Designed for Use, 2nd Edition

The Back End Influences the Front End

In general, a product’s back-end implementation influences how the front end works. Sometimes, unnecessary complexity bubbles up into the user interface. Other times, features are hard to implement because the back end doesn’t support them. Or it can be possible to implement a feature, but the way the back end works means that it doesn’t perform well.

Think about the file system. Many modern operating systems identify a file by its path. This is a back-end implementation detail that has huge repercussions for the front end. It means that applications often break if you rename or move a file while that same file is open in an application. This is a terrible user experience, and the cause for it is a decision ...