Raskin Quotes & Sayings

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

She could have been an interior decorator, a good one, too, if it wasn't for the pressing demands of so on and so forth. — Ellen Raskin

Grace said,"Dr. Wexler was called away on an emergency operation."
"An emergency Packers game in Green Bay," Turtle confided to Flora Baumbach. — Ellen Raskin

Hi Sandy, I won! — Ellen Raskin

When you are solving a difficult problem re-ask the problem so that your solution helps you learn faster. Find a faster way to fail, recover, and try again. If the problem you are trying to solve involves creating a magnum opus, you are solving the wrong problem. — Aza Raskin

Who were these people, these specially selected tenants? They were mothers and fathers and children. A dressmaker, a secretary, an inventor, a doctor, a judge. And, oh yes, one was a bookie, one was a burglar, one was a bomber, and one was a mistake. — Ellen Raskin

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

Sunset Towers faced east and had no towers. — Ellen Raskin

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

Design is the beauty of turning constraints into advantages. — Aza Raskin

An unlimited-length file name is a file. The content of a file is its own best name. — Jef Raskin

Life, too, is senseless unless you know who you are, what you want, and which way the wind blows. — Ellen Raskin

Your trouble comes from years of wearing the wrong kind of shoes. - Jake Wexler — Ellen Raskin

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

A well-designed and humane interface does not need to be split into beginner and expert subsystems. — Jef Raskin

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

Jake Wexler, standing or sitting when not lying down — Ellen Raskin

Human logic [emphasis added] was forced on us by the physical world and is therefore consistent with it. Mathematics derives from logic. This is why mathematics is consistent with the physical world. — Jef Raskin

Smiling without good reason is demeaning. — Ellen Raskin

Right now, computers, which are supposed to be our servant, are oppressing us. — Jef Raskin

You can't read my shorthand because I wrote in Polish. — Ellen Raskin

Friday was back to normal, if the actions of suspicious would-be heirs competing for a two-hundred-million-dollar prize could be considered normal. — Ellen Raskin

What users want is convenience and results. — Jef Raskin

You can never let your data dictate design. If you do, you end up following what people currently do and never innovating. — Aza Raskin

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

Angela could not be the bomber, not that sweet, pretty thing. Thing? Is that how she regarded that young woman, as a thing? And what had she ever said to her except "I hear you're getting married, Angela" or "How pretty you look, Angela." Had anyone asked her about her ideas, her hopes, her plans? If I had been treated like that I'd have used dynamite, not fireworks; no, I would have just walked out and kept right on going. But Angela was different. — Ellen Raskin

The planetary phase of history has begun, but the future shape of global society remains profoundly uncertain. Though perhaps improbable, a shift toward a planetary civilization of enriched lives, human solidarity, and environmental sustainability is still possible. — Paul Raskin

A computer shall not harm your work or, through inaction, allow your work to come to harm. — Jef Raskin

The sun sets in the west (just about everyone knows that), but Sunset Towers faced east. Strange! — Ellen Raskin

Never use a warning when you mean undo. — Aza Raskin

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

Your first try will be wrong. Budget and design for it. — Aza Raskin

Grace sat down where the chair wasn't. — Ellen Raskin

The government of Brazil had publicly proposed brokering a settlement between the United States and Cuba; Raskin, never afraid to speak his mind, suggested that the White House consider the offer. "Oh, no," Bundy said. "It'll take just one detachment and he'll be out of there. — Seymour M. Hersh

Every time you make the user make a decision they don't care about, you have failed as a designer. — Aza Raskin

I can write about images from my own childhood for children today. I wasn't sure I could do this, but there was no way out; I had to use the images from my own childhood, because the child I was is the only child I really know. — Ellen Raskin

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

If I had not studied music, there would be no Macintosh computers today. — Jef Raskin

Can you stand on your legs?" Sydelle Pulaski asked. "Can you walk at all?"
People never asked Chris those questions; they whispered them to his parents behind his back. "N-n-no. Why?"
"What better disguise for a thief or a murderer than a wheelchair, the perfect alibi."
Chris enjoyed being taken for the criminal type. Now they really were friends. — Ellen Raskin

Sandy fidgeted with his pen. "There's something I didn't write down. Maybe I shouldn't tell you, you being a judge and all, but, well, Jake Wexler ... he's a bookie."
No, he should not have told her. "A small-time operator, I'm sure, Mr. McSouthers," the judge replied coldly. "It can have no bearing on the matter before us. Sam Westing manipulated people, cheated workers, bribed officials, stole ideas, but Sam Westing never smoked or drank or placed a bet. Give me a bookie any day over such a fine, upstanding, clean-living man. — Ellen Raskin

As far as the customer is concerned, the interface is the product. — Jef Raskin

The poor are crazy, the rich just eccentric. - James Shin Hoo — Ellen Raskin

An interface is humane if it is responsive to human needs and considerate of human frailties. — Jef Raskin

Angela Wexler, person — Ellen Raskin

Hey Chris, bet you don't know the Latin name of the red-headed woodpecker.
That was a hard one. Chris had to say Melanerpes erythrocephalus very slowly. — Ellen Raskin

To the user, the interface is the product. — Aza Raskin

I remember the will said, 'May God thy gold refine.' That must be from the Bible."
"Shakespeare," Turtle said. All quotations were either from the Bible or Shakespeare. — Ellen Raskin

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

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

Death is senseless yet makes way for the living. — Ellen Raskin

I try to say one thing with my work: A book is a wonderful place to be. A book is a package, a gift package, a surprise package-and within the wrappings is a whole new world and beyond. — Ellen Raskin

The system should treat all user input as sacred. — Jef Raskin

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

Scotty heard that I was thinking about quitting Apple because of his actions, so he called me into his office and asked what it would take for me to stay? I said, maybe if I could work on the Mac project, which Steve had just taken over from Jef Raskin. — Andy Hertzfeld

When I'm hiring, I don't look for credentials, I look for knowledge. — Aza Raskin