[cybrjoe]

| The toolbox in my garage would look better if I could only see the tools I needed at the time I need them, and I would return that toolbox

This comment has completely broken my brain. That's exactly what a toolbox with drawers does, hides tools. Until you, the user, pull a drawer out and select the tool you need. Because you probably put the tools in their place you also have a high likelihood of knowing where they are. Maybe that's the paradigm? Show everything and let the user hide?

The opposite of hiding tools in a toolbox is littering your workspace with tools that you can see, but you soon run out of real estate with any decent amount of tools.

[btach]

I don't quite disagree, but yet I do. A toolbox organizes your tools so you know exactly where they are (and take much less space). You may not see the tools, but each drawer may have a label (should you choose to slap one on) fully visible at any time. That they are not transparent is an effect of their material. A transparent toolbox seems like it would be more difficult to construct with the same strength and the same inexpense.

[mmcconnell1618]

Imagine walking into someone else's garage and searching their toolbox for a specific item. Now imagine they instead had a nice pegboard where all tools are laid out and visible. You still have to visually scan the items but finding it is a lot less effort than drawer by drawer.

[btach]

You are not wrong. For me, when I've been in my dad's machine shop, he doesn't use pegboards but rather small drawers for drills, milling bits, lathe tools, carbide inserts, taps, etc. It isn't totally straightforward, but once I understood how he organized each drawer in a set of drawers, and from one drawer cabinet to the next, it was easier. The tool itself may not be in sight, but if you understand the nomenclature and labeling, the tool's location is still in sight. That being said, I do agree about pegboards -- they are so nice even if the drawers are well organized. I find it more seamless to put things away to their "home" when it's directly visual instead of a layer of organization like that. Alas while some tools are well-shaped for that kind of organization, some do not do well with that (drills, lathe cutting tools/inserts, etc).

[naikrovek]

Exactly. This is what I had in mind when I said "toolbox". I tried to save some time and it cost me the ability to accurately convey the idea I was trying to convey. "Don't omit useful information."

[naikrovek]

This is what I get for using the wrong analogy for the sake of saving myself some typing...

When I wrote this, I was thinking of my time in a maker space where all tools belonged on a wall in a specific spot. You could see, at a glance, if the tool you needed was there, and you could see at a glance if any tools were gone at the end of the day.

I would not want to keep track of tools in a common-use area without a system like this. (I've only described a portion of the entire system.)

This at-a-glance inventory system is what I meant when I said "toolbox" and there was no way for you to know that.

[systemvoltage]

Garage is a great example, 100% agree. The sad thing is that what you just said, being able to see everything at a glance, is a taboo in the design circles. The argument they're making is that too much information overloads the user. I don't buy that - we are bombarded by complexity every moment. We evolved to spot prey/threat in the enormous complexity of foliage. Our vision system can take a lot of abuse.

What designers fail to understand is the difference between complexity resulting from disorganization vs. complexity resulting from logically laid out tools on the wall - all available for selection in a moment's notice. The latter is the complexity all humans can handle. We do this everyday when shopping groceries, driving cars to navigating airports.

[naikrovek]

The human brain is capable of so much; can adapt to SO MUCH.. I also do not believe that too much information overloads the user. A sudden wall of info may he a bit of a surprise, sure.

Look at how much information is on a single page of literally any novel! Or a complex spreadsheet. All of it easily ingested when you just take the time required to see things in the required way(s).