User Interface Design for Programmers
- 2h 14m
- Joel Spolsky
- Apress
- 2001
- No prior programming experience needed nor knowledge of a specific programming language
- Learn to understand end users and design programs with them in mind
- Acquire the important principles that underlie all good user interface design
- Written by a software veteran and creator of Joel on Software, on of the most popular independent Web sites programmers
Most programmers fear of user interface (UI) programming comes from their fear of doing UI design. They think that UI design is like graphic design, the mysterious process by which creative, latte-drinking, all-black wearing people produce cool-looking artistic pieces. Most programmers see themselves as analytic, logical thinkers instead—strong at reasoning, weak on artistic judgment and incapable of doing UI design.
In this brilliantly readable book, Joel Spolsky proposes simple, logical rules that can be applied without any artistic talent to improve any user interface, from traditional GUI applications to Web sites to consumer electronics. Spolsky’s 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, Spolsky makes UI design easy for programmers to grasp. After reading User Interface Design for Programmers, programmers will know how to design interfaces with the user in mind. They’ll learn the important principles that underlie all good UI design. They’ll also learn how to do usability testing that works.
About the Author
Joel Spolsky, a software industry veteran, writes a Web log called Joel on Software that is one of the most popular independent Web sites for programmers. His site has been described as the “anti-Dilbert manifesto.” Spolsky 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 the founder of Fog Creek Software in New York City.
In this Book
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Controlling Your Environment Makes You Happy
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Figuring Out What They Expected
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Choices
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Affordances and Metaphors
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Broken Metaphors
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Consistency and Other Hobgoblins
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Putting the User in Charge
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Design for Extremes
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People Can't Read
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People Can't Control the Mouse
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People Can't Remember
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The Process of Designing a Product
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Those Pesky Usability Tests
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Relativity—Understanding UI Time Warps
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But…How Do It Know?"
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Tricks of the Trade
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Designing for the Web
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Programming for Humans
