GUI Bloopers: Don'ts and Do's for Software Developers and Web Designers (Interactive Technologies) - Softcover

Johnson PhD, Jeff

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1558605827 ISBN 13: 9781558605824

Publisher: Morgan Kaufmann, 2000

Synopsis

GUI Bloopers looks at user interface design bloopers from commercial software, Web sites, and information appliances, explaining how intelligent, well-intentioned professionals made these dreadful mistakes--and how you can avoid them. While equipping you with all the theory needed to learn from these examples, GUI expert Jeff Johnson also presents the reality of interface design in an entertaining, anecdotal, and instructive way.

This is an excellent, well-illustrated resource for anyone whose work touches on usability issues, including software engineers, Web site designers, managers of development processes, QA professionals, and usability professionals.Hear Jeff Johnson's interview podcast on software and website usability at the University of Canterbury (25 min.)

* Takes a learn-by-example approach that teaches you to avoid common errors by asking the appropriate questions of your own interface designs.* Includes two complete war stories, drawn from the author's personal experience, that describe in detail the challenges faced by UI engineers.* Covers bloopers in a wide range of categories: GUI components, layout and appearance, text messages, interaction strategies, Web site design, responsiveness issues, management decision-making, and even more at www.GUI-bloopers.com.* Organized and formatted based on the results of its own usability testing--so you can quickly find the information you need, packaged in easily digested pieces.*Announcing the sequel: Web Bloopers. Totally devoted to the Web. Go to www.web-bloopers.com.

About this title

About the Author

Jeff Johnson is an Assistant Professor of Computer Science at the University of San Francisco. He is also a principal at Wiser Usability, a consultancy focused on elder usability. After earning B.A. and Ph.D. degrees from Yale and Stanford, he worked as a UI designer, implementer, manager, usability tester, and researcher at Cromemco, Xerox, US West, Hewlett-Packard, and Sun. He has taught at Stanford, Mills, and the University of Canterbury. He is a member of the ACM SIGCHI Academy and a recipient of SIGCHI's Lifetime Achievement in Practice Award. He has authored articles on a variety of topics in HCI, as well as the books GUI Bloopers (1st and 2nd eds.), Web Bloopers, Designing with the Mind in Mind (1st and 2nd eds.), Conceptual Models: Core to Good Design (with Austin Henderson), and Designing User Interfaces for an Aging Population (with Kate Finn).

From the Back Cover

"Better read this book, or your design will be featured in Bloopers II. Seriously, bloopers may be fun in Hollywood outtakes, but no movie director would include them in the final film. So why do we find so many bloopers in shipped software? Follow Jeff Johnson as he leads the blooper patrol deep into enemy territory: he takes no prisoners but reveals all the design stupidities that users have been cursing over the years."

-Jakob NielsenUsability Guru, Nielsen Norman Group

"If you are a software developer, read this book, especially if you don't think you need it. Don't worry, it isn't filled with abstract and useless theory--this is a book for doers, code writers, and those in the front trenches. Buy it, read it, and take two sections daily."

-Don NormanPresident, UNext Learning Systems

GUI Bloopers looks at user interface design bloopers from commercial software, Web sites, and information appliances, explaining how intelligent, well-intentioned professionals made these dreadful mistakes--and how you can avoid them. While equipping you with all the theory needed to learn from these examples, GUI expert Jeff Johnson also presents the reality of interface design in an entertaining, anecdotal, and instructive way.

This is an excellent, well-illustrated resource for anyone whose work touches on usability issues, including software engineers, Web site designers, managers of development processes, QA professionals, and usability professionals.

Features

• Takes a learn-by-example approach that teaches you to avoid common errors by asking the appropriate questions of your own interface designs.
• Includes two complete war stories, drawn from the author's personal experience, that describe in detail the challenges faced by UI engineers.
• Covers bloopers in a wide range of categories: GUI components, layout and appearance, text messages, interaction strategies, Web site design, responsiveness issues, management decision-making, and even more at www.GUI-bloopers.com.
• Organized and formatted based on the results of its own usability testing--so you can quickly find the information you need, packaged in easily digested pieces.

Edition details

• Publisher: Morgan Kaufmann
• Publication date: 2000
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1558605827
• ISBN 13: 9781558605824
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 576