Historical Trails
maggieappleton.com
Historical Trails
Documents capture thought process and context
In our early prototypes, we explored ways for GUI widgets to compose with one another. For example, we tried many variations of putting map and weather views side by side and having them share data with each other.
An early prototype of Embark which emphasized composition between GUI widgets
These prototyp
... See moreEmbark: Dynamic documents for making plans
Playgrounds over Paths
Today's standard design wisdom focuses on the design of linear paths. Sometimes they may branch, but they're ultimately a sequential set of steps towards a desired outcome.
Within complex systems, these paths often lack the flexibility to adapt to emergent conditions - users acting outside the "designed boundaries".
Instead of d
... See moreWe usually rely on a mix of spatial memory and well-written labels to find what we need in this kind of interface. But that only goes so far. At some point, we have to find ways to help users navigate apps outside of graphical menu bars, mystery icons in toolbars, and tabbed settings panels.
Maggie Appleton • Command K Bars
When I see Stephen mapping the world in lines, breaking its space to tame it, all I can think is how perceptively he’s externalized an invisible but fundamentally human need: to build bridges that temporarily edit the shapes, or sounds, or sights of the world. And I wonder: Who else is looking for lines, a little lost in space? Who else is seeking
... See moreSara Hendren • What Can a Body Do?: How We Meet the Built World
There is a new profession of trail blazers, those who find delight in the task of establishing useful trails through the enormous mass of the common record.
Mike Caufield • The Garden and the Stream: A Technopastoral
Especially on the web, we are used to a a kind of a document metaphor that, the web is just built for, which is a kind of a vertically scrolling infinite page. Infinite canvases are essentially like a different document format. This idea of that there are two dimensions, or almost three. You know, you can move left, you can move right, you can move... See more