# Friction as a Feature

Essay by Emil Kowalski (https://emilkowal.ski)

A natural filter for bad ideas.

Topics: Craft
Source: https://emilkowal.ski/ui/friction-as-a-feature

## For agents

Nothing to install. This is a reference: cite it, or fetch the source when
the reasoning matters.

Read it at: https://emilkowal.ski/ui/friction-as-a-feature

The full text is not reproduced here. It belongs to its author. What is
above is the author's own summary and the topics it covers.

Skills in this library that act on the same ground:

- emil-design-eng (https://www.stackskills.dev/md/emil-design-eng): The design-engineering house style behind Sonner and Vaul.
- prototype (https://www.stackskills.dev/md/prototype): Builds several genuinely different UI variants behind a live picker.
- apple-design (https://www.stackskills.dev/md/apple-design): Apple's interface and motion principles, translated for the web.
- better-ui (https://www.stackskills.dev/md/better-ui): Concentric radius, optical alignment, surface depth, hit areas.
- better-interface (https://www.stackskills.dev/md/better-interface): Every better-* skill as a single review pass.

## The short version

Before AI, writing code was expensive enough that the effort itself decided which ideas were worth building. Emil argues that friction was quietly doing a second job as a filter, and removing it left only the output. That is why so much of what gets shipped now feels like it exists rather than like it was designed. The answer is not to slow down but to apply the judgement on purpose, because nothing else is applying it for you.

## Verification

- Source link: Resolved (HTTP 200) (pass)
- Reading copy: Plain markdown for agents at /md/friction-as-a-feature (pass)
- Attribution: Credited to Emil Kowalski (pass)

Full page: https://www.stackskills.dev/library/friction-as-a-feature