Thursday, July 09, 2009

alpha hubris





Wolfram Alpha and hubristic user interfaces

Great article, with this fantastic quote:

"For serious UI geeks, one way to see an intelligent control interface is as a false affordance - like a knob that cannot be turned, or a chair that cannot be sat in. The worst kind of false affordance is an unreliable affordance - a knob that can be turned except when it can't, a chair that's a cozy place to sit except when it rams a hidden metal spike deep into your tender parts."

LOL