[w_t_payne]

The more restricted and limited you make something, the easier it is to use.

Remove options, reduce flexibility and the device becomes simpler and easier. Good for the novice, bad for everybody else.

The real trick is to gradually surface functionality: provide powerful abstractions & flexible conceptual tools, but then hide them so that they only surface when they are needed, and, more importantly, when the user is able to cope with them.

So, by all means hide files, and other abstractions that serve to complicate the interaction & confuse the novice, but keep them in the background, waiting until they are needed; and provide neat ways of discovering and learning the conceptual tools required to use our devices to their full potential.

User interface design is about planning the user's learning process; guiding them on their journey from novice to expert.

[userulluipeste]

"The real trick is to gradually surface functionality: provide powerful abstractions & flexible conceptual tools, but then hide them so that they only surface when they are needed, and, more importantly, when the user is able to cope with them."

But this already exist! ...well, sort of. For most things there is a broad range of applications that cover them from simple to very complex. Let's take text - we have everything from simple viewers and plain-text simple writers to complex text editors like "vim", to complex rich-content editing suites like LibreOffice, we even have designated document-preparation languages like LaTeX. The same for music, video, or other kind of content. From this broad range the beginner's system provides (or at least that's what it should provide) by default only the simplest basic tools. Also, at least in Windows, they removed the default easy access to computer's files that existed in early versions in 90's and instead let the applications in user's easy reach.