I was invited to speak at the 2014 php[tek] conference and gave a talk entitled "No Modes – The Future of all Web Applications". It was an hour long talk about the history of modes in computing and designing modeless interfaces:
In 1970s and 1980s Computer Scientists realized that modes sucked for user interfaces. Larry Tesler (of Xerox PARC and Apple Computer) and Jef Raskin (author of “The Humane Interface”) both described the principles of a modeless interface for computer interaction. 30 years later and web developers are still using modes in nearly every interaction. In the future all web applications will be fully interactive and responsive. The software will effectively disappear and users will interact and modify every piece of information they see on the screen. But you don’t have to wait for flying cars and jetpacks to give your users this experience today. Learn how to use PHP and jQuery to ditch countless Edit and Save buttons and make your users think hired Jane or George Jetson.
May 22, 2014