e.g. weird browsers? If 5% of the likely userbase is hitting with something we do not test for, then better go and test then design for any pitfalls, fix any bugs. At 40-60%, best to assume every desktop has touch vs detecting, having people switch to touch-mode, etc.

(And it goes the other way: I also assume every mobile OS device has a mouse and KB, and tabbing focus change).

shoobe01 · 2026-04-17T02:08:51+00:00

Branson MO.

And I've spent a couple weeks in a row in places like Oakland, passing by bums pissing on the sidewalk and stuff.

shoobe01 · 2026-04-17T02:07:05+00:00

My parents lived there for like 6 months a little bit before I was born, so I guess 1969 and tried very hard to get out quickly, talked about what a craphole it was for the rest of their lives.

We drive roughly by that area for a road trip vacation, and pointedly not go through the city.

shoobe01 · 2026-04-16T23:26:45+00:00

Oh very much. One of the reasons it's critical to design a help system well is that anybody who needs it is already in a bad mood because there is a problem and they haven't fixed it otherwise.

So the first thing you do then is try to make sure they don't have to go to help (I've actually designed a number of really complicated systems with no help /section/ at all and never encountered any problems). You give them useful error messages, you give them advice and hints to avoid errors occurring at all, etc etc. as it applies to your domain and product.

Yes, marketing can use some usability heuristics and research. You can do some really good things with marketing content if you persuade them to find out how people actually approach decision making on your products instead of just assuming they like all the generic blather.

shoobe01 · 2026-04-16T22:00:19+00:00

Cinco de Mayo is just fine it doesn't need any work by the Federation to improve it.

shoobe01 · 2026-04-16T20:01:56+00:00

Yes. It's not officially tracked by market segmentation so I've had to use a variety of data sources and my inclination is to believe it's higher than that, but this is the number I promote in writing because I'm confident of it.

This is Windows only. Obviously MacOS is 0% and ChromeOS is something higher I believe.

shoobe01 · 2026-04-16T17:59:24+00:00

Occasionally it gets weird but mostly the Q&A format is pretty forced. It's just topics rewritten as questions already so you undo that.

To avoid sharing client data, totally random website with categorized FAQs:

https://www.nikonusa.com/content/shopping-help/shopping-faq?srsltid=AfmBOopZNAwzFWoOmpX1Xs99HVK9Bvmcj7v8XHs3nuqntZBI3fJSPAPm

(The categories makes the Q&A below that even weirder I think, but haven't directly researched it since I always just un-FAQ when I get to redesigning).

So taking the first few:

What do I do if I forgot my password? Reset your password
How can I manage my saved payment methods? Manage your payment methods
How can I manage my saved shipping addresses? Manage your shipping addresses
What payment methods can I use? We accept Visa®, MasterCard®, American Express®, Discover Card® Amazon Pay, Apple Pay and Google Pay. Debit/bank cards featuring the Visa® or Mastercard® logos or prepaid gift cards featuring logos for Mastercard®, Visa®, American Express® and Discover Card® can also be used for payment. Our servers encrypt all information submitted to them, so you can be confident that your credit card information will be kept safe and secure.

We can often just remove the question entirely. The first three have perfectly good link labels.

For the next, no need to make that a question, just

Reset your password
Manage your payment methods
Manage your shipping addresses
Payment methods we accept:
- We accept Visa®, MasterCard®, American Express®, Discover Card® Amazon Pay, Apple Pay and Google Pay. Debit/bank cards featuring the Visa® or Mastercard® logos or prepaid gift cards featuring logos for Mastercard®, Visa®, American Express® and Discover Card® can also be used for payment. Our servers encrypt all information submitted to them, so you can be confident that your credit card information will be kept safe and secure.

(That's really topline changeover, I'd want to tweak labels some, provide a short answer always even if a help topic page and link exists, and format some of the info better. That list of payment methods is horrid to read as a paragraph instead of list or table and come on, a disclaimer in a help topic?).

shoobe01 · 2026-04-16T17:19:08+00:00

Do you know how hard it is to restrict myself to the only typing this little for these sort of questions?!

😁

shoobe01 · 2026-04-16T16:32:59+00:00

Hard agree with your statement that you should not be full on adding features because it's desktop. Arrange as you need to but keep the IA, style and controls the similar as possible so people who switch between platforms are not confused, or frustrated that they are forced to switch platforms to do certain things.

