Software interfaces undervalue peripheral vision! (a thread)
My physical space is full of subtle cues. Books I read or bought most recently are lying out. Papers are lying in stacks on my desk, roughly arranged by their relationships.
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Peripheral vision spontaneously prompts action.
If I need to fix a door, I’ll be reminded each time I see it. Digital task lists live in a dedicated app. I have no natural cause to look at that app regularly, so I need to establish a new habit to explicitly review my task list.
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Peripheral vision emphasizes the concrete.
Unread digital books and papers live in some folder or app, invisible until I decide that “it’s reading time.” But that confuses cause and effect.
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If I leave books lying on my coffee table, I’ll naturally notice them at receptive moments. I'll read a book if I feel an actual, concrete interest in it. By contrast, the motivation to read a digital book comes from abstract interest in the habit of reading.
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Peripheral vision offers context.
If I mark up a physical book then later flip through to see my margin notes, I’ll always see them in the context of the surrounding text. By contrast, digital annotation listings usually display only the text I highlighted, removed from context.
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The primary “unit” in such systems is a single highlight or note, but that’s not how I think. Marginalia have fuzzy boundaries, and I often think of a page’s markings as a single unit.
LiquidText is a lovely counterexample: it works hard to display annotations in context.
GIF
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Isn’t everything? :) If only...
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Just passed your thread along to Ted, I'll let you know his thoughts 💕
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Just saw this reply—curious if he had anything interesting to say! Not so much about my writing (don't think there would be anything new to him there), but just his current thinking on the subject.
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He doesn’t really have thoughts on the subject he hasn’t shared many times, but some of his own practices may be of interest!
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In terms of workspace, everything must be strictly visible: all boxes face out with labels (he’s constantly reworking the labeling systems), clear if possible
Papers laid out not overlapping, arranged by relationship (also shifting regularly)
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