Matt Roche

Erstwhile math geek making stuff. Quit arguing on the internet in '94. Firmware engineer. Solus Christus.

[Matt Roche @MonkyKungFu]

@JoshDaws @ADRoblesMedia Graduated in '99 and will refute this in three words: fire dancer tattoo.

[Matt Roche @MonkyKungFu]

@McRadioface ncsa moasaic at 19.2kbps. good times. (ran linux 0.96 on a 386sx prior to winsock availability if memory serves)

[Matt Roche @MonkyKungFu]

@JoshDaws Built something last weekend using openclaw in just this way, simple daily puzzle game - everything AI generated. It was shocking how well it went (although the daily puzzles are a little easy and need more refining). Try it at https://t.co/dzfIJY45Bk.

[Matt Roche @MonkyKungFu]

@matt_vanswol Strongest case is that it's literally truth.

[Matt Roche @MonkyKungFu]

@jwgrenning Today's was annoying. 4 letters in place on 2nd guess, then three more guesses to pick the right first letter.

[Matt Roche @MonkyKungFu]

@CommodoreBlog .arc

[Matt Roche @MonkyKungFu]

@eevblog Apparently someone got through. https://t.co/0p4twogCEk

[Not the Bee @Not_the_Bee]

Watch: Utah woman climbs high-powered transformer, rants about how the world is “no longer safe” https://t.co/o8PxRy2e1Y

[Matt Roche @MonkyKungFu]

@MuseumCommodore The Atari 800. The C64 sold more units, and had better sound, but the Atari was first and best overall.

[Matt Roche @MonkyKungFu]

@bjt2n3904 The same people were shocked/surprised by the debate performance. These aren't honest people.

[Matt Roche @MonkyKungFu]

Ordinary internet users doing math is my favorite genre.

[Jeremy Kauffman 🦔🌲🌕 @jeremykauffman]

Fewer than 1 in 5 doctors can correctly answer a basic question about statistics

[Elizabeth Laraki @elizlaraki]

15 years ago, I helped design Google Maps.

I still use it everyday.

Last week, the team dramatically changed the map’s visual design.

I don’t love it.

It feels colder, less accurate and less human.

But more importantly, they missed a key opportunity to simplify and scale.

–––

Google Maps has started to widely roll out updated map colors:

- All roads are now gray

- Water changed from blue to teal

- Parks and open spaces are now mint green

It seems the goal was to improve usability and make the maps more readable.

Admittedly, I do think major roads, traffic, and trails stand out more now.

But the colors of water and parks/open spaces blend together.

And to me, the palette feels colder and more computer generated.

But color choices aside…

If the goal was better usability, the team missed a big opportunity:

Google Maps should have cleaned up the crud overlaying the map.

–––

So much stuff has accumulated on top of the map.

Currently there are ~11 different elements obscuring it:

- Search box

- 8 pills overlayed in 4 rows

- A peeking card for “latest in the area”

- A bottom nav bar

(Personally, I would LOVE to see usage metrics for all these overlays.)

The map should be sacred real estate.

Only things that are highly useful to many people should obscure it.

There should be a very limited number of features that can cover the map view.

And there are multiple ways to add new features without overlaying them directly on the map.

–––

Here’s how it could look:

- Keep the search box

- Keep the bottom bar

- Remove everything else from the map

- Roll the most used features into the bottom bar

- Bury the less used features elsewhere in the app

I assume the search box and directions are top priority and should remain prominent.

My Location and map layers (satellite, traffic, etc.) could move to the bottom bar.

The explore overlays (restaurants, gas, etc.) could live in the bottom bar in “Explore” and open as cards.

The additional space in the bottom bar could be used for Saved, as a “More” option, or could be removed entirely.

There are many variations of how features could be arranged.

But the key points are:

- Dramatically simplify

- Strongly prioritize map visibility

- Bury legacy and low use features

–––

It’s normal for products to accumulate features over time.

But it’s also super important to stay vigilant and continually clean them up.

In many ways, it’s interesting to see history repeating itself.

In 2007, I was 1 of 2 designers on Google Maps.

At that time, Maps had already become a cluttered mess.

We were wedging new features into any space we could find in the UI.

The user experience was suffering and the product was growing increasingly complicated.

We had to rethink the app to be simple and scale for the future.

It seems like it’s time for Google Maps to do this again…

–––

For more on design + tips for early stage founders, follow me on X: @elizlaraki

[Matt Roche @MonkyKungFu]

Apparently we get a bonus launch! #Starship

[Matt Roche @MonkyKungFu]

And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us; and we saw His glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.

[Matt Roche @MonkyKungFu]

@Chris_Gammell @audible_com Give it time.

[Matt Roche @MonkyKungFu]

@stoneymonster @yiwai @KWF Represent.

[Matt Roche @MonkyKungFu]

@stoneymonster Can we just do Vonnegut quotes for the rest of 2020 and nothing else?

[Matt Roche @MonkyKungFu]

@juliaferraioli First email was via Waffle BBS netmail. Addressing was via bang-paths. Waffle itself ran as a door under the BBS I ran. A couple months later, pine.

[Matt Roche @MonkyKungFu]

@nf6x That's some quality python, right there. Looks like its taking a string with some hex values, back to integers, then back to the hex representation as bytes.

[Matt Roche @MonkyKungFu]

@jeremyjudkins One doge is still one doge, my shibe.

[Matt Roche @MonkyKungFu]

@JeremySCook Greetings