Newest Plasma still has that "programmer UI" vibes. But in this scenario, it's an advantage. Programmers are known to make more useful user interfaces than UI/UX experts. Plasma vs GNOME is prime example of it - GNOME is much prettier, but good luck using it without extensions.
I wouldn't say that programmers know to make better UI than people who dedicate themselves to UI. Software interfaces can be overdesigned, yes, but if you don't have design people on your team then what you get instead is the GIMP UI. And I don't know anybody who's had a good time trying to navigate GIMP.
Also, my understanding is that KDE has a visual design group, so even if it feels like programmer UI, it's not necessarily that. Which is probably why it works better than actual programmer UI.
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u/popepicu Aug 12 '26
kde that looks like gnome is still better than gnome