Devices are changing quickly. What we use today will no doubt change in the years to come. How we interact with them will be different. Just think about how we used cell phones five years ago compared to how we do today. Things are moving at warp speed. The future is here. We're building it now.
At the start of the year, we tapped into our inner soothsayer and featured what we saw coming up in the near future for responsive design. We highlighted things a little ways down the road, like devices in our ears, our cars and our eyes that could change how we approach design.
Now there's something else to consider — paper tablets. We ran recently into an article and video that featured these sheet-thin devices. Take a look:
Smart paper has been made. One day it could be in our hands. Sure there are things to work out, like having the processor housed within the sheet. Right now, it's housed elsewhere and the device has to be plugged in.
We talked at the office that it looks incredibly hard to use. So there could be some usability problems yet to solve. Typing, for instance, might not be the best for that format. Maybe it's better suited for writing with a stylus.
That being said, within five years our iPads could give way to iPaper.
A flexible screen makes responsive design even more of an imperative. Imagine how people will use your products and how they'll look on a screen that they can roll up into their hands like a newspaper. The possibilities are endless. Let's just hope folks don't use their smart papers to swat flys with.