I Shouldn’t Have To “Save” a Document
The current interaction of working on documents only to be asked if you want to “save” that work is unnatural. If I open a document on my computer, edit it and then close it, I should not have to deal with a dialog box that asks me if I want to “save” the work I just did. Why? Because writing on any other medium doesn’t require this either. When I open up a paper notepad, the dead tree kind, and write some notes on it, I’m not presented with a choice when I close that notepad. It’s the same with Post It notes, index cards, whiteboards and everything else in the analog world. So, why do I have to deal with it on my computer?
The key to making this work and to taking the fear out of this change in interaction is that your word processor, or any other program, should track all of your changes and keep a history of what you typed and when you typed it. If you want to step back one day, you can. If you want to step back a month, that’s not a problem either. In fact, the program should be able to show you each days additions and deletions easily. As a result, you’ll never be asked if you want to “save” your work. You took the time to do the work, the computer should assume you want to save the fruit of your efforts while keeping the option open to always review how you got there.
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Comments (2)
What about when I do a quick & paste from your website to notepad so that I can read your blog without my wardens, uh, I mean “managers” seeing that I’m surfing the net?
I don’t want to save all those documents. I just want to read ‘em and close ‘em.
What about when I’m up late and drunk and all kinds of fantasizing in Word and writing stuff like “oh Dick Cheney, oh, I want your oiled nose tight against my anus”?
And then I’m like “what am I doing!?”
I don’t want Word to save that shit. What if my girlfriend comes across that the next day and hits the day back key? I’ll tell you what – no more pee pee kisses!
What about my webcam? Jesus Christ, I never want to save anything I use that for.
I actually like it that you are asked to “save” a document. Means you have to make an effort to keep something you’ve typed on a computer.
Sometimes I’ll be writing something, then decide to change an item or just erase what I wrote. On a real sheet of paper, you either use white-out (leaving bumpy paper) or you erase (works best with pencil or special, erasable pens) or tear out a sheet and throw it away (but what if you want to save the rest?) or mark through it. On the computer, it’s already removed, with no need for further corrective action on my part.
Remember, we’re talking about a metaphor, not the real thing. It’s nice that I can write stuff in a word processing program like it’s a piece of paper. It’s better that I’m not stuck with reminders of the mistakes or dead ends I wrote beforehand.