Linux for UX Designers: What I learn after a year of doing design work on Linux | Hacker News Reader

Linux for UX Designers: What I learn after a year of doing design work on Linux

chris-wood.design

102 pointssohkamyung42 comments

I work as a Web designer in Linux. I'm not sure that I could completely get away with it if I wasn't already pretty code / frontend focused. I reach quite a bit to web-based tools (Figma, Whimsical) when I need to do prototyping, and find things like Krita and Inkscape more than competent for actual pixel pushing.

Where things fall apart is when you're in larger teams where everyone uses the more common tools on the more common OSes. Collaboration becomes much harder, and there are certain walls you can't cross. The other weak spot is with video editing. There are options, but none of them are as easy to use as the ones you'll find on OSX.

Design requires A LOT of screenshotting, and for that I resorted to building my own workflows [0]. That sort of brings up the major benefit of Linux as a designer. You really do get to build out your "dream" setup, and my Desktop over the years is really customized to the way I work, not the way others work. That's part of the joy of design for me, and while it certainly will limit me to working with Startups or companies that are OK with individuality in workflows, it's provided a level of happiness I wouldn't trade. If anyone is interested, I wrote about my thoughts about using Linux as a designer over here [1].

[0]: https://www.davesnider.com/posts/screenshot-app

[1]: https://www.davesnider.com/posts/im-a-linux

I can't speak much on graphics but for video I have very happily used DaVinci Resolve (Studio but free is good too) and have no issues with it on linux. It can be a little bit of a pain to get running but so is almost anything on linux but ymmv.

Our team of video editors have almost universally switched to Resolve from Premier ( FCP just doesn't work for us so I have no comparison there )

I am a big fan of Resolve. For quick and dirty work kdenlive is another great editor. Basic in a good way

Isn't blender good enough? Never edited video in my life except with ffmpeg but I know blender supports it

As a gigantic blender fan: Its video editor is not nearly user-friendly enough. Most of blender these days is a real treat to use, but the video editor is still somewhat rudimentary.

There's an open-source Figma alternative called Penpot: https://penpot.app/

When Apple orphaned my late-2014 iMac, I tried OpenCore Legacy, but it was plagued by weird glitches and stalls that rendered some things (notably Safari) pretty much unusable.

I installed Mint and now I have a nice 25-inch Linux workstation. Everything works fine.

Unpopular opinion: the web stack including Electron apps, which many people here find every opportunity to complain about, made this possible.

How so?

Industry standard creative apps usually don't offer Linux binaries.

Nowadays, the lower end of the creative app market is getting eaten by web apps that can run on any OS, including Linux.

Glad to see another UX designer adopting Framework and Linux!

I'm curious as to what the task list/notetaking application and color contrast application are as they look quite useful.

These are Planify[1] and Contrast[2]

[1] https://flathub.org/apps/io.github.alainm23.planify

[2] https://flathub.org/apps/org.gnome.design.Contrast

Linux offers a compelling alternative for designers seeking customization, cost-efficiency, and stability. Your article is great. It covers all the important points that can help UX designers.

Fully expect that Asahi will be an excellent drop-in replacement for when Apple finally puts my knockabout 2020 M1 Air (excellent hardware, pry it from my cold dead fingers) out to pasture.

I’ve got a fair amount of criticism for the direction of Apple’s various OSes, but have to admit that the fact that my nearly 8-year old iPad Pro still runs the latest iPad OS without issue speaks volumes about the longevity of their hardware. Or some of it, anyway.

I’ve tried using Linux for my office job. The distro itself isn’t even relevant. They all work nice.

The one thing however that ruins it is the lack of a fully compatible office suite.

Compatible wit MS office that is.

I’ve tried a few creations but they always fall short. And in all fairness that’s mostly due to MS and not the others but it’s an issue…

The apple office suit is even worse then the foss things i must add.

I generally use web apps for this, even when I used Windows I didn't want to install GB for office apps. The downside is that you always have to be online, but I'm always online at work.

That works up to a certain level only i find.