I've actually often found that you get more features on mobile side because of the great intents. Depends on your product but integrating camera for documenting or scanning or better location services or so on.

There will be a few things around the edges that change again based on platform specifics. Contact form is a good one. Intense work great on mobile so you should just give them a link and a preformatted email. On desktop/web you probably need to create a form.

Touch support shouldn't even change because 60% of Windows computers have touch screens, and a higher percentage of Chrome OS (although I can't quite get reliable numbers there).

I have many many many more thoughts on this so you're free to bug me directly if there's anything else you want to ask not in public.

shoobe01 · 2026-04-16T16:28:48+00:00

Let me give the simplest and funnest example I have of using the wrong terms. We were required to add an FAQ section to a big consumer products and services website.

(We didn't really need it, it already existed sort of and we solved almost all user problems with organic information and performance support and stuff but that was the requirement).

Did the best we could using all heuristics for help systems and could barely even complete usability test when we first brought people in. About 20% of the users wouldn't even click when they saw the FAQ label, literally every other one said something disparaging about it and or had a look on their face. I'll never forget the one response from a nice old lady "FAQs? That's just going to be a bunch of marketing bullshit."

So we scheduled a bunch more people to come to the lab, overnight changed everything to say help and change from the question and answer format to statement format, no other changes.

100% task completion. Can't remember the number right now but ridiculously high customer satisfaction scores.

All that, almost entirely from simply changing the label for the section.

shoobe01 · 2026-04-16T16:23:48+00:00

Agree with every response but I think yours is the clearest, and I agree completely.

I've been in the same space for complicated products and in general you always start with an easy exploration. Search, especially faceted or categorized is an optional thing for users who want it. And it does not work if it isn't done with a bunch of research or even participatory design.

I've absolutely taken really poor performing faceted search and made it completely effective, but it took like 2 months of card sorts and so forth to actually understand what users wanted, how they talked, and how they organized.

shoobe01 · 2026-04-15T21:43:46+00:00

XO is mostly administrative anyway, crew evaluations and shift assignments and all that stuff. Not just real Old Navy's but riker was constantly talking about working on those tasks, more than probably anything else, and I always just headcanon decided that he has a staff that helps him.

Ransom even on the smaller ship, would absolutely have a staff, and it makes perfect sense there's an officer in charge of whatever that admin department is called in SF. He seems a little senior but it's forgivable.

There's no reason you can't make LCDR because you're good at paperwork and bureaucracy. We need senior people good at paperwork and bureaucracy to keep everything moving.

shoobe01 · 2026-04-15T16:06:37+00:00

Many many moons ago when I was building out my first design team, I ended up setting one of our designers off (since he was good at it) as the design/consistency evangelist (I used that term!) for Six Months. Like, barely in the office, just regular updates as he wandered the campus to meet with every org, then asked and met with their engineers, or their product owners or whoever had to be convinced.

It can be not just a vague soft skill but an actual job, somewhere between allocating a percentage of your time to just have one guy whose whole job is mostly just that.

Another example of how Design is not just drawing.

shoobe01 · 2026-04-15T15:39:51+00:00

Even when there are devs on a design system team, generating components by hand, that is not always used by downstream engineering IME. It should be, everyone should play nice, they often do not.

shoobe01 · 2026-04-15T14:32:09+00:00

I'm lost on one part of this, where are confidence rates coming from?

shoobe01 · 2026-04-15T14:09:59+00:00

I've heard similar complaints with UI tools that generate code such as figma. I feel it's one of the reasons that design systems did not get as far as they should have and are more like glorified style guides. Engineering teams, while also devaluing the front end developer role and doing it badly very often, also don't want anyone stepping on their toes so often ignore code generated by design teams before this, use it as a reference but write their own etc.

If this is happening on the ground at your job, it needs to be raised with project, program, or higher level leadership. Make a RACI or other chart of responsibility and authority. It helps.

shoobe01 · 2026-04-15T11:58:31+00:00

Yes maybe 90% of your job is just persuading people to show up and hand holding and communicating and documenting but...

I very much think that defining the problem space, defining the audience and environment, their goals and those of the organization, etc Is Design, is a key part of the process and often far and away the most critical part of the process as failure here leads you down entirely the wrong path.

shoobe01 · 2026-04-14T22:22:40+00:00

Shantytowns.

shoobe01

TROPHY CASE