the.com/affordance
a door handle that tells you to pull without saying a word.
means a property of an object or interface that signals how it can be used, before you even think about it.
from coined by psychologist james j. gibson in 1977 to describe what an environment offers an animal; design theorist don norman borrowed it in 1988's the design of everyday things and pointed out that most doors fail this test spectacularly.
norman doorspush doors with pull handles, a design crime
gibson's versionoriginally about ecology, not buttons
perceived vs reala button can look pressable but not be
scrollbarsclassic affordance nobody notices until it vanishes