{"id":251,"date":"2005-09-27T18:53:27","date_gmt":"2005-09-28T01:53:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.wiredatom.com\/blog\/?p=251"},"modified":"2005-11-01T00:56:31","modified_gmt":"2005-11-01T07:56:31","slug":"apple-listens","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.wiredatom.com\/blog\/2005\/09\/27\/apple-listens\/","title":{"rendered":"Between Apple and Jef Raskin"},"content":{"rendered":"

I was reading the wrong section<\/strong> of the required reading<\/a> from SCAD’s online class; but the reading turned out the be a pretty cool section on how users interface with keys. And then the author (Jef Raskin<\/a>) mentions something about the rationale for his design of one-button mouse:<\/p>\n

My design for an interface based on a one-button mouse was refined and extended in discussions with many coworkers… and many adjustments were made based on observations made during user testing and during subsequent development. Some users do have difficulty both holding down a button and simultaneously moving a graphical input device… In the Macintosh deign, the problem was alleviated by having only one large button on the mouse, with low holding force and good tactile feedback. (p. 209)<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

So there we have it. A design from the 80s was effectively (and stubbornly) carried out well into 2005. But here’s the fun part: even though the book was published in 2000, Jef Raskin had already conceived many of the ideas in the new mouse<\/a> that Apple introduced earlier this year.<\/p>\n

A better mouse might have two buttons on top… a “Grab” button on the side that is activated by squeezing the mouse… Some mice at present have a wheel on top that is used primarily for scrolling. Better still would be a small trackball in that location. The mouse would control the position of the curser; the trackball could be used, for example, to manipulation objects or to make selections from menus that float with the curser. (p. 209)<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Sound familiar? Here’s what Apple says about their mouse:<\/p>\n

Meet the mouse that reinvented the wheel. The scroll wheel, that is. At $49, Mighty Mouse features the revolutionary Scroll Ball that lets you move anywhere inside a document, without lifting a finger. And with touch-sensitive technology concealed under the seamless top shell, you get the programability of a four-button mouse in a single-button design. Click, roll, squeeze and scroll. This mouse just aced the maze. ((c) Apple Computer)<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Somebody give me $500,000 so that I can take the rest of the ideas in Jef Raskin’s book to market! I promise I won’t put all eggs in one basket.<\/p>\n

Another interesting fact is something I learned from the database class last night. Apparently the idea of a “database” was conceived by E.F. Codd<\/a> at IBM in the 70s. He published a paper that pretty much defined how all relational databases behaved today. But IBM didn’t really think the paper was worth the effort to development upon, so they simply shelved the idea (and there simply wasn’t enough computing power to run such design). So in the 80s, some guy<\/a> came along and decided to implement the ideas in E.F. Codd’s paper, and Oracle was born. And Oracle’s been kicking IBM’s ass in the database market ever since.<\/p>\n

Having good a idea ahead of its time<\/a> is a bitch.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I was reading the wrong section of the required reading from SCAD’s online class; but the reading turned out the be a pretty cool section on how users interface with keys. And then the author (Jef Raskin) mentions something about the rationale for his design of one-button mouse: My design for an interface based on … Continue reading “Between Apple and Jef Raskin”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[8,10],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-251","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-apple","category-geek-stuff"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p54IqZ-43","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wiredatom.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/251","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wiredatom.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wiredatom.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wiredatom.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wiredatom.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=251"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.wiredatom.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/251\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wiredatom.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=251"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wiredatom.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=251"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wiredatom.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=251"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}