Jump to content

Macintosh Human Interface Guidelines 1992: Difference between revisions

From RetroTechCollection
Auto-generated documentation page
 
P4 verification: turn document holder into a real documentation page (bibliographic detail from the printed copyright page, what it covers, explicit note that it is not a repair source, cluster links)
 
(One intermediate revision by the same user not shown)
Line 1: Line 1:
<pdf>File:Macintosh_Human_Interface_Guidelines_1992.pdf</pdf>
The '''Macintosh Human Interface Guidelines''' is '''Apple's own book''', '''&copy; 1992 Apple
Computer''', published by Addison-Wesley, '''398 pages'''. It carries Apple's standard manual
warranty text, which is how you can tell an Apple-authored Addison-Wesley title from a third-party one.


Download Macintosh Human Interface Guidelines 1992 here: [[File:Macintosh_Human_Interface_Guidelines_1992.pdf]]
== What it covers ==
Apple's definitive statement of how a Macintosh application should behave: the desktop metaphor,
direct manipulation, consistency, feedback and dialogue, forgiveness, and then the detailed
specification of menus, windows, dialogue boxes, controls, colour and language.
 
It matters to a repairer for one reason only: '''it is the manufacturer's account of correct
behaviour''', which is the baseline a software-side fault is judged against. If a machine's interface
behaves in a way this book says it should not, that is a fault; if it behaves the way this book
describes, it is not.
 
== This is not a repair source ==
This is a '''programming''' book. It contains '''no schematics, no parts lists, no component values,
no voltages, no connector pinouts and no service procedures''', and nothing in it should be cited for
a hardware figure. Apple's software documentation and its compiler manuals describe the machine as
the programmer sees it, which is not the machine the technician sees.
 
For hardware data use:
* [[:Category:Apple Service Source|Apple Service Source]] &mdash; Apple's own service manuals, module
  level: specifications, symptom charts, take-apart and module part numbers
* Apple's '''Developer Notes''' &mdash; the one class of Apple developer document that ''does'' carry
  rail currents, expansion-slot power budgets and connector pinouts. Several are held here, for
  example [[Macintosh IIci Developer Note]], [[Macintosh IIsi Developer Note]] and
  [[Macintosh LC 475 and Quadra 605 Developer Note]].
* [[Macintosh Repair & Upgrade Secrets]] and [[The Dead Mac Scrolls]] &mdash; component-level, for
  the compact Macs
 
 
== Related documents held here ==
* [[Macintosh System Software Users Guide 1988]] &mdash; Apple's user-facing account of the same system
* [[Technical Instroduction To The Macintosh Family 1987]] &mdash; Apple's technical introduction
 
<pdf> File:Macintosh_Human_Interface_Guidelines_1992.pdf </pdf>
 
Download: [[:File:Macintosh_Human_Interface_Guidelines_1992.pdf|Macintosh_Human_Interface_Guidelines_1992.pdf]] (89.5 MB)


[[Category:Apple Documentation]]
[[Category:Apple Programming Documentation]]
[[Category:Apple Programming Documentation]]

Latest revision as of 08:42, 25 September 2026

The Macintosh Human Interface Guidelines is Apple's own book, © 1992 Apple Computer, published by Addison-Wesley, 398 pages. It carries Apple's standard manual warranty text, which is how you can tell an Apple-authored Addison-Wesley title from a third-party one.

What it covers

[edit | edit source]

Apple's definitive statement of how a Macintosh application should behave: the desktop metaphor, direct manipulation, consistency, feedback and dialogue, forgiveness, and then the detailed specification of menus, windows, dialogue boxes, controls, colour and language.

It matters to a repairer for one reason only: it is the manufacturer's account of correct behaviour, which is the baseline a software-side fault is judged against. If a machine's interface behaves in a way this book says it should not, that is a fault; if it behaves the way this book describes, it is not.

This is not a repair source

[edit | edit source]

This is a programming book. It contains no schematics, no parts lists, no component values, no voltages, no connector pinouts and no service procedures, and nothing in it should be cited for a hardware figure. Apple's software documentation and its compiler manuals describe the machine as the programmer sees it, which is not the machine the technician sees.

For hardware data use:

 level: specifications, symptom charts, take-apart and module part numbers
  • Apple's Developer Notes — the one class of Apple developer document that does carry
 rail currents, expansion-slot power budgets and connector pinouts. Several are held here, for
 example Macintosh IIci Developer Note, Macintosh IIsi Developer Note and
 Macintosh LC 475 and Quadra 605 Developer Note.
 the compact Macs


[edit | edit source]

Download: Macintosh_Human_Interface_Guidelines_1992.pdf (89.5 MB)