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> How do you view self-documenting interfaces? > Have you ever read the manual for your browser which you are using to make this comment? The OS on which the b

> How do you view self-documenting interfaces? > Have you ever read the manual for your browser which you are using to make this comment? The OS on which the browser is running? The device on which they are running? Have you ever read the manual for the tools used to build the building that you live in? A manual for the trowels, tape, mud, and drywall that built and makes up your walls? Or a manual for the Romex in those walls? A manual for the concrete foundation of your building? No? That's because using/depending on those things doesn't require nearly anything of you; you stand on the floors and lean on the walls without thought. You browse the web constantly, so you do it without thought. Not so with your taxes, despite their similar constance and ubiquity, because they are not constant and thus haven't had the same abstractions engineered into their very DNA. But even things like buildings/floors/doors with that level of "no need to think about them" only afford that to you based onto their frequent use. Few other pieces of software afford that same consistency. With time though, they will. I think we'll see a lot of software grow to be everore of a "skin round a spreadsheet", especially as we comoditize the few remaining frontiers of UX design (e.g. mobile devices) in the same way as desktop design has converged on common patterns like the chat-log-and-history, the search bar, the photo gallery, the text editor, and the spreadsheet.

yearolinuxdsktp 2y ago
What are you talking about with taxes? They have quite a few abstractions in them—-capital gains income, dependents, just to name two. I am laughing at ‘remaining frontiers’ of UX design. This year for Christmas I wish for mobile devices with browsers that don’t crash and lose my form entry. This year, I wish for YouTube that doesn’t find new ways to turn on autoplay (TV queue being the latest one I had to turn off, despite having already turned off AutoPlay on that device in settings… each of my devices has autoplay turned off… yet TV queue came with autoplay turned on… crooked YouTube!) But sadly, this kind of thing is not what the state AGs are looking at—-but to me, the constant bypassing of disabled AutoPlay is anti-consumer AF and must be stopped. That is the remaining frontier.
fao_ 2y ago
> You browse the web constantly, so you do it without thought. Not so with your taxes, despite their similar constance and ubiquity, because they are not constant and thus haven't had the same abstractions engineered into their very DNA. In the UK, the government automatically takes tax out of my income and tax is indicated as part of my pay cheque. It requires absolutely no thought from me.
IgorPartola 2y ago
Ironically, I have read parts of the international building code when I needed to build the building from which I wrote that comment, foundation to studs to Romex to drywall, and also lots of instructions printed on things like bags of concrete, drywall tape, etc., but never for a browser or a mobile phone. I guess you could infer where I think my expertise lies and where it doesn’t. :)

yearolinuxdsktp 2y ago

What are you talking about with taxes? They have quite a few abstractions in them—-capital gains income, dependents, just to name two. I am laughing at ‘remaining frontiers’ of UX design. This year for Christmas I wish for mobile devices with browsers that don’t crash and lose my form entry. This year, I wish for YouTube that doesn’t find new ways to turn on autoplay (TV queue being the latest one I had to turn off, despite having already turned off AutoPlay on that device in settings… each of my devices has autoplay turned off… yet TV queue came with autoplay turned on… crooked YouTube!) But sadly, this kind of thing is not what the state AGs are looking at—-but to me, the constant bypassing of disabled AutoPlay is anti-consumer AF and must be stopped. That is the remaining frontier.

fao_ 2y ago

> You browse the web constantly, so you do it without thought. Not so with your taxes, despite their similar constance and ubiquity, because they are not constant and thus haven't had the same abstractions engineered into their very DNA. In the UK, the government automatically takes tax out of my income and tax is indicated as part of my pay cheque. It requires absolutely no thought from me.

IgorPartola 2y ago

Ironically, I have read parts of the international building code when I needed to build the building from which I wrote that comment, foundation to studs to Romex to drywall, and also lots of instructions printed on things like bags of concrete, drywall tape, etc., but never for a browser or a mobile phone. I guess you could infer where I think my expertise lies and where it doesn’t. :)