Home
From Raskin Center
The Raskin Center for Humane Interfaces (RCHI) is a group of people working to design and build ways of interacting with computers starting from an understanding of the needs and frailties of the human mind. Archy is a prototype computing environment based on years of research about this, largly on Jef Raskin's book "The Humane Interface".
With Archy, you would do what you want -- send email, write a book, make calculations, manipulate pictures, etc. -- directly, without switching applications or searching for files. Your work would never be lost, and you would be faster and more productive than with current systems. You would see only your content, zoom into content you wish to modify, and modify it by issuing commands. No launching applications, searching through a maze of menus, remembering filenames, saving files, or waiting.
At the moment, Archy is prototype (alpha) software used with the current mess of desktop, windows, applications and files. It has bugs, quirks, and a long way to go. But it is an exciting start! Try it!
Sections |
15 December 2005: Archy Alpha build 124 is released
Archy Alpha, build 124 is released. The biggest changes in this release:
- Improved transparent message/commands appearance
- Separate characters for the document and page symbols, so that grave and tilde characters can be used in text, using the GRAVE and TILDE commands which were added per the specification. But the grave and tilde characters are still not leapable.
- The default Windows distribution contains the latest PyGame library (version 1.7.1) which fixes a few font bugs that were causing Archy to crash on startup.
- Active development switched to a new code branch called "Scroll", with the goal to redesign Archy's data engine by porting Archy to an Object-Oriented database. This is expected to resolve scalability problems, add support for types of data other than text--images, sounds, HTML, etc., and make it easier to further develop and extend Archy. Because of the lack of development resources this unfortunately means that there will be no new Archy releases for at least 3 months, unless new developers join the project.
Development
Archy is source-available software, developed by a volunteer team -- join us! It was built from the ground up, originally as a closed product (see History). The new team includes some of the original developers.
Please download and try the latest release, and let us know what you think. We actively solicit your ideas and bug reports.
We discuss Archy at several places:
- Archy Development summary wiki
- Forums
- Mailing list -- feel free to write to the list, read what we have discussed, and subscribe to receive new emails sent to the list.
- Monotony in The Humane Interface
- ZUI Specification
- Undecided design issues to test
- ZUI materials
The Archy web site is a wiki: anyone who logs in can improve it, without much knowledge of HTML. Don't hesitate to do so -- others will review your changes and (if necessary) correct them. When you log in, use the "Editing tools" on the left of every page. Let us know what you think about the site.
Archy releases are numbered using build numbers created by Subversion, not in the traditional number.number notation. This is done to avoid creating a false impression about Archy's readiness. It is difficult to have a schedule for such a research-based, community-driven project.
Feel free to take Archy apart, try out new ideas, create Archy-based applications that utilize the Humane Interface principles. We would be thrilled to learn about some clever Archy-related hacks (and silly ones too!). Are you interested in creating better computer interfaces? You are in the right place. Let's work and have fun together--join the Archy community.
Humanized.com
The original members of RCHI are pleased to announce the public website of their new company, Humanized.com. The company is working on a product that takes some of the most humane elements of Archy and applies them to making Microsoft Windows (and eventually all major operating systems) more humane. The web site provides computer users and interface designers a resource for finding and understanding humane interfaces.
A key component of this website is the Humanized Weblog, where individuals concerned with making the computer experience better can read and respond to articles about topics ranging from stoves to voice mail, computer preferences, software development, and more. "The goal of the weblog," said Vice President Atul Varma, "is threefold: to serve as a place where consumers can come to find usability-oriented product reviews and advice; to serve as a repository where aspiring user interface designers can find educational material on design fundamentals; and lastly, to serve as a forum where user interface professionals can find and contribute to thought-provoking commentary on the state of the field today."
Take a look at the first steps of Humanized computing, computing that follows the vision of Jef Raskin's work. Those are the first steps of bringing an Archy-like interfaces to everyone.
Jef Raskin's The Humane Interface
The Humane Interface is Jef Raskin's book about human interface design. It explains the principles and concepts that guide our development of Archy. Summary - Review - Buy on Amazon
Published in April, 2000, the book had its 4th English-language printing in February, 2003. There are Chinese, Japanese, German, Spanish, and Russian editions, and is being translated into French, Italian, Korean, and Dutch, with other translations planned. As of February, 2003, it was in use as a text or required reading at over 100 universities and colleges.