Sanding web interfaces

Good furniture makers sand the back of the cabinet. That's the side that faces the wall. Nobody will touch it, and once the cabinet is in place nobody will see it again. They sand it anyway, because they'll know.

I think about that a lot when I build interfaces. Most of what makes a product feel good lives in places nobody points at. The few milliseconds a button takes to answer your press. A menu that doesn't close when your pointer cuts across a corner. A focus ring that only appears when you're on a keyboard. A toast that waits while you're still reading it. None of this makes it onto a feature list, and when it's right almost nobody notices. When it's missing, people feel it, even if they can't name it.

Sanding Space is where I write about that work.

Each essay is short and covers one decision. Instead of screenshots, the essays are built around live demos you can press, drag and try to break. When an essay puts a few versions side by side, try every one. The difference is usually small, and that's the point. Every demo also has its own address, so you can open it on its own or embed it in your blog, your docs or your team's notes.

The essays are grouped by the kind of decision you're making, from how to think about the work to how to make a product useful. Read them in any order.

Sanding Space is always under construction. I'm building it with the garage door up (opens in a new tab), so it grows every time I finish an essay. Essays marked Soon are still on the workbench.

Written by Nubelson (opens in a new tab). If something here sends you back to sand a corner of your own work, it did its job.