# Refactoring UI by Adam Wathan and Steve Schoger

14 Hacker News commenters recommended Refactoring UI by Adam Wathan and Steve Schoger and 3 criticized it, November 2025 to November 2026. It was recommended in 3 of 13 months.

**Verdict:** Recommended for developers learning visual design, teaching small changes like spacing, type scales and color that make a UI look professional. Critics note it is a paid PDF of about 218 pages.

## Why people recommend it

- Teaches design to developers (5 comments): "For Devs/Engineers and even many designers, things some of us tend to take for granted were amazing to them." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46718874)) "Refactoring UI is a well known book for learning about design as a developer" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46502268)) "it really helped me become better and understand subtleties of design" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46529134))
- Small changes make big difference (3 comments): "it demonstrated how small changes can add up to make something that looks amateur look professional" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46719291)) "it taught me so much about simplicity and good design" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46531695)) "This book taught me so much about modern UI design." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46531522))
- Easy to understand (2 comments): "I loved how easy it was to understand." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49627312)) "Learned a lot from Refactoring UI" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46535317))

## What people warn about

- Costs $99 for PDF (1 comments): "$99 for a 218 page PDF which, while it has a Goodreads page which rates it highly" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46719050))
- Retained nothing for some readers (1 comments): "i've read it and retained nothing" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46537967))

## Alternatives hackers recommend

- [The Design of Everyday Things by Don Norman](https://hackerapproved.com/p/design-of-everyday-things.md): 29 recommend
- [Don't Make Me Think by Steve Krug](https://hackerapproved.com/p/don-t-make-me-think.md): 12 recommend
- [Practical Typography by Matthew Butterick](https://hackerapproved.com/p/practical-typography.md): 10 recommend
- [A Pattern Language by Christopher Alexander](https://hackerapproved.com/p/a-pattern-language.md): 9 recommend
- [Hooked by Nir Eyal](https://hackerapproved.com/p/hooked.md): 8 recommend

## Where to get it

- [See price on Amazon](https://www.amazon.com/s?k=Refactoring+UI+by+Adam+Wathan+and+Steve+Schoger&tag=hackerapprove-20) (affiliate link)

## Cite as

Hacker Approved, "Refactoring UI by Adam Wathan and Steve Schoger", https://hackerapproved.com/p/refactoring-ui/ (counts from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026).