Hello and welcome to a new edition of WebSoup! This week I am thinking about ease-of-use in software.
In the 70s and 80s, modal software (like the Vim text editor today) was mainstream, but not beginner friendly. Different modes like “command”, “insert”, “search” and “selection” were tedious and difficult to learn (this remains one of the complaints about Vim today). Things took a turn when an early HCI pioneer named Larry Tesler (who coined the phrase “user-friendly”) championed and helped develop modeless text editors. Input modes, he reasoned, hurt usability. He would famously drive around with “NO MODES” inscribed on his license plate. At Xerox PARC, Tesler would go on to invent “copy-paste” and demonstrated his vision for WYSIWYG (what-you-see-is-what-you-get) computing to an ambitious Steve Jobs.
Today, our most used apps occupy extremes in ease-of-use. The pendulum swings between bloated apps with hundreds of settings (like Jira), and overly simplified apps that could benefit from more customization (Facebook Messenger search and filtering tends to be awful).
Occasionally, something comes along that strikes a good balance between simplicity and customizability. Notion is a good example. Other times, a new kind of interaction (like copy-paste, or drag-drop) eliminates the need for many settings altogether. For instance, recently I came across Animatize, a way to create animations just by moving your mouse cursor. Achieving something similar in traditional motion software like After Effects would take much more time. By introducing novel interactions, software can reduce the need for settings, without losing feature parity.
⚙️ More about settings in software
The makers of the popular task management app, Linear, have their own take on settings and customization in their product.
Another memorable reading in this area is Don Norman’s The Design of Everyday Things, which gives a fun critique of well and poorly designed things, also applicable to software.
😎 Cool tools
I’ve been on a mission to reduce digital distractions. Some things that have helped me so far:
DF YouTube extension: clean up YouTube by blocking trending, home feed, comments and suggested videos sections
Freedom: a distraction blocker with a lockdown mode that cannot be disabled easily
Chuck: a mobile app that conveniently bundles your email by sender and lets you mass-unsubscribe from unwanted newsletters (hopefully not this one!)
📱Technobabble
This week I was learning about GitHub Actions. You can think of them like IFTTT/Zapier automations but for your code repository. I am planning to use Actions to run scheduled background jobs to update my personal website. A useful, well-written resource is Actions by Example.
Another piece of exciting news was the release of EdgeDB, a new database built on top of PostgreSQL with convenient new features and a nicer syntax. Time will tell if it will uproot SQL.
🎥 Fun watch
Tom Scott is one of my favorite YouTubers and this past week he posted a wholesome video of himself doing a flying challenge with his friend.
🐶 Cute
This video of a whale with her baby!