Copyright: 2000

Publisher: Addison - Wesley

ISBN: 0201379376

Jef Raskin was an early influence at Apple and he is given credit for a number of things that came out of Apple during the early 1980's.  His book The Humane Interface was his treatise on how human computer interaction should work.  His ideas have gained traction in the thinking of many in the field today, however none of the products he designed after leaving Apple ever became commercial successes. 

Concepts

The following is simply a brain dump of the notes I took while reading the book. 

  • "Where most of the users' time will be spent in routine operation of the product and where learning is only a small part of the picture, designing for productivity - even if that requires retraining - is often the correct decision."
  • Interface Laws
    1. A computer shall not harm your work or through inaction allow your work to come to harm
    2. A computer shall not waste your time or require you to do more work than is strictly necessary
  • Three Types of Memory
    • Out of conscious (the locus)
    • Short term memory
    • Long term memory
  • Any confirmation step that elicits a fixed response soon becomes useless because of habit
  • You should allow users to take advantage of habits in order to smooth the flow of work
  • Absorption: People should not become so absorbed in using a computer that they forget their task.
  • Context switching is only slow if it is not habitual
    • Branched thinking allows us to switch context fairly quickly
  • Toggle buttons are problems because they both indicate and change state
  • "Double Dysclicksia" Users were observed having issues with double clicking. (Really?  I have never personally seen this)
  • Whenever you find yourself writing an error message, stop and design out the error condition if at all possible.
  • Sign-ons should be simplified.  Why do we need a username and a password both?  (indeed..why?)
  • When a customer (or user) makes a suggestion don't take it as an attack.

Conclusion

Raskin's work is thought-provoking but much of it is academic rather than practical.  He often argues that "[some design] leads to errors" and yet copious amounts of research details the level to which our brains are error prone.  It is entirely possible that even the best design possible will still "lead to errors" because that is how our brains work.  Sometimes trial and error might well be the best design for an interface!