Interesting that Raskin is essentially using the open source community to promote his book. Obviously not his sole intent, but an interesting lateral benefit..
-Ian.
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http://humane.sourceforge.net/the/
Jeff Raskin: About The Humane Environment
There is a common misconception that The Humane Environment (THE) is just a hyper-efficient editor. It is not. So THE is not an editor... what is it? <http://humane.sourceforge.net/the/not_an_editor.html> Below is a short history and blurb about THE.
When Raskin created the /Macintosh/ project at Apple, his fundamental insight was to design a popular-price product starting from the human interface. Instead of starting with the sexiest processor or the coolest operating system as others did, he went from the user's needs to creating hardware and software to support the desired interaction. Combining then-current trends (many of which had been developed or improved at Xerox PARC) with his own interface inventions (such as click-and-drag for making arbitrary selections and moving objects), and the work of many colleagues, the result of Raskin's project became a major factor in the industry changeover to the modern Graphic User Interface (GUI). Computers became much easier to learn, and accessible to a wider range of users.
But interfaces have not moved with changing times. After a decade of research into cognitive psychology and by paying attention to people's constant computer complaints (and his own annoyance), Raskin realized that today's GUIs are fundamentally flawed. The interface-building tools that companies and open-source prouducts provide enforce bad interface design practices. They are wrong. Period. Raskin figured out how to fix the problems. His popular book, /The Humane Interface/ <http://humane.sourceforge.net/humane_interface/index.html> (Addison-Wesley, 2000) explains all this in some detail.
Now, a few of Raskin's ideas have been turned into usable, open-source, open-ended software so that you can try them for yourself. The initial system, built without funding (or the chains that come along with it), when described, doesn't sound like much. It consists of a Python programming environment that is also a word processor, or perhaps the other way around (in any case, it's its own IDE), and which has some other interesting abilities. But two things about it take it far beyond this pedestrian description: its user interface and its API.
The Humane Environment (THE) is as easy to learn as a GUI (or easier) yet as fast to use (or faster) than the command-line systems we struggle to learn but love to use. It is easier to add new software to than any previous interface-based system.
Important observation: You cannot make an interface better without making it different (that's obvious). If it's a lot better, it will be a lot different. This means that it will feel unfamiliar to anybody familiar with present interfaces. Therefore, it has to be used for a while (after you read the manual <http://humane.sourceforge.net/the/manual.html>) before you unlearn your present habits and can begin to appreciate it. You are in a worse position for learning it than a novice who has only to acquire new habits and has nothing to unlearn!
But once you have learned THE, you will wish that all your software had at least some of its interface features. This we guarantee; it happens every time.
After you've used THE, you may well be motivated to add new commands, critique what we've done, port it to other platforms (it is on the Mac right now, but a lot is written in platform-independent Python <http://www.python.org>), port it to the web, help document, or whatever.
For info, read Raskin's book <http://humane.sourceforge.net/humane_interface/index.html>. For experience, try the software. You can visit the projects SourceForge page here <http://sourceforge.net/projects/humane/>, and you can get (not-so-brief) instructions for how to get the project and its source via CVS here <http://sourceforge.net/cvs/?group_id=57603>.
(signed) Aza Raskin
Bug List <http://humane.sourceforge.net/the/buglist.html> A list of bugs in THE that need to be fixed. When all astrixed items are completed we will make our first release.
External Technical Spec <http://humane.sourceforge.net/the/spec.html> Before going on to the design of the visually-oriented zooming portion of The Humane Environment (THE), it seems wise to specify the low-level interactions that take place within the document-centric portion. Also, this portion allows interaction by the visually impaired. We specify first that software necessary to demonstrate LEAP and some of the selection and command interface techniques and other benefits described in "The Humane Interface" [Raskin, 2000]. THE is intended to run on at least Windows, Linux, and Mac platforms. This specification describes the first portions to be implemented and gives some indications for future directions.
Joining the THE Team <http://humane.sourceforge.net/the/helping.html> This is an unusual open-source project in that we are exploring a user interface and programming environment that is quite different than current practice. This document explains where to begin to become a contributer.
Manual <http://humane.sourceforge.net/the/manual.html> The user manual, written for developers of the Humane Environment
Mission Statement <http://humane.sourceforge.net/the/mission.html> To make computer technology available to a wider audience than has been possible by radically and rationally improving its usability.
<http://humane.sourceforge.net/the/spec.html> Using CVS and Sourceforge.net <http://humane.sourceforge.net/the/howto.html> This guide should get you a copy of the Humane Environment in its development incarnation. It is not quite ready for general user application. When it is, we will set up a simple, straightforwa
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