Friday, May 2, 2014

Google Chrome is testing an experimental feature that completely hides the current URL

Google Chrome is testing an experimental feature that completely hides the current URL

There seems to be a certain school of thought that the solution to all UI problems is user education.

Consider: If your computer got infected with malware from opening an email attachment, well, then the problem isn’t that email is fundamentally broken1, it’s that your understanding of email is wrong, and maybe you should learn not to open any email attachments ever. (Except when it’s from someone you know, except not even then because it might not really be that person, so learn to tell the difference already why don’t you?) How many times have you heard something like this from Very Smart Technically Literate People?

Similarly, the majority of people who use a web browser today do not know or care what a URL is2. It is a big ugly thing that they have to avoid in order to get things done, and a reminder that computers sometimes make no sense for no reason, probably because they are made by jerks like that guy down the hall who sneers at me when I ask why the printer isn’t working; but whatever, if I could just get this thing to work and do what I need to do, then I can move on to the really interesting things in my life.

And yet, web developers who believe in Tim Berners-Lee’s dream of the open and infinite web, where everyone in the world can participate equally, seem to think that if we could just reach these people, and show them how URLs really make sense and are beautiful and logical and useful and empowering, then these people would embrace URLs and start contributing to universal human knowledge and linking to everything and we would finally have our utopia3.

I’m not saying this isn’t a good or important dream. Like many ideals, it is as worthwhile to reach for as it is impossible to ever actually get to. But… you can’t force it on people. The URL had its chance. Now it’s time to try something else. If you don’t like what Google is trying, then let’s see your new ideas.

  1. Email is fundamentally broken. ↩︎

  2. Or a web browser, for that matter. ↩︎

  3. Or URLtopia, if you will. I’ll show myself out. ↩︎