Silent software

I really value such kind of software that does not interrupt you. It should have happened to you I believe: you open a notebook when thouthands of notification balloons appear above the lock screen. Icons are jumping, everything is blinking. Or you open a program that immediately shows daily tips, asks for updates and so forth. Once you’ve closed the last tooltip, you start recalling what were you about to do with that program.

That was the reason I abandoned Firefox. Every its extension, when updated, opened a new tab with release notes. So every time I opened a browser I had to close those tabs I didn’t ask to open.

I’ve been fighting with that as I can for a long time. I turn off all the notifications on both laptop and mobile phone. I cut unwilling elements with Adblock and dump those patters into private Git repo. If a website doesn’t have RSS feed I don’t use it. I read long texts only with Kindle.

I cut YouTube interface completely to see only a search bar and the video player by itself. No recommended sidebar or comment feed.

When I open my laptop willing to send a email but some program prevents me from that (no matter was is a notification or a sound) it’s a serious reason to stop using it. If any site sticks a city selection or email subscription dialog across the whole screen I close it. No worries, I’ll find another one even better.

A rule of being not interrupted by software as important as a rule of being not interrupted by other people. Everybody has a right to be alone.

I hope one day that simple thing will occur to those who develop software.