Retroapplequickdrawinterface-history
A No-Parking Sign Helped Convince Apple to Draw Rounded Rectangles
Andy Hertzfeld recalls the walk that turned Bill Atkinson’s rejected feature into a fast LisaGraf primitive.
Bill Atkinson had made the computer draw ovals quickly. Steve Jobs wanted rounded rectangles too. The argument eventually required a walk around the block.
Hertzfeld’s account places the exchange in May 1981, when QuickDraw was still called LisaGraf. Atkinson had found a way to draw ovals with addition and subtraction, avoiding more expensive arithmetic on the processor.
Jobs pointed to tables, a whiteboard, and shapes outside. A no-parking sign supplied the final nudge. Hertzfeld quotes Atkinson: “I’ll see if it’s as hard as I thought.”
The next afternoon, Atkinson returned with rounded rectangles drawing nearly as fast as plain ones. The routine was named RoundRects. A design request had gone from implausible to implemented between two office visits.
The next design debate might benefit from leaving the screen for five minutes, provided somebody comes back willing to measure the idea.