{"id":140842,"date":"2025-09-12T11:00:49","date_gmt":"2025-09-12T11:00:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ushopwell.com\/ublog\/jef-raskins-cul-de-sac-and-the-quest-for-the-humane-computer\/"},"modified":"2025-09-12T11:00:49","modified_gmt":"2025-09-12T11:00:49","slug":"jef-raskins-cul-de-sac-and-the-quest-for-the-humane-computer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ushopwell.com\/ublog\/jef-raskins-cul-de-sac-and-the-quest-for-the-humane-computer\/","title":{"rendered":"Jef Raskin\u2019s cul-de-sac and the quest for the humane computer"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>\n<p>Consider the cul-de-sac. It leads off the main street past buildings of might-have-been to a dead-end disconnected from the beaten path. Computing history, of course, is filled with such terminal diversions, most never to be fully realized, and many for good reason. Particularly when it comes to user interfaces and how humans interact with computers, a lot of wild ideas deserved the obscure burials they got.<\/p>\n<p>But some deserved better. Nearly every aspiring interface designer believed the way we were forced to interact with computers was limiting and frustrating, but one man in particular felt the emphasis on design itself missed the forest for the trees. Rather than drowning in visual metaphors or arcane iconographies doomed to be as complex as the systems they represented, the way we deal and interact with computers should stress functionality first, simultaneously considering both what users need to do and the cognitive limits they have. It was no longer enough that an interface be usable by a human\u2014it must be <em>humane<\/em> as well.<\/p>\n<p>What might a computer interface based on those principles look like? As it turns out, we already know.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/arstechnica.com\/gadgets\/2025\/09\/jef-raskins-cul-de-sac-and-the-quest-for-the-humane-computer\/\">Read full article<\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/arstechnica.com\/gadgets\/2025\/09\/jef-raskins-cul-de-sac-and-the-quest-for-the-humane-computer\/#comments\">Comments<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p class=\"wpematico_credit\"><small>Powered by <a href=\"http:\/\/www.wpematico.com\" target=\"_blank\">WPeMatico<\/a><\/small><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Consider the cul-de-sac. It leads off the main street past buildings of might-have-been to a dead-end disconnected from the beaten path. Computing history, of course, is filled with such terminal diversions, most never to be fully realized, and many for good reason. Particularly when it comes to user interfaces and how humans interact with computers, a lot of wild ideas deserved the obscure burials they got. But some deserved better&#8230;.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","tve_updated_post":"","tve_custom_css":"","tve_user_custom_css":"","tve_globals":{},"tcb2_ready":0,"tcb_editor_enabled":0,"tve_landing_page":"","_tve_header":"","_tve_footer":""},"categories":[241],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-140842","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-technology"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.5 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Jef Raskin\u2019s cul-de-sac and the quest for the humane computer - UshopWell.com<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/ushopwell.com\/ublog\/jef-raskins-cul-de-sac-and-the-quest-for-the-humane-computer\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Jef Raskin\u2019s cul-de-sac and the quest for the humane computer - UshopWell.com\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Consider the cul-de-sac. It leads off the main street past buildings of might-have-been to a dead-end disconnected from the beaten path. Computing history, of course, is filled with such terminal diversions, most never to be fully realized, and many for good reason. Particularly when it comes to user interfaces and how humans interact with computers, a lot of wild ideas deserved the obscure burials they got. But some deserved better....\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/ushopwell.com\/ublog\/jef-raskins-cul-de-sac-and-the-quest-for-the-humane-computer\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"UshopWell.com\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-09-12T11:00:49+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"UShopWell\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"UShopWell\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ushopwell.com\\\/ublog\\\/jef-raskins-cul-de-sac-and-the-quest-for-the-humane-computer\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ushopwell.com\\\/ublog\\\/jef-raskins-cul-de-sac-and-the-quest-for-the-humane-computer\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"UShopWell\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ushopwell.com\\\/ublog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/6fd1f9e0ff932e534c86c70d5acff0fc\"},\"headline\":\"Jef Raskin\u2019s cul-de-sac and the quest for the humane computer\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-09-12T11:00:49+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ushopwell.com\\\/ublog\\\/jef-raskins-cul-de-sac-and-the-quest-for-the-humane-computer\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":206,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ushopwell.com\\\/ublog\\\/#organization\"},\"articleSection\":[\"Technology\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ushopwell.com\\\/ublog\\\/jef-raskins-cul-de-sac-and-the-quest-for-the-humane-computer\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ushopwell.com\\\/ublog\\\/jef-raskins-cul-de-sac-and-the-quest-for-the-humane-computer\\\/\",\"name\":\"Jef Raskin\u2019s cul-de-sac and the quest for the humane computer - UshopWell.com\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ushopwell.com\\\/ublog\\\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2025-09-12T11:00:49+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ushopwell.com\\\/ublog\\\/jef-raskins-cul-de-sac-and-the-quest-for-the-humane-computer\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/ushopwell.com\\\/ublog\\\/jef-raskins-cul-de-sac-and-the-quest-for-the-humane-computer\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ushopwell.com\\\/ublog\\\/jef-raskins-cul-de-sac-and-the-quest-for-the-humane-computer\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ushopwell.com\\\/ublog\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Jef Raskin\u2019s cul-de-sac and the quest for the humane computer\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ushopwell.com\\\/ublog\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ushopwell.com\\\/ublog\\\/\",\"name\":\"UshopWell.com\",\"description\":\"The Premiere Online Marketplace\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ushopwell.com\\\/ublog\\\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ushopwell.com\\\/ublog\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ushopwell.com\\\/ublog\\\/#organization\",\"name\":\"UshopWell\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ushopwell.com\\\/ublog\\\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ushopwell.com\\\/ublog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ushopwell.com\\\/ublog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2018\\\/01\\\/pandaSwea.