Good Tools Are Invisible
The author argues that high-quality software tools should be invisible and intuitive, criticizing the tendency of users to treat technical friction as a 'fun' puzzle. The piece advocates for prioritizing efficiency and usability over the 'hacker' aesthetic often associated with complex editors like Vim.
Why it matters
It challenges the prevailing culture in software development that equates tool complexity with technical proficiency.
TL;DR: A good tool is and ought to be invisible—striving to make such tools is the goal of a toolmaker.
One habit I see a lot, and have to push back on, is taking a tool’s shortcomings and reselling them as a “puzzle game” which is “fun” to solve.
I don’t want my tools to be “fun”. I want my tools to be invisible .
Let’s take vim as an example This is just an example, and applies to other editors too. . I constantly see some people praise it not for what actually makes it good, but by taking the things it’s bad at and turning them into a puzzle to have “fun” solving.
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