When the job requires creation of documents, presentations and spreadsheets the use of web apps isn’t always the best or easiest option

Sounds like we need a WSL in the other direction - have a Windows subsystem for Linux, so that your $distro integrates with Windows and you can run apps on Windows while having the window show up on your Linux system :)

There's WINE for basic compatibility, like for Affinity tools in TFA. You can use a Windows VM, and IIRC both VMWare and VirtualBox have integrated UI options to put the start menu/bar integrated into the windows desktop. I've done this before, putting my mac/linux dock on the side, and the windows bar on the bottom. I haven't used Windows outside work projects the past few years though.

Aside, surprised and disappointed in that you can use Affinity tools, which is very cool, but kind of sucks that you have to jump through that many hoops. Would be somewhat nice if Affinity themselves gave you an install script that could self-detect the major Linux variants (Fedora, Ubuntu/Debian) and install more directly.

Someday office365 will end this problem, let's hope that.

However for my basic usages libreoffice always fared very well, I still have a habit to save to PDF and print that to paper though!

I'm running Ubuntu for work, the only installed apps I really use are edge,and vscode. The entire MS office suite can be installed as a progressive web app and I've got teams, and word setup like this.

When I started at my current job I had the choice which OS and/or machine I'd like. I always wanted to give Linux a try so I went with Kububtu/Windows Dual-Boot.

After a year I removed the Windows part as I never used it. I am still happily using Linux (has been 5 years now) and find no issues with it.

I was smeared and defamed here on HN for saying that Linux Gnome is a more beautiful looking GUI than MacOS. But I stand by it. Gnome is consistent and clear, while MacOS currently looks like a Linux knock-off of MacOS. But looks aside, Linux is an atrocious OS to actually use for professionals who are not developers.

It is great for casual users also. I set up Fedora for my wife on older Macbook Air that stopped receiving MacOS updates and she has no issues using it.

Xfce mint is so awesome for old computers.

I just wish linux was more available for old ARM based set top boxes...

Modern GNOME is the only reason this macOS fanboy (I was an early Switcher in 2001 and never looked back at the PC market) has grown to love Linux. I've been running Fedora in a VM on my Mac mini and it's awesome. I'm hoping to pick up a Framework laptop later this year and really go hard into the Linux lifestyle. I absolutely love the way GNOME apps look and feel, and meanwhile macOS feels stagnant and Apple's handling of iPadOS (I'm also a big fan of iPad hardware) has been supremely frustrating. Time for a change!

I agree with you. I've used GNOME for 20 years and exclusively since 2011 - it just keeps getting better and better.

Every time there's a thread on here I point out that the detractors are a vocal minority and gather a load of downvotes.

I use Linux at home and Macs at work. I get what you mean about current MacOS - I don't like it the way I used to with older versions, and find Gnome good enough. But I was one of those rare wierdos that really liked the later Unity versions once it stabilised.

I'll upvote for the first half, but can't disagree more with the second.

Linux provides a vastly better experience for the family on my Steam Deck than Windows could ever hope for.

My kids (9 & 13) use Linux on the home systems without any issues for games and homework. My wife uses Linux for anything she has control over, Office online has been a boon and removed her only need for Windows.

Turns out Office compatibility was the only thing that was actually a business requirement. Everything else is a website.

General usability IMO is far better on Gnome than MacOS.

Hotkeys like F7 to move the current window without click and drag on the title bar, and F8 to resize the active window (i don't recall if these are default or not), are brilliant and I use them constantly.

Window snapping is excellent (Rectangle et al for Mac are excellent, but feel unnatural), and seems to function better than Windows.

Gnome lacks the polish of MacOS, but is still preferable for productivity.

nice article, thanks for this. It's great to know that linux increased usability in another areas beyond software development.

I use Linux with mainly the command-line programs, so there is no dock, icons, menus, etc. Most functions I will do by the command shell with xterm, although I do have some GUI programs. I do not use any of the software listed in that article, except Linux itself, and Firefox (although it is a rather old version).

But, it is good to know about these things so that other people who do want to use these programs can know how to use them on Linux.

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