beefhavers/ux-manifesto
beefhavers/ux-manifesto
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offline work at some point

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@ -18,9 +18,9 @@ there's a joke about how microsoft shoved windows 11 (and also 10) down everyone
[next line: no audio, but for visual, star wars bit where palpatine is saying "have you heard the tale of darth plageus"]
have you heard the tale of Clippy?
Way back, in the before times, some cutting-edge psychological research was done that demonstrated people anthropomorphize their computers.
So some cufflink-wearing motherfucker said "great, people will emotionally attach to their computer more if we anthropomorphize them."
Way back, in the before times, some cutting-edge psychological research was done that demonstrated people anthropomorphize their computers, and hate them like they would hate a person.
[https://web.archive.org/web/20180313075429/https://web.stanford.edu/dept/news/pr/95/950106Arc5423.html or https://archive.org/details/g4tv.com-video4080 ?] But then the great mistake was made, which was: well if people react to computers as though they're people, we have to put the faces of people on computers. Which in my opinion is exactly the incorrect reaction. If people are going to react to computers as though they're humans, the one thing you don't have to do is anthropomorphize them, because they're already using that part of the brain. Clippy was a program based on the research that Nass and Reeves did, and it was a tragic misinterpretation of their work."
So some cufflink-wearing motherfucker said "great, people will emotionally connect with their computer more favorably if we anthropomorphize them."
So now you start up your word processor and it jumps in the way to say hi and chat about how it can interfere.
Fortunately, clippy was killed off pretty quickly. As long as people are projecting a personality onto their computer, we hated clippy as intensely as we'd hate any other pest. And of course there are some people who felt the opposite, I'll leave a link in the show notes to an erotic fan fiction starring clippy that you can actually buy.
[https://www.amazon.de/-/en/Leonard-Delaney-ebook/dp/B00UJ01WBW]
@ -77,7 +77,13 @@ I think you mean chatGPT is bad at regexes. If you apply some effort to understa
### GPS
GPS.
you know why people put up with google's tracking? because for as much dumb bullshit as waze is laden with, for as wrong as apple is, and for as much as google maps is a thinly veiled excuse for google to catalog your gps position down to the meter and second... those 3 are the only apps that offer driving directions and understand the concept of a road.
you know why people put up with google's tracking? because for as much dumb bullshit as waze is laden with, for as wrong as apple is, and for as much as google maps is a thinly veiled excuse for google to catalog your gps position down to the meter and second...
[on screen, list: things a GPS app must do]
those 3 are the only apps that
[add to on-screen list: 1) offer driving directions]
offer driving directions and
[add to on-screen list: 2) understand the concept of a road]
understand the concept of a road.
[Osmand+ doing its thing, as demonstrated at the start of "what apple hath wrought"]
### notifications
@ -130,10 +136,11 @@ But that would require apps to work on the old paradigm - where they read and wr
### web browsers
you know why people put up with google dictating your experience to maximize your diet of ads? because here's the alternative.
It's no secret that mobile web browsers are just skins on chrome. This is who google dictates your experience to maximize your diet of ads.
Firefox on the desktop is the last web browser that was a Great Thing.
[//TODO: the article where they got caught in a pr]
Firefox on the desktop is the last web browser that was a Great Thing. Up until recently, they were trying to preserve at least some of that.
Given recent events though, RIP firefox. librewolf is my new best friend.
Up until recently, they were trying to preserve at least some of that.
[note] Given recent events though, RIP firefox. librewolf is my new best friend.
[//TODO: replicate]
Firefox on mobile is absolutely not making any such attempt. It does what all the other mobile apps are doing: once a day it abuses its notification privileges to advertise to you; "hey come back and run the app again".
It frequently updates its UI (to feed its progress addiction). Worst of all, they *had* and then **removed** plugin support. If an adblocker is necessary to browse the web, it's even more necessary to browse the web on mobile. We should all think less of the mozilla foundation for the 2020 change.
@ -181,8 +188,9 @@ That's why the only practical goal to achieve at the moment is adversarial APIs.
Accursed Farms has inspiration on how to build better UIs.
[Accursed Farms https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AItTqnTsVjA something about "imagine a butler"]
let's learn the lesson that clippy's project managers didn't: we already anthropomorphize our technology, computers don't need to pretend to be human. But to make the language easier, let's still compare your computer to a human assistant. The Igor to our Frankenstein, as it were.
how would we change our bad assistant into a good one?
let's learn the lesson that clippy's project managers didn't: we already anthropomorphize our technology, computers don't need to pretend to be human. how would we change our bad assistant into a good one?
But to make the language easier, let's still compare your computer to a human assistant. The Igor to our Frankenstein, as it were.
[we're going to compose a list of rules. as we say them, compose a graphic, with a serif font.]
@ -210,7 +218,7 @@ Be transparent.
There's a comment on that accursed farms video from before...
[alt va] coming back to this now that windows 11 is out... imagine being able to move the taskbar. we had no idea how good we had it back then.
Why can't you move the taskbar in windows 11? because now it looks like OSX. What is the only rationalization that apple investors have been giving for apple's success? That apple has good taste in interface design. Apple insists that their UX is good because of the decisions they've made for it.
Why can't you move the taskbar in windows 11? so that it can look like OSX. What is the only rationalization that apple investors have been giving for apple's success? That apple has good taste in interface design. Apple insists that their UX is good because of the decisions they've made for it.
[steve jobs] we're trying to make great products for people!
And when apple says something dumb, the rest of the technology world agrees. so customization options are viewed as less and less important.
not to mention, if you're stopped from customization, for example modding in some armor for your horse... now it's something that can be sold to you instead.
@ -223,7 +231,9 @@ when the user tries to customize, let them.
### interoperability
The digital markets act of 2022 in the EU granted advertising corporations with the right to view the data they've generated, the right to take their data to other platforms. In other words, big tech gatekeepers don't get to lay claim to advertisers and treat them like property. It demonstrates we all know interoperability is great and enclosure is bad, but because first and foremost we all have to sacrifice for the shareholders, people don't get the same.
The digital markets act of 2022 in the EU granted advertising corporations the right to view the data they've generated, the right to take their data to other platforms. In other words, big tech gatekeepers don't get to lay claim to advertisers and treat them like property. It demonstrates we all know interoperability is great and enclosure is bad,
[maude flanders] won't somebody please think of the shareholders!
but because first and foremost we all have to sacrifice for the shareholders, people don't get the same.
However, when making a useful tool, interoperability is the most important thing. Before praising AI, before praising the iPhone, society loved that the internet connected everyone together. We had a futurist optimism that ideas and communication could flow, making the world a better place and building Great Things.
That didn't happen, though.
Now when you try to migrate between technologies, they do what they can to inhibit you.
@ -238,7 +248,7 @@ You know how on mobile, the menu of all your options is probably 3 parallel, hor
In life, this extends much further. Red light means stop, green light means go.
[show a screen with a delete button in red, and a screen with a submit button in green]
So when you have an action that could be destructive, you color-code it red, and when something is constructive, you color-code it green.
These associations are abritrary. But since they're there, we keep them.
These associations are arbitrary. But since they're there, we keep them.
Can you touch type? imagine I presented you with a blank keyboard. You'd still be able to type, due to a lifetime of training.
Suppose you came across a binder full of papers, and only one of them had a border that was diagonal lines of alternating yellow and black. I can safely assume that you would get the impression that one sheet is providing you cautionary information.