Ease of use VS Complication of development

In other words, "The easier something is to use, the harder it was to develop."

Seems to make sense, what says you ?

I think it depends. I'm not really a developer, maybe I don't know the complications of it. I think it also needs the developer's idea/ head , how to illustrate it in a understandable way. Sometimes, it is easy to use, and easy to build too..I don't have one particular example in my head now..

In a black and white world no I wouldn't agree. I hate developers who humour their own ego by creating 'clever code' when 'simple code' will suffice.

There is no right or wrong answer It depends.

Negative.

Usability is only one aspect of any software system. It's very possible to have two functionally identical systems, but one with a much better user interface. The only "complication" in development would arise with the person/team developing the front end. And as long as they're good at their job, it shouldn't require a whole lot of effort.

As for the rest of the system, well, the complexity remains constant.

The problem is that most self-proclaimed "programmers" only focus on functionality and not on usability. They couldn't give two *plum* less about whether or not the system is easy for anyone other than themselves to use. They make core functionality their goal, and stop once it's reached.

You also have to ask the question of what the program is suppose to do. Lets say you are making your own operating system or something, that is going to be a fairly complicated undertaking and it better damn well be simple to use. But if you are creating a little script that reads a file and counts the number of times a word occurs, then it will be pretty simple code.

The linux philosophy fits well here: You have one small, simple program that does one thing and one thing only, and it does that one thing very very well.

I think that's a true statement. The code may not necessarily be more complicated, but it does always seem to take a little extra time and effort to look at the application from the user's perspective. Whether that happens through extra thought and foresight by the developer or extra time in doing some user testing, either way it equates to more complicated development.

Out of curiosity, where did you find that quote Joe?

I'd rather not say, I'm looking for unbiased opinions.