Putting content before chrome

To create application interfaces that are simple and enjoyable to use, a designer must strive to put content before chrome. In other words, the area in which one interacts with the application - data, fields and form buttons - should be proportionally larger than the space that surrounds it.

Although I believe it is always a good idea to layout an interface so the user knows where they are in the application and how they can get to other sections, these elements (along with graphics, whitespace and images) can also add unnecessary visual clutter.

Harvest is a solid example of how a designer has minimized chrome and left sufficient space for the core purposes of the application: to track time and invoice clients. You can see how much of the interface is dedicated to user interaction (content) vs. additional graphical elements (chrome). Within this layout, there is room to remove even more chrome by reducing heights of the tabs and menu bar.

Compare Harvest to another invoicing product, Blinksale. While there are similarities in the design - tabbed navigation and user login information at the top of the screen - the massive Blinksale logo only serves to occupy valuable real estate. Shrinking the logo, or better yet, removing it all together, would really open up the interface for more important functions.

William Strunk, Jr. once wrote, “Vigorous writing is concise. A sentence should contain no unnecessary words, a paragraph no unnecessary sentences, for the same reason that a drawing should have no unnecessary lines and a machine no unnecessary parts.”

For the sake of simplicity and user enjoyment, always put content before chrome.

The 37signals applications also minimize the chrome at the top of pages (the Blinksale page even refers to Basecamp on your snapshot). It seemed like their offerings were pretty popular with those agencies you interviewed.

It also seems that the horizontal tab layout is becoming a web application standard for navigation. Any standard would be fine with me—it’s a pain trying to figure out each site’s idiosyncratic interface.

Ack! Basecamp is taking over the web! It’s bauhaus all over again!

Bauhaus, indeed. I’m in favour of any design that places simplicity and functionality above all other attributes. Contrary to popular belief, I’m really not that much of a Basecamp + 37signals design fan. I would love to see some more variety and innovation in the genre they currently dominate.