I miss affordances. Affordances in computing UIs are nothing new. When designers and developers first put words on a screen, there was a need to convey what one could do with those words and pictures. Menus? Buttons? Dropdowns? All of the fundamental UI elements we’ve had for 30+ years started with deliberate design decisions – … Continue reading “Affordances are dead; long live affordances”

In April of 2020, CGP Gray posted the following video: It’s been in the back of my mind ever since. And I mean way back, way way back, behind the stress of the pandemic and the work angst and the political angst and… Well, let’s just say that I’ve had a lot of reasons to … Continue reading “Keeping the core running”

“Shakespeare wrote King Lear during a pandemic,” say the various productivity gurus. “Why can’t you?” Aside from the utter silliness of each of us having a Lear in our heads just waiting for a once-a-century plague to break out, I have been shocked to find so many people believing that the COVID year of 2020 … Continue reading “On Not Writing in 2020”