The river of Apple's interface guidelines

The article identifies five surviving Apple Human Interface Guidelines snapshots from the 1982 Apple IIe manual to today’s multi-platform HIG, noting a 105% increase in documented content while its share of the manual dropped from 19.5% to 11.8%. It highlights the continued emphasis on simplicity, consistency, efficiency, learnability, low memory load, anticipation, and immediate feedback, and the addition of graphical principles such as metaphor, direct manipulation, see-and-point, forgiveness, visual stability, aesthetic integrity, plus expanded sections on user testing, accessibility, icon design, and language.