4 ms·

What part of "read and navigate news" and "printers for output and barcode scanners for input" isn't absolutely crystal clear? It fully and clearly explains w

by fps 9y ago

What part of "read and navigate news" and "printers for output and barcode scanners for input" isn't absolutely crystal clear? It fully and clearly explains what the system can do and how you interact with it. Do you not know what printers are? Barcode scanners? News?

alanbernstein 9y ago
Yeah, come on guys, this is obviously a renaissance of https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CueCat https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CueCat
scott_s 9y ago
Because it explains the mechanics but not the intent. Once you intuit the intent by reading more, you can go back and read the mechanics and get it. But in general, it's hard for readers who have no context to pull intent from mechanics. It also helps to acknowledge up front what's different, rather than first presenting the abstraction for that difference ("bureaus"). Something like: The intent of our project is to remove screens from modern computers. We explore presenting information only through physical printouts, and input only through barcode scanners.
- rhencke 9y ago
  Something like this? "Another aspect of contemporary screen-based culture is the constant psychic conflict often referred to as the 'Attention Economy'. In just trying to watch one YouTube video, a typical user is confronted with dozens of other appeals to focus somewhere else: comments, ratings, related videos, advertisements, video responses, etc. Because screen-based interaction is premised on temporal immediacy, we are, as users forced into a state of hyper-attention where we must constantly fight against the, largely commercial, attempts to make us look at something else. When we remove the screen (and by necessity, simplify the interface) we introduce a new form of temporality, where the speed of interaction might more accurately reflect our ability to perceive and understand information." http://screenl.es/slow.html http://screenl.es/slow.html
  - AndrewKemendo 9y ago
    This kind of writing is not generally accessible so it's unclear and takes more effort to parse than more simplified language. For example: Because screen-based interaction is premised on temporal immediacy, we are, as users forced into a state of hyper-attention where we must constantly fight against the, largely commercial, attempts to make us look at something else While I personally like the way this sentence is written, and is similar to my natural writing style, it's not easy to parse. It could have as easily been written as: "For most people, the time they spend on the computer is littered with distractions, and intentionally so, as corporations want to capture your attention by suggesting another video, viewing more content or offering a shiny ad." You keep the emotion and information (lossy), but make it easier to read.
gk1 9y ago
https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html > ... Don't be snarky... It's quite obvious that the landing page _isn't_ clear to a lot of people (including me). If you understood it with perfect clarity, good for you! Why not help explain it for others instead of being snarky?

by fps 9y ago

alanbernstein 9y ago

Yeah, come on guys, this is obviously a renaissance of https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CueCat https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CueCat

scott_s 9y ago

Because it explains the mechanics but not the intent. Once you intuit the intent by reading more, you can go back and read the mechanics and get it. But in general, it's hard for readers who have no context to pull intent from mechanics. It also helps to acknowledge up front what's different, rather than first presenting the abstraction for that difference ("bureaus"). Something like: The intent of our project is to remove screens from modern computers. We explore presenting information only through physical printouts, and input only through barcode scanners.

rhencke 9y ago
Something like this? "Another aspect of contemporary screen-based culture is the constant psychic conflict often referred to as the 'Attention Economy'. In just trying to watch one YouTube video, a typical user is confronted with dozens of other appeals to focus somewhere else: comments, ratings, related videos, advertisements, video responses, etc. Because screen-based interaction is premised on temporal immediacy, we are, as users forced into a state of hyper-attention where we must constantly fight against the, largely commercial, attempts to make us look at something else. When we remove the screen (and by necessity, simplify the interface) we introduce a new form of temporality, where the speed of interaction might more accurately reflect our ability to perceive and understand information." http://screenl.es/slow.html http://screenl.es/slow.html
- AndrewKemendo 9y ago
  This kind of writing is not generally accessible so it's unclear and takes more effort to parse than more simplified language. For example: Because screen-based interaction is premised on temporal immediacy, we are, as users forced into a state of hyper-attention where we must constantly fight against the, largely commercial, attempts to make us look at something else While I personally like the way this sentence is written, and is similar to my natural writing style, it's not easy to parse. It could have as easily been written as: "For most people, the time they spend on the computer is littered with distractions, and intentionally so, as corporations want to capture your attention by suggesting another video, viewing more content or offering a shiny ad." You keep the emotion and information (lossy), but make it easier to read.

gk1 9y ago

https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html > ... Don't be snarky... It's quite obvious that the landing page _isn't_ clear to a lot of people (including me). If you understood it with perfect clarity, good for you! Why not help explain it for others instead of being snarky?