Dear Log,
I know Jef Raskin is supposed to be clever and anything (just ask him!), but I really really don't understand his T.H.E. thing. I just don't get it. I look and look and it still just looks like a retarded version of microemacs from 1987. Really not getting it here, folks.
Summary: They concentrated on editor stuff first because it's useful and important. The reason it looks like an editor now is because it isn't finished yet.
It took me way too long to find this document. I first looked in the "Specifications" document, trying to find out what the project was about. (I still don't know what the project is about.) Right at the top, it said:
For an overall definition of The Humane Environment (abbreviated THE), see "So The Humane Environment isn't an editor, what is it?" on www.jefraskin.com.
The URL wasn't complete, and it wasn't hotlinked. I typed it in and was treated to a gray page which informed me that I was being redirected to http://www.jefraskin.com (wasn't I already there?) and which then redirected me to http://humane.sourceforge.net/home/index.html, which was where I had just come from. Then I got to wander around until I found the document I was looking for.
There could have been a hotlink. Even if there wasn't a hotlink, the URL could have been complete. Even if the URL was still incomplete, it could have pointed to the right site.
If this is Jef Raskin's vaunted user interface design, I'll pass. I wanted to find out what the project was about, but it's just been too difficult.
