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	"updated"	:	200807170951,
	"url"		:	"http://jonoscript.wordpress.com/2008/07/17/these-things-i-believe/",
	"licence"	:	"cc-by",
	"tags"		:	["code-is-art", "inspiration"]
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# “These things I believe” #

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«~These things I believe~» is a beautiful _mantra_ of software philosophy. _
I agree with everything there. _
¬
Here are some choice quotes:

|	_Are users dumb?_
|
|	•	When software is hard to use, don’t make excuses for it. Improve it.
|
|	•	When a user makes a mistake, don’t blame the user. _
|		Ask how the software misled them. Then fix it.
|
|	•	The user’s time is more valuable than ours. Respect it.
|
|	•	Good {{U.I.|user interface}} design is humble.
|
| <“~These things I believe~” (//jonoscript.wordpress.com/2008/07/17/these-things-i-believe/)>

A good software developer defends his work by actions - fixing it, improving it. _
A bad software developer places the blame anywhere but on their own head.

|	_What is the task of the {{U.I.|user interface}} designer?_
|
|	•	Users do not know what interface they want. _
|		Users do not know what features they want.
|
|	•	Users know the tasks they want to do, and the problems they have.
|
|	•	We learn more by watching the user work than by asking the user.
|
|	•	The job of the {{U.I.|user interface}} designer is to provide what the users need, _
|		not what the users say they need.
|
|	•	It is to make tasks easier, not to provide features.
|
| <“~These things I believe~” (//jonoscript.wordpress.com/2008/07/17/these-things-i-believe/)>

And my personal thoughts:

|	If you believe users to be idiots, then you will write idiot-software
|
| Kroc Camen

I would go as far as saying that:

|	With intelligence, you can write good code. _
|	But without philosophy, you cannot create art.
|
| Kroc Camen

It takes love to write beautiful code (and a beautiful [functionally] interface), and there’s not much of that in this technology-world of pent-up, angry, aggressive and indignant geeks.