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Sensible Defaults do not exist, and neither do Best Practices. New video: youtu.be/deKtxzvf92g Whenever next anyone asks me what 'Sensible Default' to use, or what the 'Best Practices' are, I will link this video. It explains my arguments, includes examples, and hopefully finally puts it to rest.

Very informative video! It's likely the fact I'm not a UX designer, but I was initially very confused as to the pushback against "sensible" and I wonder if that's a terminology thing specific to UX design, as it seems from context that people are using it to mean "perfect" or "best"? Whereas I'd /

think of "sensible" as more "not awful". More specifically I guess two things: "Viable": I want the default layout to be viable for whatever I want to do, even if not optimal. Nothing I need should be eg hidden until I press a shortcut, it should be either visible or clear how I get there.

"Inviting": The software should not be overwhelming or scary. Failure here is kinda the inverse of failure in viability, where too much is immediately visible and I can't form a mental model easily. You could probably think of this in terms of "branching factor" when it comes to menus etc 🤔

What is and isn't 'awful', differs for each person, project, team, and company. So the word 'sensible' sets up a bad paradigm for measurement. Instead, the word 'editable' clearly indicates the need for multiple settings, and multiple different people. It provides room for the design conversation.