Telling computers what to do has always been a job for specialists — almost by definition it is an act of translation, of adaptation, of understanding two worlds and bridging the gap between them. ​ Some academic computer science folks spend inordinate amounts of time on the computer-side of that divide, figuring out better algorithms … Continue reading “Incantation”

Someone used the phrase “I’ve had enough cheese” at dinner tonight and I’m still confused. Is there such thing? Here are some design issues annoying me today. Punting responsibility to the user Found on my hotel room bathroom’s door: When a designer comes across a legal, ethical, or compliance constraint, there are two ways to … Continue reading “Hotels, you’ve heard this one before.”

It’s another day in the pixel mines and more things have annoyed me. Since that counts as actually writing and not hiding from my blogging duties, you get to enjoy some free-floating hostility. Error messages with mixed messages Let’s start with this beautiful example of a totally useless error message. The scenario: you have one … Continue reading “Dedicated to George Carlin’s routine titling and specifically “Free-floating hostility”.”