If I could express a desire rather than a prediction, it's that "undiscoverable" UIs die. I hate having to swipe and tap and generally mess with the screen in the hope of triggering some secret feature. I don't know when it became trendy to get rid of UI chrome but I really wish it would come back.
(I wouldn't mind if the hamburger menu died either.)
I use this [1] extension to automatically remove fixed elements. And this [2] in case there is something left, or something I just don't like to look at. Probably the most used extensions I have unfortunately.
Adblock Origin has an optional blacklist you can turn on to kill those. Look in the settings. It's called "EU: Prebake - Filter Obtrusive Cookie Notices"
I don't mind the hamburger menu because at least there's a consistent UI that tells me where I can click to find stuff.
Otherwise agree, undiscoverable hidden UIs must die, and so must these flat UIs (which are equivalent to undiscoverable ones). Underlined blue words are good too.
Worst ui trend ever. I eagerly await a return to the 1980s. Which is not nostalgia, because I didn't use computers then — I'm too young and my family was too poor despite being early adopters of at home computers.
The 80s had their high points for sure, but computer interfaces really aren't one of them unless you like green-screen mainframe interfaces.
IMHO, the peak for UIs that are easily usable by regular people with minimal training was back in the mid-to-late-00s. It was before this idiotic flat-UI fad, when UIs had a colorful 3D look to them so they were actually attractive, and also functional (since they were also very discoverable). This was just before everyone suddenly decided that PC UIs needed to be the same as those used on small touchscreens.
However, I will say those 80s mainframe interfaces were extremely functional. For someone who had taken the time to learn it, they could get work done really quickly.
Are you sure about this? Have you seen what the Xerox Star could do in 1981 (http://toastytech.com/guis/star.html)? Or how about Symbolics Genera? Both of these systems had UI functionality in some ways more advanced than what we have today.
They tried to build smart workstations, where today we have essentially "dumb" operating systems and rely on applications to make them useful. The price we pay for this choice is the poor integration across applications. Web applications are even worse: zero integration across applications coupled with huge security problems.
>Are you sure about this? Have you seen what the Xerox Star could do in 1981
Yes, I'm quite sure. I was alive in the 80s, and I remember what things were like. I sure as hell don't remember any Xerox Stars, but I do remember lots of mainframe terminals at places like banks. I never even heard of the Star until I saw your link, similar to how I only learned about the Xerox Alto many, many years later and only saw one in the Smithsonian museum, never in actual use. Computers like that were rare research projects, not at all representative of how things were in the 80s. Macs are as close as you're going to get to today's UIs for computers which normal people had access to and were actually in any kind of widespread use, and these weren't really popular until the mid/late 80s (and even then were pretty limited as they were expensive).
You are correct about integration and how shitty web applications are though.
I'm convinced that flat got popular because it was cheaper than creating textured graphics. The endless fawning over flat on HN was extremely obnoxious - back in 2013 you couldn't go a day without a "flat design is good design" post ending up on the front page.
Glad to see that there are other people out there who hate it. If there's one example of comically dumb flat design patterns right now, it's that "filter" icon you see around the web that looks like a solid-colored upside down triangle and nothing like a filter.
I doubt that mobile screens will get bigger. The resolution will increase, but that just means that the few over-designed details that are shown will be crisper.
I think screens themselves could get bigger, but the devices themselves are as big as they'll ever get. Bendable screens are already a reality, now we just need to get them to make sharp folds. Then you could fold your screen up and put it in your pocket. :D
(I wouldn't mind if the hamburger menu died either.)