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Topic: The Humane Interface

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	Jef Raskin - Summary of The Humane Interface
		For an interface feature to be humane it must be easily learned and it also must become automatic without interfering with the learning of or habituating to other features.
		To develop an interface that can be operated automatically by a human places constraints on the design, constraints that we learn about from cognitive psychology’s studies of habit formation.
		Interfaces must be designed to accommodate our ability to pay conscious attention to only one object or situation, called our locus of attention, at a time.
	jef.raskincenter.org /humane_interface/summary_of_thi.html (2026 words)

	CONTENTS
		Interfaces should be designed as though the user will be so absorbed in her task that she may not respond to your attempts to communicate with her.
		However, if an interface is modal and the program operating it does not initially know the current state of the interface for example, if it connects to the system after the system is already running—the program, prior to operating any modal control, must be provided with a means for testing that state.
		Interface toggles are particularly troublesome in this regard, where consecutive invocations of the toggling mechanism cycle the control through a number of states before returning to the initial state (the cycle then repeats).
	www.stormpages.com /futureintent/Humane.htm (3230 words)

	Archy - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
		On January 1, 2005, Raskin announced the new name, and that Archy would be further developed by the non-profit Raskin Center for Humane Interfaces, which received $2 million in funding.
		This ambitious plan to build a general purpose environment that is easy to use for anyone is based on designing for the common cognitive capabilities of all humans.
		It is a spatial, non-windowing interface: an infinite plane expanding in all directions and zoomable to infinite detail.
	en.wikipedia.org /wiki/The_Humane_Environment (1095 words)

	The Humane Interface - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
		The Humane Interface: New Directions for Designing Interactive Systems is a book by Jef Raskin, on the subject of user interface design.
		It covers ergonomics as well as quantification, evaluation, and navigation, and describes many interface design concepts that were used in Archy.
		This article about a non-fiction book is a stub.
	en.wikipedia.org /wiki/The_Humane_Interface (100 words)

	Department of Computer Science (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-10-08)
		Part of the problem is that today's Graphic User Interfaces (GUIs) are incompatible with fundamental human mental abilities, a problem that is compounded because GUI assumptions have been built into development environments.
		Another problem is that many people (including users, interface designers, and marketers) have become so acclimated to today's interface methods that our current paradigms seem inevitable, natural, and inextricably embedded in our culture.
		He is the author of "The Humane Interface" (Addison-Wesley 2000 -- available in 8 languages) and was a professor and computer center director at the University of California, San Diego.
	www.cs.uchicago.edu /events/197 (217 words)

	PanelSoft User Interface and Graphics Consulting
		The Humane Interface is an excellent book by the inventor of the mouse and the creator of much of the macintosh interface.
		While such an interface may be a match for specific applications, I do not see it as a feasible option for general purpose computer use.
		Thimbleby defines many properties of user interfaces allowing the reader to become better at recognizing those properties in his own interfaces, and allowing those properties to be sought or avoided depending on the needs of particular application.
	www.panelsoft.com /books.htm (4437 words)

	Humane Gmail Autosave
		It seems a little silly that Gmail will save all of your email forever, except for the one that you're in the middle of writing when your browser crashes, which is arguably the most important one to you right then.
		Humane Gmail Autosave is a Greasemonkey user script that automatically saves any emails in progress every 10 seconds to your Drafts folder.
		I began development of a "humane" textarea a few weeks ago, designed to replace any blog or wiki textarea.
	hirevito.com /greasemonkey/humanegmailautosave.html (515 words)

	RSP&A User interface design resources
		Following a set of interface design principles, design identifies interface objects and actions and then creates a screen layout that forms the basis for an user interface prototype.
		Wood (User Interface Design: Bridging the Gap from User Requirements to Design, CRC Press, 1997) considers the analysis activity for interfaces and the transition to design tasks.
		Interface design for embedded products is also discussed by Garrett (Advanced Instrumentation and Computer I/O Design: Real-Time System Computer Interface Engineering, IEEE, 1994).
	www.rspa.com /spi/design-interface.html (726 words)

	Humane Interface, The: New Directions for Designing Interactive Systems - $24.49 (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-10-08)
		The Humane Interface reexamines the cognitive foundations of human-machine interaction to elucidate a crucial aspect of why interface designs succeed or fail.
		One finding is that present-day graphical user interfaces, such as those of the Windows and Macintosh operating systems, which are based on an architecture of operating system plus application programs, are inherently flawed.
		Finally, this book is for human-machine interface researchers, who will find that they will never again be able to view interfaces in quite the same way they did before reading The Humane Interface.
	www.awprofessional.com /catalog/product.asp?product_id={8D54A446-A03C-4A2B-9D5E-1C35EF79372F} (1694 words)

