Free Software Magazine: User Interfaces Should Teach, Not Hide

"Today, I finally decided that my gVim editor needed a smaller font, and the process of getting it to work right has made me notice a fundamental flaw in the way we think about user interfaces. It's not an innovation that you'll get on the proprietary side of the line, because it's an innovation required for the digital middle class of 'user-developers' that I mentioned last week.

"Essentially it's just this: GUIs should teach, not obfuscate or hide the underlying mechanism..."

Complete Story

Related Stories:

• Community: Tech Writers Should Train on Open Source Projects(May 18, 2005)
• Ranum.com: Who Needs an Enemy When You Can Divide and Conquer Yourself?(Mar 08, 2005)
• NewsForge: The GIMP at a Crossroads(Feb 25, 2005)
• ONLamp: How Do You Bridge the CLI vs. GUI Gap in App. Design?(Jul 20, 2004)