One of my favorite creative uses of Excel comes from !!Con 2017, where Kevin Chen used spreadsheet to implement HDR imaging[1]. It’s also just an incredibly well-crafted presentation.
Folk Interfaces
61–70 of 103 posts
Re: Folk Interfaces
#62Earlier quoted context omitted.
One example for me is iMovie on macOS. They dedicate 50% of the screen to a sort of “project media library” where you put all videos and audio you want to use in your project and that also holds all titles, transitions etc. you can add. Literally everyone I ever see using this software drags videos directly from the finder onto the timeline, then pick a transition once and then just copy/paste it within the timeline.…
I'm not sure I understand what you mean. Are you saying that this is wrong because picking "assets" (rushes, transitions) is done once at the beginning of the edit process, so the screen space is wasted the rest of the time?
Not the poster you replied to, but I think I understand.
* instead of using a two step process (add to library, then drag from library to timeline) users just drag media to the timeline. Makes sense. How often do you re-use the same clip?
* instead of dragging in a transition and having to re-set the values from the defaults to the value you want, users drag in once, set the values, and then copy-paste it around.
In both cases the users are doing the most efficient thing. With the real workflow in mind, having the media library take up so much screen space is a huge waste.
Re: Folk Interfaces
#63Another article in a similar vein, that I thoroughly enjoyed yesterday: https://www.robinsloan.com/notes/home-cooked-app/
OA here. Loved this piece as well, and it certainly got me thinking about a set of themes that led to this essay. Robin is an exceptional thinker in this space.
Re: Folk Interfaces
#64Earlier quoted context omitted.
Not parent, but here's an example from a past project. Customer: "Could you make the 'name' field of this entity longer? We need to add longer names." Me: "Why?" Customer: "Well, we want to name the entity '2022 - Spring - $500k - Contoso Inc. - Presale stage' so we can find it more easily." Me: "So what you actually want is to be able to filter/search for entities by all those values, and you're just using the name…
This is why listings on Amazon are a million words long. They do an adequate job pulling important attributes into the metadata so you can filter on them, for some categories. For example, the size and type of TVs. But it's not really possible to do that for all product categories. Moreover, users can't easily see the attributes in the search page, so it's best to just put it all in the title. For things like motherb…
I worked at Switzerland's biggest online retailer whose USP was that it actually did strongly typed attributes really really well.
To date, it's still incredibly searchable. Want to find a 5.5" phone running Android 10+ and at least a 12MP back-facing camera for below $350? You can filter for it.
It was an absolute nightmare on the (normalized, backend) technical level, but a real pleasure to consume on the denormalized, frontend level.
Re: Folk Interfaces
#65> chairs as doorstoppers, Wait, there are actual things, called "doorstoppers", that are designed to work exactly as door stoppers and have no other discernible function? Do they by any chance look anything like paperweights?
They are wedge shaped and usually made of rubber. You stick it under the door, hold it in place, then pull the door to get it stuck on the doorstop. Some doors also have built in door stops that are different- more like a kickstand on a bike.
There's also the folk tradition of just cutting off an angled piece of scrap lumber to use.
Re: Folk Interfaces
#66Whenever I need to explain to laypeople what I do as a software designer, I tell them that most of my job is figuring out new ways to visualize and connect outlines and spreadsheets.
Re: Folk Interfaces
#67Earlier quoted context omitted.
I'm not sure I understand what you mean. Are you saying that this is wrong because picking "assets" (rushes, transitions) is done once at the beginning of the edit process, so the screen space is wasted the rest of the time?
Not the poster you replied to, but I think I understand. * instead of using a two step process (add to library, then drag from library to timeline) users just drag media to the timeline. Makes sense. How often do you re-use the same clip? * instead of dragging in a transition and having to re-set the values from the defaults to the value you want, users drag in once, set the values, and then copy-paste it around. In…
Yep, exactly!
This is the interface:
https://kennis.cc/public_uploads/c39f8aab.jpeg
The entire yellow part is basically a poor approximation of the Finder, and you can see how little space that leaves for the video preview.
Either that or I genuinely misunderstand some brilliant concept from Apple.
Re: Folk Interfaces
#68I was surprised to see no mention of automation tools like IFTTT and Tasker. These sorts of overarching automation oriented tools let people solve a lot of problems by stitching together things that aren't designed to work together.
I would actually put Excel in this original category. Part of Excel's utility is that it is really good at enabling building of dashboards, applications, whatever. While Excel's builders didn't have D&D character sheets in mind, they definitely expect users to do unanticipated things with the software, just as much as IFTTT or Tasker would.
In some ways this is a "platform" type of perspective. "Here's a bunch of building blocks, go do whatever you think you need" is really powerful once the network effect of building blocks gets big enough. Any tool with a built-in DSL or workflow builder type of UI is probably in this category.
Re: Folk Interfaces
#69I approve of this, but its hardly novel. Web browsers were originally intended to view flat html documents with hyperlinks between them. The concept of a web app is itself a 'folk' repurposing of technology.
Another might be the way blocks in minecraft are repurposed to make all sorts of elaborate redstone machines such as automatic farms.
Re: Folk Interfaces
#70Some random folk practices I've come across: * Blocking, stacking and pulling creep camps in DOTA. Unintended behaviours that became core game mechanics. * Comments in the tag section of Tumblr posts, to avoid the comments appearing in a reblog ("Why do people use tags on tumblr instead of comments?" [1]) * The appropriation of switching MOSFETs such as the IRF510, designed for low frequencies, in homebrew amateur ra…
Since we're talking about DOTA. Defense of the Ancients was a custom map game in Warcraft III. I don't know if this is still a thing, but custom map games on Starcraft and Warcraft III absolutely ruled. There was freeze tag, capture the flag, tower defense, a zombie defense like game based on Starship Troopers. Absolute golden age of gaming for me as a kid.