ease of use devours the soul! 
i want software i use to feel like my mom’s iron pan. the pan requires skill, care, and understanding. it says “if you learn to use me, i’ll serve you forever. but you have to care.”
the opposite is something like an air fryer. it’s immediately easy to use, but it can never feel as real and human as an iron pan.
i want my tools to require _effort_ from me. i want to have to invest in them a little. otherwise they feel like ghosts.
optimizing for ease of use is often consumeristic. the end result is single-use plastic cartridges and disposable appliances.
@j3s as you know, I strongly disagree with this...
The pervasive unusability of Linux, server side / "production" software is a consequence of capital driving all "mass-usable" software development for the past 40 years.
Big capital created the computer usability industry, and they maintain a monopoly on it to this day...
Regardless of where it came from, I wouldn't be here without computer usability. I think most of us wouldn't. I still see potential good coming from computers, I don't want them to be like gas meters where only a fraction of a percent of the population ever uses them.
@j3s if we reject / cancel usability wholesale, because it is the primary tool of surveillance capitalism, I think that works to undermine any potential possible future for computing outside of the context of surveillance capitalism.
It might work for you, that's fine. But we also need things that will encourage those who have never tried to write a program or host a website before.
And at any rate, I think the cast iron pan analogy is flawed. I think you like cast iron BECAUSE its usable. Its more forgiving and easier to use while cooking, and it lasts longer, it becomes uniquely your own.
I'd argue Teflon is LESS usable because it releases extremely reactive/toxic flourine gas at high temps. Metal utensils / dish soap will permanently damage it and make it more likely to degrade.
Have you ever tried cooking with one of those new non stick Ceramic pans? They're great, even better than cast iron IMO as long as you handle them carefully to avoid shattering. And I think the same goes for software: we can do better. Steal the usability from capital and give it to the next generation, no login or API key required.
This has already been happening quietly for years and I think without it, communities like these would not even exist.
@forestjohnson
i’m a big proponent of usability. the tools i write are far more usable than most tools in the wild, in terms of installation _and_ operation. they’re just not “hyper-optimized” for ease of use to the random human.
hyper-optimizing for consumer ease of use leads to disposable plastic razer cartridges, instead of the only slightly harder to use steel blade.
a safety razer has the balance i like - a learning curve, a small skill, a reliable, serviceable tool.
@forestjohnson hyper-optimizing for usability inevitably leads to code that is harder to understand and maintain, which is a boon for a community that is not paid to do work.
being overly empathetic to the random layman means being _less_ empathetic to the people who have to maintain the code, but are not experts (aka: me), because the code is probably more complicated.
my energy is limited, i can only handle a certain amount of complexity in a codebase before i just give up.
@j3s I'm not even sure its hyper-optimizing for usability as much as its hyper-optimizing for increasing sales and profit.
There are tons of places where usability is sacrificed intentionally in order to maximize profit. A usable product wouldn't have planned obsolescence, and a usable product wouldn't try to prevent the user from unsubscribing.
@forestjohnson that’s a good point, maybe “ease of use” isn’t what’s being optimized, what do you think about the word “convenience”? it’s the software equivalent of plastic straws that i’m against. just sip from the damned cup.
I like convenience on computers, cuz when I pollute my disk/ram with used straws, I can just back up the stuff I care about, wipe it, and start over. But I get what you're saying and I agree, digital consumerism is the worst and it **feels really good** to find meaningful ways to step outside it.
> if I am to have faults, I would rather they be my own
-- vihart
I love my "cast iron" or "ceramic mug" tools like picopublish and stuff... Can be a pain and has a lot of flaws / limits, but I can delight my friends with url file names like
https://picopublish.sequentialread.com/files/bonesaw_eyes_completely_closed.jpg
@forestjohnson straws are for suckers 😜
it’s an easy trap to imagine code as being free - wipe it and move on - but in practice, these straws live in codebases, and they are not weightless - someone eventually has to move them around, change them, or clean them up. i prefer never having them in the first place, and placing the _littlest_ onus on the user. with clean documentation & an intuitive interface, they might even wind up finding it more usable than the straws ever were
@j3s I think we're talking about slightly different things / the silly analogies are breaking down 😛
Straws were probably a thing to accommodate drive thrus and car culture -- everyone gets a disposable babby sippy cup so that when you drive over a bump your sugar syrup water doesn't go splashing everywhere. I can argue straws are a safety feature with costs / negative externalities.
Idk what a straw-ftware even is in this analogy, but I'm not sure I'm totally against it. You don't need JS to build a website, but in case you do, it sure is a breath of fresh air that React calls it `dangerouslySetInnerHTML` instead of the innocent-seeming XSS vector `element.innerHTML = xyz`.
Safety is annoying, the world is annoying, society is annoying, inertia and network effects are annoying. But I would rather try to pay the cost to play in our flawed sandbox, I don't want to refuse and become a hermit
@forestjohnson still thinking about "everyone gets a disposable babby sippy cup so that when you drive over a bump your sugar syrup water doesn't go splashing everywhere", which is my fav quote of the week
@forestjohnson for me, it's not about refusal to play - it's about refusal of treating users like babbies. i expect the ppl who use my software know a little more than the bare minimum, and i design accordingly. i don't provide install instructions for "pa", because it's a shell script, & if you intend on using it, you're gonna have to know your way around the terminal regardless.