Jef Raskin Quotes

• As far as the customer is concerned, the interface is the product.

  Jef Raskin

  Educational, Design, Experience

  Jef Raskin (2000). “The Humane Interface: New Directions for Designing Interactive Systems”, p.5, Addison-Wesley Professional

  46 Copy quote

• A well-designed and humane interface does not have to be split into beginner and expert subsystems.

  Jef Raskin

  Simplicity, Design, Experts

  "The Humane Interface: New Directions for Designing Interactive Systems".

  18 Copy quote

• What users want is convenience and results.

  Jef Raskin

  Design, Want, Results

  Jef Raskin (2000). “The Humane Interface: New Directions for Designing Interactive Systems”, p.5, Addison-Wesley Professional

  9 Copy quote

• A computer shall not harm your work or, through inaction, allow your work to come to harm.

  Jef Raskin

  Computer, Harm, Inaction

  Jef Raskin (2000). “The Humane Interface: New Directions for Designing Interactive Systems”, p.6, Addison-Wesley Professional

  12 Copy quote

• An interface is humane if it is responsive to human needs and considerate of human frailties.

  Jef Raskin

  Needs, Frailty, Considerate

  Jef Raskin (2000). “The Humane Interface: New Directions for Designing Interactive Systems”, p.6, Addison-Wesley Professional

  12 Copy quote

• Users do not care about what is inside the box, as long as the box does what they need done.

  Jef Raskin

  Long, Doe, Needs

  Jef Raskin (2000). “The Humane Interface: New Directions for Designing Interactive Systems”, p.5, Addison-Wesley Professional

  9 Copy quote

• A computer shall not waste your time or require you to do more work than is strictly necessary.

  Jef Raskin

  Waste, Computer

  Jef Raskin (2000). “The Humane Interface: New Directions for Designing Interactive Systems”, p.6, Addison-Wesley Professional

  9 Copy quote

• If I had not studied music, there would be no Macintosh computers today.

  Jef Raskin

  Would Be, Today, Computer

  8 Copy quote

• Imagine if every Thursday your shoes exploded if you tied them the usual way. This happens to us all the time with computers, and nobody thinks of complaining.

  Jef Raskin

  Funny, Time, Humor

  "The Mammoth Book of Zingers, Quips, and One-Liners". Book by Geoff Tibballs (p. 128), 2004.

  20 Copy quote

• If our field is "to advance", we must - without displacing creativity and aesthetics - make sure our terminology is clear.

  Jef Raskin

  Creativity, Design, Fields

  17 Copy quote

• When you have to choose among methods, your locus of attention is drawn from the task and temporarily becomes the decision itself.

  Jef Raskin

  Decision, Tasks, Attention

  Jef Raskin (2000). “The Humane Interface: New Directions for Designing Interactive Systems”, p.67, Addison-Wesley Professional

  8 Copy quote

• Once the product's task is known, design the interface first; then implement to the interface design.

  Jef Raskin

  Design, Tasks, Firsts

  Jef Raskin (2000). “The Humane Interface: New Directions for Designing Interactive Systems”, p.5, Addison-Wesley Professional

  9 Copy quote

• I am confident that we can do better than GUIs because the basic problem with them (and with the Linux and Unix interfaces) is that they ask a human being to do things that we know experimentally humans cannot do well. The question I asked myself is, given everything we know about how the human mind works, could we design a computer and computer software so that we can work with the least confusion and greatest efficiency?

  Jef Raskin

  Confusion, Design, Mind

  9 Copy quote

• An unlimited-length file name is a file. The content of a file is its own best name.

  Jef Raskin

  Names, Length, Unlimited

  "The Humane Interface". Book by Jef Raskin, 2001.

  10 Copy quote

• What I proposed was a computer that would be easy to use, mix text and graphics, and sell for about $1,000. Steve Jobs said that it was a crazy idea, that it would never sell, and we didn't want anything like it. He tried to shoot the project down.

  Jef Raskin

  Jobs, Crazy, Ideas

  9 Copy quote

• The system should treat all user input as sacred.

  Jef Raskin

  Input, Sacred, Should

  Jef Raskin (2000). “The Humane Interface: New Directions for Designing Interactive Systems”, p.6, Addison-Wesley Professional

  9 Copy quote

• If I am correct, the use of a product based on modelessness and monoty would soon become so habitual as to be nearly addictive, leading to a user population devoted to and loyal to the product.

  Jef Raskin

  Population, Use, Loyal

  Jef Raskin (2000). “The Humane Interface: New Directions for Designing Interactive Systems”, p.68, Addison-Wesley Professional

  8 Copy quote

• Right now, computers, which are supposed to be our servant, are oppressing us.

  Jef Raskin

  Computer, Classroom, Servant

  "The Macintosh at 20: Interview with Jef Raskin". Interview with Berkeley Groks, grokscience.wordpress.com. March 3, 2004.

  10 Copy quote

• I hate mice. The mouse involves you in arm motions that slow you down. I didn't want it on the Macintosh, but Jobs insisted. In those days, what he said went, good idea or not.

  Jef Raskin

  Jobs, Hate, Ideas

  "Programmers At Work". Book by Susan M. Lammers, 1986.

  5 Copy quote

• I am only a footnote, but proud of the footnote I have become. My subsequent work on eliciting principles and developing the theory of interface design, so that many people will be able to do what I did is probably also footnote-worthy. In looking back at this turn-of-the-century period, the rise of a worldwide network will be seen as the most significant part of the computer revolution.

  Jef Raskin

  People, Design, Principles

  Interview in "The Guardian", October 21, 2004.

  18 Copy quote

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