Musings on 'What Screens Want' by Frank Chimero (2013)
What Screens Want is a classic
frankchimero.com/blog/2013/wha…
But also makes me think, that about What Screen Readers Want
#accessibility #design
Go read the article first. It’s a good one*!
My responses on Mastodon follow:
I’m not sure whether I’ve read this article before - some things never change:
“It’s the churning and the burning, flipping companies, nickel-and-diming users with in-app purchases, data lock-in, and designing with dark patterns so that users accidentally do actions against their own self-interest.
Listen: I worry about this stuff, because the further I get from everything, the more it begins to look toxic. These pernicious elements are the primary map we have of the web right now.”
..so that state of affairs hasn’t changed or improved in a decade, then…
Then I went down the rabbit hole of wondering how on earth the horse photographer managed to pan so well with the horse, thankfully the Wikipedia article was very insightful, even if I still don’t get how the running horse triggered the shutter wires without tripping: The Horse in Motion
And then, what you said Joe, this is a lot of words for just the sighted folk, and none for those who see/need no screen.
I bet there are amazingly interesting audio-only web and navigation presentations possible, that we’re not even considering. Or, I bet someone is. But more of us should.
Imagine soundscapes you could traverse maybe even in 3D, turning towards whatever is starting to sound interesting. Certainly easier to wear earbuds than one of them big headsets with fake eyes on the outside.
Gosh dude you’ve really sent me on a journey with your link and comment today 😅🤯
It’s a great article. It’s giving me inspiration to dive into the view transitions API and create some buttery interstitials. But also…
* With a couple of caveats: While skeuomorphism is still kind of nice in my opinion, and I like the idea of nice transitional animations making interactions more meaningful - it’s still only visual, isn’t it?
I’m finding myself somewhat distracted by the lack of ALT text on the images. In a more recent article, the filename of the image is more descriptive, which is better. But do screen readers read those out?
Blind people don’t even need a monitor, let alone view transitions. They’ve no need for that form of aspirin-padding.
Are we missing out on other amazing ways of navigating the web because we’re stuck on visuals and screens (or little screens strapped to our faces, or our wrists). What sleek little devices could we have and interact with if we didn’t have to strap a honking great fondleslab onto each one? Are we unable to think outside the box because that’s all we’re doing, staring at boxes?
Maybe the map we are looking at is the screen.
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