Humane Interface, The: New Directions for Designing Interactive Systems

6-4. Techniques and Help Facilities in Humane Interfaces

Be a driver, not a mechanic.

—Automobile advertisement

A desktop-based interface has a very low efficiency because you do not accomplish your tasks when you are in the desktop. A humane design that has neither desktop nor applications should leave the user involved with content at all times.

As we have seen, we can eliminate files and file names, leaving only one universe, or content space. You do not need to open or close documents; you zoom to them and just start working. You do not open applications; you duplicate a blank document (or whatever). You do not launch a game; you zoom in on it (a multiuser game may even be in progress). Separation of text into user-defined content areas uses ...