Grammar Question

I am freaking out about this headline in the Advocate:
Stamford considers making parking meters user-friendlier

Did "user-friendlier" strike anyone else as awkward?

In my mind, it's obvious they should have said "more user-friendly." I did some research online. If a word is more than two syllables, you say "more ___" rather than "___ier." I believe that since this word is hyphenated, it's one word, so the headline-maker should have used "more."

I'm freaking out, though, because two relatively reputable sources say that "user-friendlier" may be a legitimate word. Free Dictionary.com lists it as a word, and a BBC expert says it could go either way: Hyphenated adjectives, which are also known as compound adjectives, normally use more and most for the comparative and superlative forms. This is the general rule. Sometimes it is not so clear-cut, so we would say that one form is more likely than the other. In [the example of "user-friendlier or more user-friendly,"] both are quite possible, it seems to me.

Well, I don't agree. You don't stick "-ier" or "-er" on a word that long. I found that word so distracting that I could not focus on the article.

Another general rule of language is, "If it sounds so weird that it stops people in their tracks, say it the more conventional way." I would really like to know why the Advocate went with the weirder option. I hate to complain, but I am a word person, and I need to understand this. I should be blogging about Trump, but all I can think about is this grammar question.

Me to husband: What should I title this?
Husband: "I'm a Pedantic Pain in the Ass?"

Here are a couple of other Stamford Talk rants relating to words:
--January 8, 2008-- Stamford's Jan.3 Murder: Too Much Info?
--November 15, 2007-- The Advocate, Grammar, and Me