I’ve worked on a few sites over the years where the codebase is pretty old, and a new feature needs adding.
In some of these cases the existing UI is not the way that I’d build now, either because the tooling is improved, or I’ve learnt new tricks since the site was built (or even that I inherited the codebase from somewhere else).
In any of the above scenarios, if I’m adding functionality that is similar or an extension of the existing editing options, I’ll opt for the existing UI patterns over a completely new one.
Why do this?
Users don't want to learn new tricks when they have a mental model of the existing pattern.
Ease the cognitive load by reusing familiar patterns.
This post is part of a series: UX for the CMS user