A detailed critique of Photoshop 2026's 'modern user interface' (Spectrum) redesign, focusing on numerous focus-handling regressions. Issues documented include: first field not auto-focused on dialog open, values not pre-selected on click, hover states not matching focus behavior, backspacing triggering error modals that steal focus, tab order including irrelevant controls, and checkboxes not restoring focus to last control. The author argues these are solved problems in UI engineering, representing carelessness and a failure of imagination rather than technical difficulty. Suggestions for improvement include lighter error feedback, equation support in fields, and better keyboard shortcut discoverability.
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