MS .Toolbox

I've been working my way (slowly) through Microsofts new http://www.microsoft.com/design/toolbox/ site. For anyone who wants to know more about UI design (which should be every Mid-tier and back-end developer everywhere), it's a really good resource. But it brings me to something I see to much in the developer world: the idea that if the "functionality" works, UI doesn't matter. "Just give 'em a button" seems to be the mantra all too often. My take on it, however, is this: If the User can't make it do what it's supposed to, or if the user decides the old way was easier than your new way, your program doesn't work. The UI is how the users interact with your functionality; if it's not good, then it's bad. There is no middle ground. With WPF and Silverlight, this consideration has become much easier to handle. Simply implement INotifyPropertyChanged on your Business Layer objects, and then use MVVM to set up the UI. However, for people not using WPF or Silverlight, some consideration has to be made at design time for how the UI will look. If you'll be populating a ListBox control, you probably need a collection of some kind, for instance. This is a place where I've fallen down in the past, and I plan not to do so any more. You should make a similar pledge.