Minimalist UI Whitespace Critique

Comments criticize modern web and UI designs for excessive whitespace, low information density, and prioritizing aesthetics over usability and readability. Debates contrast dense, efficient layouts with trendy minimalism that hinders user experience on various devices.

📉 Falling 0.4x Web Development
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Keywords

NuNtxel.png e.g APPEAR FIXED CEO UI asp.net AI IMO HN information design density whitespace padding ui space dense screen page

Sample Comments

haydenchambers Jan 27, 2012 View on HN

can we have a version where the 'design' doesn’t get in the way of the information?

marknutter May 2, 2013 View on HN

The benefits of keeping as much info above the fold has been debunked time and time again. These two sites you linked are unnecessarily cluttered and take time for the user to absorb. They look like they were designed in 2002.

indy Aug 29, 2023 View on HN

Prioritising how good the screenshots look on lists of "top 10 examples of minimalistic design" over usefulness to the user.

51Cards Sep 30, 2017 View on HN

I find it incredibly cluttered. Seems like the push for vertical page space has lead to crunching everything together into 2 lines while ignoring usability.

commonslip Aug 31, 2011 View on HN

Design looks great, but makes everything tedious to read. Just show me information in a way which is pleasant to look at. Don't hit me over the head with your design. I get it, it is slick, but design should be enabling, not distracting.

fragmede Aug 29, 2024 View on HN

and it optimizes for looking pretty in screenshots rather than information density and looking cluttered

config_yml Jun 23, 2020 View on HN

Loss of affordance, density and contrast. Why do designers hate these 3 things? It's pretty, yes.

rektide Jun 24, 2023 View on HN

Efficiency for whom? This works great for me. You'd make my experience awful by making things bigger, reducing information density.

mattl Oct 13, 2023 View on HN

Please take a look at the homepage on an iPhone. Way too much whitespace IMO and not obvious what’s going on in places

micaeked Feb 26, 2012 View on HN

Here is a design tip for you: don't take up my screen space with useless shit I can't scroll away from