ME:: tl;dr-ing: As always, Lisp and Smalltalk were there first but too early and too much $ ; Mass-produced software is too rigid; Need: A gentle slope from user to creator; Tools not avocado slicers er apps :-) ; Need: communal creation ; June 2025:: Geoffrey Litt, Josh Horowitz, Peter van Hardenberg, Todd Matthews:: ink and switch:: Malleable software: Restoring user agency in a world of locked-down apps
Discovered: Jun 11, 2025 14:25 ME:: tl;dr-ing: As always, Lisp and Smalltalk were there first but too early and too much $ ; Mass-produced software is too rigid; Need: A gentle slope from user to creator; Tools not avocado slicers er apps :-) ; Need: communal creation ; June 2025:: Geoffrey Litt, Josh Horowitz, Peter van Hardenberg, Todd Matthews:: ink and switch:: Malleable software: Restoring user agency in a world of locked-down apps
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- Read the whole thing: ink and switch:: Malleable software: Restoring user agency in a world of locked-down apps
The researchers demonstrated this principle in an automation system called Buttons. To start out, users could move buttons around and change the text or color. Slightly further up the slope, users could edit variable values or use a toolkit to create simple UIs. Finally, at the top of the slope, users could create new behaviors by doing Lisp programming. The key point was that each customization could be done with the simplest technique possible, leaving full programming only as a last resort when absolutely needed.