UI

This really is great fun from Joel Spolsky. I agree with probably about 98% of it - though I think he goes just a teensy bit overboard in places. I significantly disagree that "... and only 0.01% of them can figure out Microsoft ATL programming. (And all of them, without exception, have beards and glasses.)" - then again am I kidding myself that I have really figured out ATL programming?

A good summary is that UI design is a balancing act full of compromises and that the solution you first thought of is not the best - but if you've done it right it won't be far off.

I've lost it now, but there's some pie menu been "invented" by someone - just what problem is it that they were trying to solve by coming up with this system? Its like why write menus/toolbars in DHTML that look so different to 'native' - there's a perfectly fine implementation in Windows. (Which brings us to the rant of why MS don't use it......).