“Modes cause problems because they make habitual actions have unexpected effects”—interesting lens from Raskin’s The Humane Interface
Conversation
Replying to
Raskin attributes this insight to “Larry Clark (1979)” but the reference is missing from the bibliography! Anyone know?
1
No idea. One lead may be Larry Tesler, who coined/popularized the sentence “don’t Mode me in!”
Replying to
e.g. compare caps lock & shift; former changes behavior of later habitual keypresses; latter creates a mode but affects no habitual actions
4
4
11
Not entirely keen on anti-mode thinking. The idea of having separate windows is on the same continuum as modes, I think.
1
1
3
Show replies
Replying to
That’s a good point. Maybe quasimodes seem better *because* related accidental habitual action is impossible?
Replying to
It does! There are a couple Tesler references in the bibliography, but none from the cited year. 🤔


