Antony Johnston Quotes

The manual for WordStar, the most popular word-processing program, is 400 pages thick. To write a novel, you have to read a novel - one that reads like a mystery to most people. They're not going to learn slash q-z any more than they're going to learn Morse code. That is what Macintosh is all about.

I enthuse about Scrivener to all of my friends. Some of them even listen to me and download it. This is often swiftly followed by an email complaining that it's all very confusing, and they'll stick to Microsoft Word, thanks.

Macs are not intuitive. It's intuitive to the person who created it. It's not intuitive to me.

Macintosh felt like a system. As I learned more, I felt like I was able to guess how new things would work. I felt like the bugs in my programs were more my bugs and not things I misunderstood.

One of the problems with computers, particularly for the older people, is they were befuddled by them, and the computers have gotten better. They have gotten easier to use. They have gotten less expensive. The software interfaces have made things a lot more accessible.

Software is now so complex - requiring so many gazillions of tiny files all over your computer - that most consumers don't want to bother to know what's really going on.

CSS is the design language of the web, and it is not as easy to use as it ought to be, and it can be confusing, especially if you are new to it.

I've been using a computer for quite some time, and I don't understand everything.

I have, before now, waited for a pen to perform a macro.

I'm not really a Facebook fan because I don't know how to use it! It's so complicated!

For many years, even as users became more sophisticated, personal computers took too much effort to use without problem-solving, keeping alive the yearning for greater simplicity. Microsoft's dominant Windows platform, in particular, was a home for all manner of bugs and problems that required IT people to straighten out.

I really think that even though Pinterest isn't a lot of people's idea of hard technology, it helps make everyday things a little bit better. And I believe that for most people, everyday things, those are everything.

The iPhone is so easy to use and navigate - I'd be lost without it.

For most people, Twitter is too hard to use.

Acompli is just a great example of a fabulous app.

I love Scrivener. I've been using it since early 2007, and now I can't imagine working in anything else.

What makes something simple or complex? It's not the number of dials or controls or how many features it has: It is whether the person using the device has a good conceptual model of how it operates.

The easiest programs to use are those which demand the least new learning from the user

I'm not really a Facebook fan because I don't know how to use it! It's so complicated! You gotta accept your friends one by one! It's just like too much going on. I tried it though.

In software you can't really add people and expect to get more done, because their ability to understand the program and what's going on it would require so much investment and all their work would require so much review that you'd be more likely to slow things down.

I have to have music as a soundtrack to writing fiction. I listen to it at other times, too, but it helps me write.

Any time you see signs or labels added to a device, it is an indication of bad design: a simple lock should not require instructions.

Behavioral design is all about feeling in control. Includes: usability, understanding, but also the feel.

When done well, software is invisible.

Figure out the people part and the technology gets a whole lot simpler.