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"We think spatially" — this is true! So why do most of our apps and operating systems insist on ignoring that and dump stuff on us in a programmer-convenient wa

by jwr 4y ago

"We think spatially" — this is true! So why do most of our apps and operating systems insist on ignoring that and dump stuff on us in a programmer-convenient way? The Mac desktop remembers icon/folder positions — and people love it! That's why it's used for so many things and why you so often see unbelievably busy/cluttered desktops. So why can't other apps and OSs do the same? Windows insists on losing my desktop arrangement regularly. Apps and file managers show table views. File-Open windows show (tiny) table views with inscrutable navigation. And even the Mac, which used to be spatially-organized, can't even be bothered to remember window positions correctly.

greenbit 4y ago
Used Macs back in mid/late 80s, and to this day that feature, that icons stay where you put them, is the part I miss the most. Before 95, Windows seemed like just a glorified program-launcher, but when 95 took on that icons-stay -put feature, that's when I decided Windows might just be ok after all. It makes sense, at a deep level in our brains, that we apprehend our world spatially, that we'd be adapted to instant recognition of landscapes. Other people would look at my Mac folders and ask "how can you find anything?" For me, it was bliss. I could see without having to read any path names exactly where I was, because each folder's icons had a unique sort of constellation. If I needed to find someplace else, unconscious brain mechanisms could tell me it's that way, i.e. behind whichever icon. London cabbies are known to have maps of the entire city in their minds, and that's what it felt like. Some of the same people that thought my icon arrangements were crazy had their own constellations that didn't make sense to me. It was a much more personal experience. So of course not long after trying to get comfortable with W95, it came as a shock when I discovered previously tamed territory was suddenly in disarray. Suddenly I had to read O(n) icon names to find what was sought, rather than just knowing by spatial arrangement which was the right one. And as I tried to establish and expand order, it became apparent this was just a kind of whack-a-mole, due to a very poor implementation that could only retain 400 positions at most. There were many other reasons I eventually abandoned Windows, but this was one of the first deep aggravations with it.

by jwr 4y ago

greenbit 4y ago

Used Macs back in mid/late 80s, and to this day that feature, that icons stay where you put them, is the part I miss the most. Before 95, Windows seemed like just a glorified program-launcher, but when 95 took on that icons-stay -put feature, that's when I decided Windows might just be ok after all. It makes sense, at a deep level in our brains, that we apprehend our world spatially, that we'd be adapted to instant recognition of landscapes. Other people would look at my Mac folders and ask "how can you find anything?" For me, it was bliss. I could see without having to read any path names exactly where I was, because each folder's icons had a unique sort of constellation. If I needed to find someplace else, unconscious brain mechanisms could tell me it's that way, i.e. behind whichever icon. London cabbies are known to have maps of the entire city in their minds, and that's what it felt like. Some of the same people that thought my icon arrangements were crazy had their own constellations that didn't make sense to me. It was a much more personal experience. So of course not long after trying to get comfortable with W95, it came as a shock when I discovered previously tamed territory was suddenly in disarray. Suddenly I had to read O(n) icon names to find what was sought, rather than just knowing by spatial arrangement which was the right one. And as I tried to establish and expand order, it became apparent this was just a kind of whack-a-mole, due to a very poor implementation that could only retain 400 positions at most. There were many other reasons I eventually abandoned Windows, but this was one of the first deep aggravations with it.