5 ms·

Principles of bot design

103 points by vinnyglennon 10y ago

Mithaldu 10y ago
That is an amazing font. http://i.imgur.com/DcpZIaZ.png http://i.imgur.com/DcpZIaZ.png http://i.imgur.com/BUPG2r9.png http://i.imgur.com/BUPG2r9.png
- trungaczne 10y ago
  Looks fine on my Ubuntu http://imgur.com/ZwPb3dl http://imgur.com/ZwPb3dl
- jmhyer123 10y ago
  I think its just you, looks great to me. Maybe an ad blocker?
  - kranner 10y ago
    Looks fine to me even with an ad blocker (uBlock Origin) on Chrome for OS X.
    - y4mi 10y ago
      works fine on windows 10 as well (also chrome with ublock)
- deleted 10y ago
  [deleted]
- Aelinsaar 10y ago
  It doesn't look that way to me (and I run ad blocking, script blocking, etc), but it's still woefully low contrast.
- userbinator 10y ago
  Looks fine to me. But then again, I don't have embedded fonts enabled and I have some CSS filtering. http://i.imgur.com/NNOCOkC.png http://i.imgur.com/NNOCOkC.png
nutanc 10y ago
A lot of these principles can be applied to IVR design as well.
ben_jones 10y ago
I think bots will be huuuuge in the VR space because people will need something to interact with and people won't always be available / possible.
LukeB_UK 10y ago
Some of these rules assume that you have control over the whole experience, which is fine if you're writing an app from the ground up with chat. But if you're writing a bot for slack or Facebook messenger, you don't have control of those things.
TeMPOraL 10y ago
Oh my God, I rarely if ever see an article which says exactly the opposite things than what I follow. For an IRC bot I've built and still developing it over the years, my guidelines are pretty much the exact reverse of this article. Except maybe the "3. Respect the chat medium". But seriously, I want it to pretend to be a human as much as possible, use free-form input and personalize responses for people involved. Then again, that bot is designed to be fun addition to the channel and at the same time an useful tool, and not - like in this coming startup bot frenzy - an interactive ad.
- destraynor 10y ago
  It's interesting, that kinda proves that you both have chosen good opinionated principles!
pcarolan 10y ago
I'm surprised he didn't mention the top 3: https://xkcd.com/1613/ https://xkcd.com/1613/
eorge_g 10y ago
This is 10% of the way there, but closer than anything else I've read. We need to stop pretending bots are going to be able to understand intent even if they can parse language. We should not pretend these tools are anything more than mapping to a menu of options and learn how to empower users instead of hiding away control.

103 points by vinnyglennon 10y ago

That is an amazing font. http://i.imgur.com/DcpZIaZ.png http://i.imgur.com/DcpZIaZ.png http://i.imgur.com/BUPG2r9.png http://i.imgur.com/BUPG2r9.png

trungaczne 10y ago
Looks fine on my Ubuntu http://imgur.com/ZwPb3dl http://imgur.com/ZwPb3dl
jmhyer123 10y ago
I think its just you, looks great to me. Maybe an ad blocker?
- kranner 10y ago
  Looks fine to me even with an ad blocker (uBlock Origin) on Chrome for OS X.
  - y4mi 10y ago
    works fine on windows 10 as well (also chrome with ublock)
deleted 10y ago
[deleted]
Aelinsaar 10y ago
It doesn't look that way to me (and I run ad blocking, script blocking, etc), but it's still woefully low contrast.
userbinator 10y ago
Looks fine to me. But then again, I don't have embedded fonts enabled and I have some CSS filtering. http://i.imgur.com/NNOCOkC.png http://i.imgur.com/NNOCOkC.png

nutanc 10y ago

A lot of these principles can be applied to IVR design as well.

ben_jones 10y ago

I think bots will be huuuuge in the VR space because people will need something to interact with and people won't always be available / possible.

LukeB_UK 10y ago

Some of these rules assume that you have control over the whole experience, which is fine if you're writing an app from the ground up with chat. But if you're writing a bot for slack or Facebook messenger, you don't have control of those things.

TeMPOraL 10y ago

Oh my God, I rarely if ever see an article which says exactly the opposite things than what I follow. For an IRC bot I've built and still developing it over the years, my guidelines are pretty much the exact reverse of this article. Except maybe the "3. Respect the chat medium". But seriously, I want it to pretend to be a human as much as possible, use free-form input and personalize responses for people involved. Then again, that bot is designed to be fun addition to the channel and at the same time an useful tool, and not - like in this coming startup bot frenzy - an interactive ad.

destraynor 10y ago
It's interesting, that kinda proves that you both have chosen good opinionated principles!

pcarolan 10y ago

I'm surprised he didn't mention the top 3: https://xkcd.com/1613/ https://xkcd.com/1613/

eorge_g 10y ago

This is 10% of the way there, but closer than anything else I've read. We need to stop pretending bots are going to be able to understand intent even if they can parse language. We should not pretend these tools are anything more than mapping to a menu of options and learn how to empower users instead of hiding away control.