I think that being constantly bombarded with images of the Apple and Google UIs, with their unattainable zenlike simplicity, has given me the hacker equivalent of an eating disorder.
Complex GUI -> GUI Complex
Not that it's necessarily a bad thing. I suppose a little cognitive purging now and then never hurt anyone.
A way around accessing websites crammed with ads and unnecessary features is to access its mobile pages even when you are using your computer. Just compare the followings:
Yeah, but when you're not a product company, your UI is driven entirely by business requirements. I'd love to see if Google's internal apps (e.g. HR) are as clean as their homepage? I know that Gmail and Greader are not "simple" or "minimal".
Complex requirements -> complex UI.
That said, if your UI is intuitive, and matches the users' mental model of the requirements, those complex UIs can still be very usable (e.g. gmail).
Just so you know, I modded you down due to blog spam. That was short enough you could have put it in your comment (not to mention, the "everyone's first VI session" skit is probably older than me, and definitely not due to the website you linked).
True, but AdWords isn't meant for the average web-user.
The point is not to automatically simplify the design to its bare minimum its to consider your users needs and their ability to handle complex UIs.
Its a scale with power users on one end that want all those flags and options, and the average lay-person who wants things as simple as possible, always remember who your target audience is.
I strongly believe in following the Google approach of data-mining usage stats for your apps, to test different UIs on 1% of your audience and select the one with the best results.
Complex GUI -> GUI Complex
Not that it's necessarily a bad thing. I suppose a little cognitive purging now and then never hurt anyone.