Beyond customization: build tools that grow with us | thesephist.com
When you try to make something that solves everything, you obsess over questions of power: how to make something that is omnipotent and everlasting. But when you make something that does one thing well, the questions are much more personal: does it solve my problem? and for how long? and who for? and where will it push the space around it? I want... See more
Be specific
Malleable software does not imply everybody creating all of their own tools from scratch. That would be a waste of time, since many off-the-shelf tools are already pretty close to serving our needs, with only minor tweaks needed.
A more sensible approach is to start out using existing software tools built by other people or companies, but to have... See more
A more sensible approach is to start out using existing software tools built by other people or companies, but to have... See more
Geoffrey Litt • Malleable software: Restoring user agency in a world of locked-down apps
How can users tweak the existing tools they’ve installed, rather than just making new siloed applications? How can AI-generated tools compose with one another to build up larger workflows over shared data? And how can we let users take more direct, precise control over tweaking their software, without needing to resort to AI coding for even the... See more