Still 2012.
In Contents, I argue that stacks are due for a comeback.
(And I am not talking about PowerPoint decks.)
I try to convince readers that the stack might still be a distinct and powerful format:
1.
Stacks allow you to control the rhythm of an argument at the level of
the sentence,
the phrase,
or even
the
individual
word.
Stacks suggest spoken cadence,
and they are resolutely linear.
2.
Stacks succeed when they are immersive,
so the format suffered inside browsers, weighed down by too many bars: menu-,
scroll-,
tool-.
But today, stacks have a new home on phones and tablets,
where they can cover the whole screen,
edge to edge,
just like they covered the whole nine-inch screen on my Mac Plus back in 1991.
edge to edge,
just like they covered the whole nine-inch screen on my Mac Plus back in 1991.
Full-screen mode is back
—and so, too, is the stack.
3.
Stacks are composed of cards,
but cards can also stand on their own as tokens,
badges,
social objects. Cards can be clipped,
saved,
and tweeted.
Cards can be beautiful.
