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Jim Mitchem: Here's something 'right' about FF UI, the 'open in mini-window' live stream. Very cool.

mikepk: Lee, good point. There are a lot of competing requirements. Further complicating these kinds of discussions are things like the initial user experience. It's like a variant of the old engineering adage, you can have it intuitive and simple, powerful, or efficient but you can only pick two to optimize. :)

Mona N.: Having FoAF defaulted does seem to cause confusion - though it helped me, personally. But if a person is too lazy to scroll, that's not FriendFeed's problem. Sometimes the headline is irrelevant, but the convo contains more valuable information. If I wanted to see headlines from pre-selected people, I would go to Twitter.

John Craft: "the more configurable you make it, the more confusing it becomes for users." True - but with a "standard" format (like this one), or a few to choose from, it doesn't have to be. Let new users start with something pre-determined, then migrate to their own custom skin if/when they're ready.

Lee Hsieh: imo, the point of Josh's post is that for the casual observer, FF looks intimidating. As frivolous as it sounds, 'Appearance' and how the UI is organized *is the most important touchpoint* for the consumer. As it stands now, many just don't have the time nor the inclination to tackle the steep learning curve FF requires--there are just too many demands on attention online. Another barrier to entry, which Josh didnt raise, are the confusing account settings which could be better described w/bubble help.

mikepk: Here's a simple thought experiment, imagine a poll of the people commenting in this tread "what's the one user interface change you would make that would most improve your experience of FriendFeed". If you didn't get 100 different answers I'd be surprised. That's the hard part.