As for my personal preference, I do prefer low-clutter UIs, which are the software UI equivalent of the Fundamental Axiom of Design: “the less design, the better.” It is much harder to design a UI that uses fewer colors, panes, keystrokes, etc., while having the same functionality, but it is worth the extra cost on the developer side when you consider that any benefits are multiplied by the number of users.

As an example that is not visual, take the pane navigation in Scrivener: it uses specific chords to move the focus to specific panes. In Emacs, I use opt+arrow keys to do the same thing, and it works regardless of the pane layout or what I am doing. I haven’t been able to memorize the Scrivener chords, but I never forget the Emacs ones. (I use both about the same amount of time, for different purposes. I am not a heavy user of either of them.)

One of the better UI low-clutter design examples is Lightroom. In my opinion, Apple apps are not necessarily the best examples of UI design; for example, the useless and irritating eye-candy in Address Book is enough for me to go out of my way not to use it. iPhone physical design is low-clutter, but the iOS visual design is on the high-clutter side. If your UI design is close to some Apple apps, that is a good indication that you should take a good long hard look at decluttering it.

I’m now using Dropbox Elements to sync with my Scrivener files when I’m working remotely, and I’m finding little tricks to use here and there. Yes, I’m excited and impatient for the iOS version of Scrivener—but one of the things I’ve come to love about this program is that L&L is thoughtful and diligent about every update and doesn’t release anything before it’s truly ready.

So, back to work now! (And yes, people named Jen really are awesome.)