To me the best thing about Palm OS was the rule that you’re never more than two taps or a button press away from where you want to be. (I think that’s how I remember it). The beloved early GUIs were all on machines that didn’t do much, comparatively speaking. The problem with modern GUIs is that there’s just too much to learn and remember if it’s presented as symbols rather than text.

FTA:

“Minimize Taps

Most information about that data should be accessible in a minimal number of taps of the stylus — one or two.

Desktop user interfaces are typically designed to display commands as if they were used equally. In reality, some commands are used very frequently while most are used only rarely. Similarly, some settings are more likely to be used than others. On Palm Powered handhelds, more frequently used commands and settings should be easier to find and faster to execute.

• Frequently executed software commands should be accessible by one tap.

• Infrequently used or dangerous commands may require more user action.”

Symbols are already a best-case scenario. Too often, modern UIs require hovering over this button or making that swipe gesture to perform a certain action. The antithesis of affordance.

Perhaps it's natural then that when Palm went on to make WebOS they included the cards system for quick accessibility.