Overview
Most programmers' fear of user interface (UI) programming comes from their fear of doing UI design. They think that UI design is like graphic designthe mysterious process by which creative, latte-drinking, all-black-wearing people produce cool-looking, artistic pieces. Most programmers see themselves as analytic, logical thinkers insteadstrong at reasoning, weak on artistic judgment, and incapable of doing UI design. In this brilliantly readable book, author Joel Spolsky proposes simple, logical rules that can be applied without any artistic talent to improve any user interface, from traditional GUI applications to websites to consumer electronics. Spolkys primary axiom, the importance of bringing the program model in line with the user model, is both rational and simple. In a fun and entertaining way, Spolky makes UI design easy for programmers to grasp. After reading User Interface Design for Programmers, you'll know how to design interfaces with the user in mind. You'll learn the important principles that underlie all good UI design, and you'll learn how to perform usability testing that works.
Full Product Details
Author: Avram Joel Spolsky ,
Dave Winer
Publisher: APress
Imprint: APress
Edition: Softcover reprint of the original 1st ed.
Dimensions:
Width: 19.10cm
, Height: 1.30cm
, Length: 23.50cm
Weight: 0.490kg
ISBN: 9781893115941
ISBN 10: 1893115941
Pages: 144
Publication Date: 26 June 2001
Audience:
General/trade
,
General
Format: Paperback
Publisher's Status: Active
Availability: Awaiting stock
The supplier is currently out of stock of this item. It will be ordered for you and placed on backorder. Once it does come back in stock, we will ship it out for you.
Reviews
From the reviews: He picks apart commercial products from big companies, showing their UI mistakes. I love that. Dr. Dobb's Journal The author of a popular independent website gives you a book about what programmers need to know about user interface design. Spolsky concentrates especially on the common mistakes that too many programs exhibit. Most programmers dislike user interface programming, but this book makes it easy, straightforward, and fun. It is written with an audience of programmers in mind, but does not assume any prior programming knowledge nor any specific programming language. (Amazon.co.uk, April, 2001) This book offers many useful pointers on designing user interfaces which even experienced programmers should need. The 18 chapters cover topics ranging from effective use of colour to metaphors and usability testing. Underlined throughout is the most fundamental principle that a user interface is well designed when the program behaves how the user thought it would . The style is informal, humorous and anecdotal. There are numerous examples of design at its worst, each with an explanation of why the design is poor. (Richard Avery, The Computer Bulletin, March, 2002)
Author Information
Joel Spolsky, a software industry veteran, writes a column called Joel on Software on the Web (http://www.joel.editthispage.com). He has designed and developed software used by millions of people and has worked on a variety of products, from Microsoft Excel to the Juno user interface. He is a founder of Fog Creek Software in New York City.
