After going ahead for some distance with my “simplification” of courseware, I realized it loses more than it gains. (I was trying to remove some Twitter-derived JS/CSS code that the previous publisher insisted on including.) The new “simple” product looks OK in desktop mode, but it’s noticeably worse than the old “too fancy” code in iPad mode. Some areas overlap and some titles lose their second line. In general the “too fancy” has cleaner proportions. (We don’t recommend iPad size, but I know many students are using those devices.)

It’s always disappointing when a pet hypothesis fails, but that’s science, and that’s business. Product overrides ego, which is a good thing in the long run.

The Bud Light stuff should be a lesson. Don’t mess with a good enough product.

Fortunately I made this careful comparison before going through and converting all the older modules. Now I need to “revert” a small number of new modules, but I don’t need to alter the larger number of old and tested modules. Less total labor this way.

[Less labor: The process of ‘retweeting’ the new modules took a total of 20 minutes for all.]

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Later: After hearing what happened with DeSantis’s announcement, I don’t feel quite so bad. Elon tried to “simplify” Twitter itself and got a fiasco. Or else he intentionally pulled the rug, which is perfectly in character. DeSantis and Carlson and other Repooflicans shouldn’t trust the supreme prankster and saboteur. He’s not on your side.