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ushopwell.com\\\/ublog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2018\\\/01\\\/pandaSwea.png\",\"width\":365,\"height\":359,\"caption\":\"UshopWell\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ushopwell.com\\\/ublog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\"}},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ushopwell.com\\\/ublog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/6fd1f9e0ff932e534c86c70d5acff0fc\",\"name\":\"UShopWell\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/4adb372cadd43b4d4c57964dab95b0f69618bf960d131c4acf49d96d6bbc9c6e?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/4adb372cadd43b4d4c57964dab95b0f69618bf960d131c4acf49d96d6bbc9c6e?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/4adb372cadd43b4d4c57964dab95b0f69618bf960d131c4acf49d96d6bbc9c6e?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"UShopWell\"},\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ushopwell.com\\\/ublog\\\/author\\\/kburnettu\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Jef Raskin\u2019s cul-de-sac and the quest for the humane computer - UshopWell.com","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/ushopwell.com\/ublog\/jef-raskins-cul-de-sac-and-the-quest-for-the-humane-computer\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Jef Raskin\u2019s cul-de-sac and the quest for the humane computer - UshopWell.com","og_description":"Consider the cul-de-sac. It leads off the main street past buildings of might-have-been to a dead-end disconnected from the beaten path. Computing history, of course, is filled with such terminal diversions, most never to be fully realized, and many for good reason. Particularly when it comes to user interfaces and how humans interact with computers, a lot of wild ideas deserved the obscure burials they got. But some deserved better....","og_url":"https:\/\/ushopwell.com\/ublog\/jef-raskins-cul-de-sac-and-the-quest-for-the-humane-computer\/","og_site_name":"UshopWell.com","article_published_time":"2025-09-12T11:00:49+00:00","author":"UShopWell","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"UShopWell","Est. reading time":"1 minute"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/ushopwell.com\/ublog\/jef-raskins-cul-de-sac-and-the-quest-for-the-humane-computer\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/ushopwell.com\/ublog\/jef-raskins-cul-de-sac-and-the-quest-for-the-humane-computer\/"},"author":{"name":"UShopWell","@id":"https:\/\/ushopwell.com\/ublog\/#\/schema\/person\/6fd1f9e0ff932e534c86c70d5acff0fc"},"headline":"Jef Raskin\u2019s cul-de-sac and the quest for the humane computer","datePublished":"2025-09-12T11:00:49+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/ushopwell.com\/ublog\/jef-raskins-cul-de-sac-and-the-quest-for-the-humane-computer\/"},"wordCount":206,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/ushopwell.com\/ublog\/#organization"},"articleSection":["Technology"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/ushopwell.com\/ublog\/jef-raskins-cul-de-sac-and-the-quest-for-the-humane-computer\/","url":"https:\/\/ushopwell.com\/ublog\/jef-raskins-cul-de-sac-and-the-quest-for-the-humane-computer\/","name":"Jef Raskin\u2019s cul-de-sac and the quest for the humane computer - UshopWell.com","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/ushopwell.com\/ublog\/#website"},"datePublished":"2025-09-12T11:00:49+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/ushopwell.com\/ublog\/jef-raskins-cul-de-sac-and-the-quest-for-the-humane-computer\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/ushopwell.com\/ublog\/jef-raskins-cul-de-sac-and-the-quest-for-the-humane-computer\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/ushopwell.com\/ublog\/jef-raskins-cul-de-sac-and-the-quest-for-the-humane-computer\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/ushopwell.com\/ublog\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Jef Raskin\u2019s cul-de-sac and the quest for the humane computer"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/ushopwell.com\/ublog\/#website","url":"https:\/\/ushopwell.com\/ublog\/","name":"UshopWell.com","description":"The Premiere Online Marketplace","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/ushopwell.com\/ublog\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/ushopwell.com\/ublog\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/ushopwell.com\/ublog\/#organization","name":"UshopWell","url":"https:\/\/ushopwell.com\/ublog\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/ushopwell.com\/ublog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/ushopwell.com\/ublog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/pandaSwea.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/ushopwell.com\/ublog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/pandaSwea.png","width":365,"height":359,"caption":"UshopWell"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/ushopwell.com\/ublog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"}},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/ushopwell.com\/ublog\/#\/schema\/person\/6fd1f9e0ff932e534c86c70d5acff0fc","name":"UShopWell","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/4adb372cadd43b4d4c57964dab95b0f69618bf960d131c4acf49d96d6bbc9c6e?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/4adb372cadd43b4d4c57964dab95b0f69618bf960d131c4acf49d96d6bbc9c6e?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/4adb372cadd43b4d4c57964dab95b0f69618bf960d131c4acf49d96d6bbc9c6e?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"UShopWell"},"url":"https:\/\/ushopwell.com\/ublog\/author\/kburnettu\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ushopwell.com\/ublog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/140842","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ushopwell.com\/ublog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ushopwell.com\/ublog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ushopwell.com\/ublog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ushopwell.com\/ublog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=140842"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/ushopwell.com\/ublog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/140842\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ushopwell.com\/ublog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=140842"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ushopwell.com\/ublog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=140842"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ushopwell.com\/ublog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=140842"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}