We were building an image CDN plugin for WordPress.
As developers, we did what developers always do.
We started listing features. More controls. More configuration. More ways to customize.
Then our General Manager, Zach, stepped in.
“Just make it work. Two options. That’s it.”
We pushed back a little. What about power users? Edge cases? Advanced settings?
He held firm.
So we shipped it. Two toggles. Enable the CDN. Enable automatic transforms.
That’s the whole plugin.
And here’s what we learned: most users don’t want more control. They want less friction.
They want to turn it on and walk away.
The plugin does one thing. It does it well. And users don’t have to think about it.
For the ones who do want more? We ship filter and action hooks. Snippets in the docs. Advanced options as they ask for them.
But the default? Simple.
Good UX isn’t about giving users everything. It’s about protecting them from needing to decide.
Takeaway: Build for the majority first. Let the edge cases find you.
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