Susan Kare Explains Macintosh UI Ergonomics (1984) [video]
Macintosh was the first consumer oriented computer designed entirely around a graphical user interface. It's remarkable how little has changed in the basic design since 1984. This very young Susan Kare was Apple's graphical designer at the time and is responsible for all of its icons among other things, many which survive to this day.
The modern Macintosh Finder is a usability disaster compared to the original Macintosh Finder.
It’s amazing to me to hear the shift in American accents over time. I’ve very recently listened to some home videos of my mother talking in the early 80s and her accent is similarly different in the way that they all were then. To me when I hear it everyone sounds like they’re from a Woody Allen movie in their speech patterns. It’s not just word pronunciation, but also the cadence that has changed. I’d love to know how/why that happens.
I'm reminded that in the early days, Apple made an effort to personify the platform by referring to it as "Macintosh," not "THE Macintosh," as though one was referring to an individual with a proper name rather than an inanimate object. The early documentation (I still have the absolutely beautiful manual that came with my original 128k Mac) reflects this, with phrases like "learn about Macintosh"; "guided tour of Macintosh," etc.
Kare is using this careful personal phrasing in the video above.
I've always found it amusing that she got kare.com first, and the TV station down the street from her had to settle for kare11.com.
+1 for the nerds.
The clarity Susan Kare has introducing these brand new UI concepts is amazing. She's awesome.
Funny: starting the word processor was no instantaneous: https://youtu.be/x_q50tvbQm4?t=295 !
Too bad Gary Kildall couldn't make it - it would have been amazing to see the father of CP/M (and grandfather of PC-DOS) react to Susan Kare's excellent Mac UI demo and design commentary.
Also this is so different from (and much more relaxed than) a Steve Jobs presentation or interview, but still brilliant.
The Control Panel design is brilliant.
(And why doesn't modern macOS have a convenient way to change the cursor blink rate - and one that works consistently/reliably across applications including Terminal and Safari?)
It's interesting that an early world processor like LisaWrite included a ruler and how little it has changed over the years. Was this standard among word processors of 1984?
Aside: what 'real life' application used rulers in this fashion before word processors started using it?
Wow, is she really using the mouse at a 90 degree angle with no problems whatsoever?
Stewart Cheifet has repeatedly pointed out he prefers people to reference copies of Computer Chronicles on archive.org. Computer Chronicles is still under copyright and the Internet Archive has the only license to host it as a free[*] stream / download.
Here's the URL to the IA's copy of Jerry Manock and Susan Kare talking about the ergonomics of the Mac:
getting Bob Ross vibes from her voice