The Humane Interface is Jef Raskin's collection of problems and lessons learned from a lifetime of designing for users. The list of projects he's worked on is impressive in itself, which makes his word one of authority on the subject. But, I think that he takes a tact that is not always useful for practitioners of user interface design today.

Many of Raskin's comments deal directly with the hardware that the user uses to interact with the computer. He would like to add an "Undo/Redo" key and a "Search" key on keyboards. He would also like to add a "grab" feature on mice for dragging objects around the screen. While I'd agree that these would be notable improvements to how people are using computers today, for most interface designers, these are the things they're not allowed to change. Yes, the Undo/Redo key could be accomplished by a keyboard manufacturer sending Ctrl-z and Ctrl-Z depending. And the Apple mighty mouse does have some sort of grab feature, though I don't know of wide uses of it yet. But, until they are in greater use, most user interface designers can't assume their existence.

Much of the book does focus on very practical things that a user interface designer should think about when looking at his interface. It also gives the vocabulary to start understanding what is wrong in the interface. Things that I had an inkling of I can now explain precisely with terminology and examples. This is important, sometimes to understand the problems you really have you need to find a way to discuss them and bounce the ideas off of others. For someone untrained in user interface design, this was a hugely valuable lesson.

Another lesson to be learned from Raskin's book is when you have a great interface. I like this quote, it seems almost designed to put into your blog:

... become so habitual as to be nearly addictive, leading to a user population devoted to and loyal to the product. Its users would find moving to a competitor's product psychologically difficult. Unlike selling illicit drugs, marketing an addictive interface is legal, and the product is beneficial to its users; in another way, it is just like selling illicit drugs: extremely profitable.
     p.68, The Human Interface, Jef Raskin, ISBN: 0-2-1-37937-6, 2000

Comparing an interface to drugs, that'll get lots of hits from the .edu folks.

One thing I found interesting about the book is how hard it was to read. It is ironic that a book on making the user experience better was difficult to read. I don't think that I have a great vocabulary, but the word choice made reading this book difficult. Also, there was an extensive use of references to other sections in the book. Many times the usefulness of the reference could have been stated in a few words and the disruption to the reader would have been avoided. Overall this made the book hard to loose yourself in, and yes, I normally can loose myself in technical literature.

Overall, you should read this book if you deal with user interfaces. It is an important work by and important author on the subject. Although there are things I did not like, if I was teaching a class on user interface design it would be required reading. It takes focus to read, but is definitely worth the time invested.


posted Oct 18, 2005 | permanent link