The Humane Interface
Encyclopedia
The Humane Interface: New Directions for Designing Interactive Systems (ISBN 0-201-37937-6) is a book about user interface
design written by Jef Raskin
and published in 2000. It covers ergonomics
, quantification, evaluation, and navigation.
Raskin often refers to the computer he designed, the Canon Cat
, as an example of a system that implemented the various measures he advocates; the Canon Cat is often considered the first information appliance
. Many of the ideas presented in the Canon Cat and The Humane Interface were later adopted by Raskin in his Archy
project, and later by his son Aza
.
Raskin includes a chapter demonstrating four models of quantifying the efficiency of a software interface: the GOMS
keystroke model, Raskin's own efficiency measure, Fitts' law
and Hick's law
. All are intended to minimize the amount of time required for the user to perform any specific task.
Habituation is an important concept driving Raskin's guidelines, intended to free the user's mind from attention to low-level interaction details. A modeless interface, monotony of design and elimination of blocking warnings are all intended to favor habit-forming reactions to interface handling.
Raskin further asserts that interface design should be subject to regulation
, analogous to building code
s. This could be done by establishing legal safeguards to protect consumers from harm; and establishing professional guidelines and standards to evaluate good practice and interface quality.
User interface
The user interface, in the industrial design field of human–machine interaction, is the space where interaction between humans and machines occurs. The goal of interaction between a human and a machine at the user interface is effective operation and control of the machine, and feedback from the...
design written by Jef Raskin
Jef Raskin
Jef Raskin was an American human-computer interface expert best known for starting the Macintosh project for Apple in the late 1970s.-Early years and education:...
and published in 2000. It covers ergonomics
Ergonomics
Ergonomics is the study of designing equipment and devices that fit the human body, its movements, and its cognitive abilities.The International Ergonomics Association defines ergonomics as follows:...
, quantification, evaluation, and navigation.
Contents
The book puts forward a large number of interface design suggestions, from fairly trivial ones to radical ones. The overriding theme is that current computer interfaces are often poor and set up users to fail, as a result of poor planning (or lack of planning) by programmers and a lack of understanding of how people actually use software.Raskin often refers to the computer he designed, the Canon Cat
Canon Cat
The Canon Cat was a task-dedicated, desktop computer released by Canon Inc. in 1987 at a price of $1495 USD. On the surface it was not unlike the dedicated word processors popular in the late 1970s to early 1980s, but it was far more powerful and incorporated many unique ideas for data...
, as an example of a system that implemented the various measures he advocates; the Canon Cat is often considered the first information appliance
Information appliance
In general terms, an information appliance or information device is any machine or device that is usable for the purposes of computing, telecommunicating, reproducing, and presenting encoded information in myriad forms and applications....
. Many of the ideas presented in the Canon Cat and The Humane Interface were later adopted by Raskin in his Archy
Archy
Archy is a software system whose user interface poses a radically different approach for interacting with computers with respect to traditional graphical user interfaces. Designed by human-computer interface expert Jef Raskin, it embodies his ideas and established results about human-centered...
project, and later by his son Aza
Aza Raskin
Aza Raskin is an American interface designer. He is the son of noted human-computer interface expert Jef Raskin.-Biography:...
.
Raskin includes a chapter demonstrating four models of quantifying the efficiency of a software interface: the GOMS
GOMS
GOMS is a kind of specialized human information processor model for human computer interaction observation. Developed in 1983 by Stuart Card, Thomas P. Moran and Allen Newell, it was explained in their book The Psychology of Human Computer Interaction...
keystroke model, Raskin's own efficiency measure, Fitts' law
Fitts' law
Fitts's law is a model of human movement primarily used in human–computer interaction and ergonomics that predicts that the time required to rapidly move to a target area is a function of the distance to the target and the size of the target...
and Hick's law
Hick's law
Hick's Law, named after British psychologist William Edmund Hick, or the Hick–Hyman Law , describes the time it takes for a person to make a decision as a result of the possible choices he or she has. The Hick-Hyman Law assesses cognitive information capacity in choice reaction experiments...
. All are intended to minimize the amount of time required for the user to perform any specific task.
Design rules
Raskin also advocates a number of changes to conventional interface design. Among them:- Modelessness - a modeMode (computer interface)In user interface design, a mode is a distinct setting within a computer program or any physical machine interface, in which the same user input will produce perceived different results than it would in other settings....
is a state in which the computer produces a different output for the same input than it would have if it were another state; the classic example is the keyboard's "caps lockCaps lockCaps lock is a key on many computer keyboards. Pressing it sets an input mode in which typed letters are uppercase by default. The keyboard remains in caps lock mode until the key is pressed again...
" key. Raskin advocates either getting rid of them entirely or using "quasimodes" (a term he invented in the book); a quasimode is a state in which the user must make some constant physical action in order to keep the computer in that state, so that they cannot forget that they are in that mode; an example is the keyboard's shift keyShift keyThe shift key is a modifier key on a keyboard, used to type capital letters and other alternate "upper" characters. There are typically two shift keys, on the left and right sides of the row below the home row...
. - Monotony of design - there should be only one way to accomplish a certain atomic task in an application (in many modern applications, there are at least three - one through a button on the screen, one through a menu dropdown, and one through a keyboard shortcut - and often more).
- Every action should be undoUndoUndo is a command in many computer programs. It erases the last change done to the document reverting it to an older state. In some more advanced programs such as graphic processing, undo will negate the last command done to the file being edited....
able, even after a document or application has been closed and reopened. - Elimination of warning screens - modern software applications often ask the user "are you sure?" before some potentially harmful action; Raskin argues they are unhelpful because users tend to ignore them out of habit, and that having a universal undo eliminates the need for them.
- Universal use of text - Raskin argues that graphic icons in software without any accompanying text are often cryptic to users.
Habituation is an important concept driving Raskin's guidelines, intended to free the user's mind from attention to low-level interaction details. A modeless interface, monotony of design and elimination of blocking warnings are all intended to favor habit-forming reactions to interface handling.
Non-standard interaction architecture
Raskin also advocates a document-centered approach to computer interfaces that entails several radical changes to the current nature of operating systems and software:- An end to stand-alone applications - every software package should be structured as a set of tools available to users on any document. For example, in the middle of writing a text document, a user should be able to do a mathematical computation by writing out the computation in the document, then hitting some "calculate" function.
- An end to directories and file names - "the content of a text file is its own best name." Every document should be identifiable by its contents, so there should not be need for directories or names for user-generated documents; Raskin argues that these names tend to be cryptic and make files difficult to find afterwards.
- Zooming user interfaceZooming User InterfaceIn computing, a zooming user interface or zoomable user interface is a graphical environment where users can change the scale of the viewed area in order to see more detail or less, and browse through different documents. A ZUI is a type of graphical user interface...
- Raskin advocates an interface he calls ZoomWorld, in which the user navigates around a two-dimensional plane containing a graphical representation of every document on the computer. The user can zoom out to see all the documents, or zoom in on any specific document in order to read and edit it.
Raskin further asserts that interface design should be subject to regulation
Regulation
Regulation is administrative legislation that constitutes or constrains rights and allocates responsibilities. It can be distinguished from primary legislation on the one hand and judge-made law on the other...
, analogous to building code
Building code
A building code, or building control, is a set of rules that specify the minimum acceptable level of safety for constructed objects such as buildings and nonbuilding structures. The main purpose of building codes are to protect public health, safety and general welfare as they relate to the...
s. This could be done by establishing legal safeguards to protect consumers from harm; and establishing professional guidelines and standards to evaluate good practice and interface quality.