Foundations of Affordances  Last week I was honored to give a
talk at the Front End Design Conference titled “Affordances in
Modern Web Design.” In preparation for the talk, I did plenty of
research; and while the slides are available for download, I’d
like to provide readers with a written overview of the history
and application of affordances in web design.  One of the most
influential American psychologists, J. J. Gibson (January 27,
1904 — December 11, 1979) coined the word “affordance” in the
late 1970s to describe the fundamental part of his theory of
visual psychology. Gison envisioned affordances as the (myriad)
relationships between an environment and an actor. It’s worth
noting that affordances do not have to be visible, known, or
physically possible to the actor.  Don’t be silly, wrestlers
don’t sit in chairs.  Affordances represent the multitude of
possibilities available to any person or animal in their
environment. Affordances help organisms suss out threats and
promises available in their envir