The Bloj

Where Do Choices Come From?

Posted on March 20th, 2008 by Chris.
Categories: Chris, General/Misc., Tim, UI Design.

[14:38] Me: http://headrush.typepad.com/photos/uncategorized/2007/04/06/featuritis.jpg
[14:38] Gas: lmao
[14:38] Gas: funny thing about the downslope
[14:39] Gas: the problem is that[sic] the features aren’t discoverable
[14:39] Gas: in my mind though, that’s a solvable problem
[14:39] Gas: the real problem
[14:39] Gas: is that the more features you have, the more spread your engineering effort is
[14:39] Gas: testing, bugfixes, etc.
[14:39] Me: hmm
[14:39] Me: i think they’re both part of the problem
[14:39] Gas: the first problem is an essentially UI problem
[14:40] Gas: in theory, i think all UI problems can be solved
[14:40] Me: why?
[14:40] Gas: if a person can explain what they want to do, and assuming that feature exists, then a person should be able to explain to a computer what they want to do
[14:40] Gas: this is of course at a very theoretical level
[14:41] Me: a person can’t always explain what they want to do
[14:41] Gas: that’s a requirement
[14:41] Me: ?
[14:41] Gas: if they can’t explain what they want, they aren’t going to get it no matter what
[14:41] Gas: so it doesn’t matter whether the feature exists or not
[14:42] Gas: unless we know what they’re going to want and tell them what they want
[14:42] Me: it’s like a menu
[14:42] Gas: feature != menu item though
[14:42] Me: i may want duck a la’range
[14:42] Me: but not know what i want
[14:42] Me: infinite features are possible in a restaurant
[14:42] Gas: duck a la’range?
[14:42] Me: idk
[14:42] Me: it was in a sbemail
[14:42] Me: i forget which
[14:42] Gas: lol
[14:42] Me: anyways
[14:43] Me: i could tell the chefs what i want and how it should be made
[14:43] Me: but, for whatever reason, that doesn’t work except for chefs (programmers)
[14:43] Me: alternatively, i could have a menu with every conceivable item
[14:43] Me: but that’s ridiculous - the menu would be 1 billion pages
[14:43] Me: so the menu has a limited selection of items
[14:44] Me: and makes it easier for me to find something i want
[14:44] Gas: that’s an interesting analogy
[14:44] Me: it may not be perfect
[14:44] Gas: but
[14:44] Me: but it’s something i like
[14:44] Gas: here’s another analogy
[14:44] Gas: that manages to bind the two
[14:44] Me: ooooooooooh
[14:44] Gas: so you know that gas station
[14:44] Gas: that serves the food
[14:44] Gas: what’s it called?
[14:45] Me: sheetz
[14:45] Gas: thanks
[14:45] Gas: yeah
[14:45] Gas: sheetz goes one step closer to being a chef
[14:45] Gas: rather than a menu
[14:45] Me: sheetz….umm, sheetz has a menu
[14:45] Gas: and there’s no reason it has to be a physical menu being displayed
[14:45] Me: i’ve been there
[14:45] Me: the menu is just a touch screen
[14:45] Me: and instead of asking you if you want pepper
[14:45] Gas: yes, and everything is customizable
[14:45] Me: there’s a pepper checkbox
[14:46] Me: that’s all
[14:46] Gas: ok
[14:46] Gas: now extend that one step further
[14:46] Gas: no explicit menu
[14:46] Gas: but a voice recognition system
[14:46] Gas: “i want a burger with cheese”
[14:46] Gas: adding new features clutters no old features
[14:46] Gas: it’s a UI problem
[14:46] Me: well
[14:46] Me: your UI model works
[14:47] Me: let me try and explain where it differs
[14:47] Me: lets say i’m at a restaurant with no menu
[14:47] Me: i tell the waiter i want a burger
[14:47] Me: i can order whatever i want
[14:47] Me: and there’s no limitation
[14:47] Me: right?
[14:47] Me: but, there IS a limitation
[14:48] Me: where did i come up with this idea of “burger”?
[14:48] Me: from my own head, of course
[14:48] Me: so, we’ve basically moved the set of available actions
[14:48] Me: from a screen, where i don’t have to remember it
[14:48] Me: to my head, where i do
[14:49] Me: the UI will always be simple, since it only does what i want it to do
[14:49] Me: but i’m limited by what i know how to want
[14:49] Me: http://www.bluej.org/mrt/?p=31

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