Computer Administrative Debris

Posted 06/02/2008 by jaimes

Edward Tufte has released a video and essay critiqueing the iPhone’s weather and stocks apps for wasting much high resolution screen real estate.

There’s been a lot of web chatter about whether he’s missed the point of Apple’s simple design for an ‘On the go’ use case of the iPhone. I think much of this has been based on a critique of Tufte’s mockups of what richer information might be possible. Listening to the video, Tufte’s own point is clearer than the commentary. He praises the lack of what he terms “Computer Administrative Debris”, (a fantastic phrase) in many of the iPhone’s applications and is making a theoretical point that the weather and stock apps aren’t consistent with the zoomable, “content is the interface” nature of other apps. Tufte isn’t proposing himself as an alternative designer, but pointing out a missed opportunity.

I think it’s likely that these interfaces are a result of Apple’s ‘develop as it goes’ strategy with the iPhone. They may feel they don’t want to be the eventual owners of these applications once an SDK provides others with the opportunity. This argument is particularly convincing for Stocks and Weather which are some of the most accessible data streams available.

An interesting angle to all of this is the focus on the “resolution” of Tufte’s mockups and the argument around use cases. Tufte’s case for greater resolution availability through the zooming interface seems a more compelling theoretical framework than the single ‘On the go’ use case argument. I’m constantly surprised by the uses that the iPhone has introduced me too, things like reading entire books on Text On Phone. Yes, it’s a mobile device. No, it’s not just a mobile device. Zooming in and out to the resolution I require at the time seems a reasonable means of negotiating information density, and is an interaction not unknown to iPhone users.

Edward Tufte’s Interface design and the iPhone