The latest articles on DEV Community by Salman Mallick (@mohammad_salman_mallick). https://dev.to/mohammad_salman_mallick https://media2.dev.to/dynamic/image/width=90,height=90,fit=cover,gravity=auto,format=auto/https:%2F%2Fdev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fuploads%2Fuser%2Fprofile_image%2F3721634%2F8cae23b1-a14c-4f7c-9af0-d04fa63c4581.jpg https://dev.to/mohammad_salman_mallick en Salman Mallick Thu, 29 Jan 2026 18:22:22 +0000 https://dev.to/mohammad_salman_mallick/a-youtuber-misunderstood-my-product-in-seconds-and-it-exposed-a-serious-ux-failure-45b7 https://dev.to/mohammad_salman_mallick/a-youtuber-misunderstood-my-product-in-seconds-and-it-exposed-a-serious-ux-failure-45b7 <h2> Context </h2> <p>There’s a YouTuber who reviews open-source websites.<br><br> I have a site I wanted him to review. It’s <strong>freemium</strong>, not fully open source. At first I hesitated, but then I thought: worst case, he just won’t review it.</p> <p>So I posted my site, clearly mentioning that it’s freemium, and shared a link to the community GitHub repo (used for discussions and issues).</p> <h2> What happened </h2> <p>My site is a <strong>blocks platform for React / Next.js</strong>, built on top of <strong>shadcn/ui</strong>.<br><br> It’s categorized to make navigation easier.</p> <p>While reviewing, he navigated into nested levels. At the end, he clicked a card, which opened an <strong>image modal preview</strong> of a block.</p> <p>He closed the modal and said something like: </p> <blockquote> <p>“This is just a screenshot. Don't have any code.”</p> </blockquote> <p>Even though there was a <strong>clear button that leads to the actual block page</strong>, he didn’t explore further. He simply closed the site.</p> <h2> Moment of truth </h2> <p>My first reaction was emotional:<br><br> “How can he miss a button right in front of him?”</p> <p>But then reality hit.</p> <p>I’ve spent months building this:</p> <ul> <li>categorized blocks for all sections </li> <li>a page builder (can even be used for wireframing) </li> <li>animation presets for quick implementation </li> </ul> <p>And yet, a first-time user completely misunderstood what the product even is.</p> <p>That’s on the design. Not on him.</p> <h2> The mistake (I think) </h2> <p>To actually reach the code, the current path is too deep:</p> <p>/blocks/category/section/block</p> <p>Which means the user has to make multiple correct clicks before they ever see anything real.</p> <p>Here’s what that flow looks like:</p> <p><a href="https://media2.dev.to/dynamic/image/width=800%2Cheight=%2Cfit=scale-down%2Cgravity=auto%2Cformat=auto/https%3A%2F%2Fdev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fuploads%2Farticles%2F0pqn0ny0kd3gkoy1dt7g.gif" class="article-body-image-wrapper"><img src="https://media2.dev.to/dynamic/image/width=800%2Cheight=%2Cfit=scale-down%2Cgravity=auto%2Cformat=auto/https%3A%2F%2Fdev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fuploads%2Farticles%2F0pqn0ny0kd3gkoy1dt7g.gif" alt="Flow" width="400" height="225"></a></p> <p>On:</p> <ul> <li>/blocks/category </li> <li>/blocks/category/section </li> </ul> <p>the cards are clickable in multiple ways.<br><br> After two levels of clicking, users stop thinking. They click blindly. When a modal opened, he assumed that was the product.</p> <p>Psychologically, he had already “decided” what the site was.</p> <h2> What I’m questioning now </h2> <ul> <li>Should code access be <strong>one click away</strong> from the first screen? </li> <li>Should the modal even exist, or is it masking the real value? </li> <li>How do you design so that <strong>misinterpretation is impossible</strong>?</li> </ul> <p>Thank you for reading this far, to the end.<br> I’d really like feedback from people who design dev tools or UX-heavy products.</p> webdev design nextjs