The Margin
A weekly letter on design, slow software and the craft of making things.
This week’s essay
On slow software
The programs we keep for decades are quiet, a little stubborn and never in a hurry. What they know that the rest of our tools forgot.
In this issue — No. 142
Notebook
Seven tools I have used for ten years
A text editor, a notebook, a calendar on paper and four small programs that never changed their minds.
Workshop
The case for a boring settings page
Every toggle is a question you didn’t answer. A short defence of software with opinions.
Field notes
What the print shop taught me about deadlines
Ink dries at its own speed. Notes from a week beside a Heidelberg press in Trieste.
Make the thing well, then leave it alone long enough for people to love it.
Letters to the editor
You wrote back
“I read it on Thursday mornings before I open anything with a notification badge. It has become the quietest ten minutes of my week.”
— Marta K., Zagreb
“My kitchen timer is forty years old and has never needed an update. Thank you for finally giving me words for why I love it.”
— Owen P., Cardiff
“Forwarded the settings-page essay to my whole team. We removed nine toggles. Nobody has noticed, which I think was your point.”
— Ines R., Porto
Letters, once a week
A single essay every Thursday morning, a few notes from the workshop and the best letters from readers. Free, and easy to leave.
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