Canon Cat Documents Archive

by smalltalk • 15 years ago

33 8 15 years ago

I own two Canon Cats, which I bought after reading Jef Raskin's book The Humane Interface.

While technologically they are decades out of date, from a UX perspective, there is a lot to be learned from using one.

Some of the concepts, such as a document-oriented system that never requires the user to launch or quit an application, nor to "save" their work, would still represent a leap forward today.

I'd love to see a modern OS built with the concepts of a humane interface today. Even the iOS and Android systems carry legacies of the WIMP interface instead of Raskin's humane approach.

I've spoken at the BIL Conference about the idea of bringing Jef Raskin's (and others) ideas into the modern age: http://www.bilconference.com/videos/rethinking-modern-gui-ja...

This is a great historical repository, but worth reading for the ways some of the concepts can be used today.

And of course, anyone who's interested in what made the Cat special should read Jef Raskin's book: http://www.amazon.com/Humane-Interface-Directions-Designing-...

Samuel_Michon• 15 years ago

"a document-oriented system that never requires the user to launch or quit an application, nor to "save" their work, would still represent a leap forward today."

Have you looked at iOS or Mac OS X Lion?

jaysonelliot3• 15 years ago

Yes, I use iOS regularly on the iPad and iPhone.

While saving work is thankfully disappearing as a paradigm in iOS (I don't use Lion, so don't know), it's still application-based, meaning that if there's a tool I like in one app, I don't have access to it unless that app is open, and I can't call the tool up on its own.

iOS is a major leap forward, but at its heart, it's still more suited to consumption than creation.

kylecordes• 15 years ago

The linked file would be easier to look at if they were direct links to actual downloads, rather than links to DropBox pages. The would also last much longer, most likely; this page will probably stop working sometime in the next couple years when DropBox reorganizes something, gets bought, buys, or whatever.

jaysonelliot3• 15 years ago

Good point. I frequent the Canon Cat group - http://groups.google.com/group/canon-cat/topics?hl=en&gv...

I'll mention this to the community and see if these files can get a longer-lasting distribution mechanism.

smalltalk• 15 years ago

I'd be happy to have the files hosted somewhere else, but don't have any other option myself.

michaelpinto• 15 years ago

Some background info on Jef Raskin: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jef_Raskin

dahjelle• 15 years ago

It looks like the links busted already…does anyone know of a mirror?

Canon Cat Documents Archive

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