	Home - Raskin Center (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-10-08)
		Alpha Release is the beginning of a truly humane interface that is responsive to human needs and considerate of human frailties.
		In order to fund further work on Archy, the developers are working on a commercial interface project while working on understanding the implementation problems involved with Archy features, and locating or inventing the technologies to make them possible.
		The Humane Interface delivers a way for computers, information appliances, and other technology-driven products to continue to advance in power and expand their range of applicability, while becoming free of the hassles and obscurities that plague present products.
	rchi.raskincenter.org (1520 words)

	InVisible Blog: Reading: The Humane Interface
		Intrigued about THE (The Humane Environment), a new paradigm for interaction with the computer.
		He has a deep understanding and knowledge of the subject, his theses are supported by empiric studies.
		I am happy to report that a simple demo of my zooming interface (Chapter 6 of my book) is now up and working (with most browsers) on the web site.
	blog.invisible.ch /archives/000155.html (659 words)

	the.Inevitable.Org/anism
		This article on Slashdot reports that the Humane Interface designed by Jeff Raskin has received USD 2 million in funding from an unnamed "multi-national corporation", and the first implementation, which has been named "Archy", will ship in 18 months.
		The design of the interface is described in detail in Raskin's popular book (see this summary of his design philosophy).
		The Humane Interface is designed to be as easy to learn as a GUI (or easier) yet as fast to use (or faster) than command-line systems.
	the.inevitable.org /anism/2005/03/08.html (575 words)

	Weblogs Forum - The Humane Interface (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-10-08)
		Since humans are creatures of habit, we have a hard time remembering which mode the computer is, because we want to focus on the task at hand; modes divert our attention to keeping track of the mode, and hence slow us down.
		Jef makes a point against interface customization which I have long observed: customizations act as long-living modes, and can cause great pain and confusion when you find yourself using a familiar application on someone else's computer, or even on your own computer when you have changed a preference that has a farther-reaching effect than expected.
		And still the MacOS interface is superior in many ways to the Windows interface, though they have become closer the last couple of years.
	www.artima.com /forums/flat.jsp?forum=106&thread=4790 (3312 words)

	LukeW: Interface Design Guidelines & Terms
		Human interface design principles and concepts, when to to use them, and when not to.
		Discusses the human interface design principles that describe key considerations for the design decisions you make for your product.
		From the designer of the original Mosaic interface (Netscape and Explorer's interface are carbon copies), this hard-to-find article introduces many issues Web designers still struggle with today.
	www.lukew.com /resources/links_guidelines.html (562 words)

	Summary of ideas in Jef Raskin's The Humane Interface (Scott Rippon) (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-10-08)
		Jef Raskin's book The Humane Interface presents many ideas aimed at making the interaction between the user and the computer more humane.
		I hope this summary is helpful to people who are either interested in reading The Humane Interface or who have already read it.
		The elimination of side effects should be one of the goals of any designer of humane interfaces.
	www-personal.monash.edu.au /~srippon/writing/it/thi.shtml (972 words)

	Directory - Computers: Software: Operating Systems: Graphic Subsystems: Desktop Environments: Archy
		Archy (formerly The Humane Environment, THE) is an operating system (OS), scalable interface for computers of many types, and a text editor.
		The Humane Interface · Book review of The Human Interface: New Directions for Interface Design, by Jef Raskin, and the usual mass of forum comments.
		In Appreciation of Jef Raskin · iweb · cached · Brief praise of Raskin, and critique of Archy zooming interface, with references, by usability expert Don Norman who was at Apple with Raskin, during the early years.
	www.incywincy.com /default/THE.1004784 (690 words)

	ABC-Dir: Interface
		Responsible for all interface standards relating to the popular AT Attachment (ATA) storage interface utilized as the disk drive interface...
		The Lightflow Rendering Interface is an object oriented programming interface to synthetic rendering, which provides a common environment and description...
		A high-level interface to the ftplib module with an interface like the modules os and os.path in the standard library.
	www.abc-directory.com /view/interface (217 words)

	Programmers Report Books: Your interface or mine?- ADTmag.com
		According to Raskin, the first law of interface design should be, "A computer shall not harm your work or, through inaction, allow your work to come to harm." The ultimate interface should allow users to simply begin using it without the need to boot the computer, or access an operating system or file.
		Scattered throughout the chapters are real-world examples of interfaces found in everyday life, ranging from computer equipment to automated ticket machines.
		One of Raskin's solutions to the humane interface (one that is "responsive to human needs and considerate of human frailties") is the zooming interface paradigm (ZIP).
	www.adtmag.com /article.asp?id=6110 (325 words)

