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@andy_matuschak

Following up: several people mentioned the original 1987 Apple Human Interface Guidelines, which I'd not read. It's not a comprehensive primer on interface design, but it is an extraordinary read—a huge amount of detail on *why* things are as they are. And a great bibliography!

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@andy_matuschak

· Sep 23, 2021

Why are there no "standard texts" on designing software interfaces? (or tell me I'm wrong?) If you want to learn to *build* software, there are excellent and complete texts on the subject. It's not just a tech-vs-art thing: there are standard texts on type, drawing, color, etc.

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@andy_matuschak

It's surprisingly difficult to find a PDF of the 1987 edition online, so here you go: andymatuschak.org/files/papers/A

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@andy_matuschak

If you've only read "modern" HIGs, I definitely recommend reading the 1987 edition! It's *very* different. It is amusingly difficult to imagine this passage in a contemporary Apple text.

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@andy_matuschak

Funny also to imagine this in a modern Apple text. One thing that really struck me at Apple was that none of my colleagues seemed to read for their work, either historic material or contemporary stuff. (Part of what was so interesting was that this often didn't seem to matter…)

3:50 AM · Oct 11, 2021Twitter Web App

@andy_matuschak

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@andy_matuschak

Oh my gosh, and there's a (pre-release) 1985 HIG that's quite different. It includes e.g. case studies (useful!), and an extended discussion of Jung's theories of intuition and how they should influence your designs (!!) mirrors.apple2.org.za/Apple%20II%20D (h/t

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@gonzalo__nunez

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@andy_matuschak

this bibliography goes hard af

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@andy_matuschak

There's six pages of this!

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@andy_matuschak

Guess I wasn’t a colleague ;)

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@andy_matuschak

I regret that we never got to collaborate in earnest!

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@andy_matuschak

I got the impression, with the 2000s revisions of the HIG, a lot more of the text went with "this is how Apple want you to do it" and less with "this is why it improves usability to do it like this". A lot of "so your app will be more popular" instead. Really interesting.

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@andy_matuschak

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@andy_matuschak

· Oct 11, 2021

It's surprisingly difficult to find a PDF of the 1987 edition online, so here you go: andymatuschak.org/files/papers/A

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@andy_matuschak

Digital creators are very a-historical (except video game designers! They play and study old games a lot) I insisted to set up a tech design history class for my students ("chair designers know chair design history! Architects know history!"): workflowy.com/s/strate-histo

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@andy_matuschak

Didn’t matter in what respect?

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@andy_matuschak

It often didn't seem to be inhibiting their creative work!

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