February 2021Monthly Archives

If it can be made human readable at no or trivial cost, it should be made human readable.

‘What people call an “intuitive interface” is generally one which becomes obvious as soon as it is demonstrated. But before the demo there was no intuition of what it would be like. Therefore the real first sense of “intuitive” is retroactively obvious.’—Ted Nelson

If you show your friend that someone they consider a saint is a sinner, you risk making them resent you; if you show them that someone they consider a sinner is a saint, you risk making them hate you.

If you’re asking me not to listen to someone, say, because they’re bad or wrong, first tell me about a topic on which you and they agree: if you can’t name something, you don’t know them well enough to tell me not to listen.

Internet users speak with an Internet accent, but the only character of speech that doesn’t sound like an accent is one’s own.