	O'Reilly Network Safari Bookshelf - Humane Interface, The: New Directions for Designing Interactive Systems
		Icons contribute to visual attractiveness of an interface and, under the appropriate circumstances, can contribute to clarity; however, the failings of icons have become clearer with time.
		If you wanted to obscure or to encode an idea to keep it from prying eyes, substituting icons for the words might not be a bad start.
		The problem with icons can be considered an issue of diminished visibility: The interface presents an icon, but the meaning of the icon is not visible, or it may give the wrong message to someone for whom the graphic is unfamiliar or has a different interpretation.
	safari.oreilly.com /?XmlId=0-201-37937-6/ch06lev1sec3 (492 words)

	Peachpit Press - Humane Interface, The: New Directions for Designing Interactive Systems
		The Humane Interface is a gourmet dish from a master chef.
		I do not know who edits books on interface design but all too often the books are more about "look at how great I am" than thoughtful insights.
		The book covers fundamentals of simple human psychology that are both key to good design and that will stay with students for life.
	safari.peachpit.com /?XmlId=0-201-37937-6 (1711 words)

	Raskin - Human Interface : books : uidesign.net
		This is a prelude to the later explanation of the GOMS method for quantitative analysis of an interface.
		What Raskin means here is the notion that interface paradigms start to be unified across operating systems, applications, browsers, and so forth.
		And that computer interfaces should operate on objects, there should be no notion of a desktop, an operating system or applications, but merely, components which perform functions on objects.
	www.uidesign.net /2000/books/humane.html (1331 words)

	Amazon.co.uk: The Humane Interface: New Directions for Designing Interactive Systems: Books (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-10-08)
		Although the author doesn't use this specific term, The Human Interface, the book explores the intelligent design of efficient signs and symbols for the "conversation" between man and computer.
		The honeymoon with digital technology is over- millions of users are tired of having to learn huge, arcane programs to perform the simplest tasks; fatigued by the pressure of constant upgrades, and have had enough of system crashes.
		In The Humane Interface, Jef Raskin - the legendary, controversial creator of the original Apple Macintosh project - shows that there is another path.
	www.amazon.co.uk /exec/obidos/ASIN/0201379376 (751 words)

	Jef Raskin the Movie (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-10-08)
		It documents his work on a humane environment he calls "Archy," that works with the way we think and the life that helped him create it.
		The changes were based on a deeply-held code of the right and wrong ways to treat my fellow humans, and a study of psychology more than on any desire to advance technology per se, though it was necessary to do that, too in order to achieve my primary aims.
		It was to be an autobiography that would tell what it was like to be with Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak in their garage in 1976, and to chart the changes, some funny and some ugly, that prominence and wealth brought out from theirs' and others' personalities.
	jefthemovie.com (1548 words)

	humane
		Because, as far as the customer is concerned, the user interface is the product.
		Her locus of attention remains on her work. In addition, initializing a computer, application or work artifact should take the user back to where she left off, to encourage that locus.
		A badly designed user interface will lead a user to make mistakes from habit. ; If, for example, a user is habituated to pressing "Y" after the delete command (because errors are relatively rare) there is no safety provided by requiring a confirmation. Better to have a robust "Undo" feature.
	www.homestead.com /edithstuff/humane.html (397 words)

	Macworld: Pro File: Mac Daddy
		I felt that the problem was not them or their intelligence, it was the very bad way that the computer was interfaced with the human beings.
		Another ambition of mine, and I hope that I've succeeded, is to turn this interface design world into much more of an empirical science.
		If you're a physicist [when you read The Humane Interface], you might say, "I've seen that equation before." Again, I don't explain that connection.
	www.macworld.com /2002/03/macbeat/raskin/index.php?pf=1 (1335 words)

	The Humane Interface: New Directions for Designing Interactive Systems (ACM Press)
		The honeymoon with digital technology is over: millions of users are tired of having to learn huge, arcane programs to perform the simplest tasks; fatigued by the pressure of constant upgrades, and have had enough of system crashes.
		In The Humane Interface, Jef Raskin -- the legendary, controversial creator of the original Apple Macintosh project -- shows that there is another path.
		Previously, as an independent interface and system design consultant based in Pacifica, California, his clients included HP, IBM, Motorola, NCR, Xerox, Ricoh, Canon, and AT&T. A prolific writer, his current and recent contributing editor positions include Wired, Mac Home Journal, and Pacifica Tribune.
	www.businessanalysisbooks.com /0201379376.html (1205 words)

	Powell's Books - The Humane Interface: New Directions for Designing Interactive Systems by Jef Raskin
		Proceeding from basic facts about how human consciousness interacts with the outside environment, through simple technologies such as radios, to computers, he looks at a number of aspects of interface principles covering keyboards, mouses, screen configuration, and menu bars.
		The honeymoon with digital technology is over: millions of users are tired of having to learn huge, arcane programs to perform the simplest tasks and have had enough of system crashes.
		In "The Humane Interface", Jef Raskin--the legendary, controversial creator of the original Apple Macintosh project--shows that there is another path.
	www.powells.com /cgi-bin/biblio?inkey=2-0201379376-0 (215 words)

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