User Interface Design for Programmers

User Interface Design for Programmers

Released June 2001
Publisher(s): Apress
ISBN: 9781893115941

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Book description

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, 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. 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, Spolky makes user interface 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.

Table of contents

  1. Title Page
  2. Dedication
  3. Contents at a Glance
  4. Contents
  5. Foreword
  6. Introduction
  7. Acknowledgments
  8. CHAPTER 1: Controlling Your Environment Makes You Happy
  9. CHAPTER 2: Figuring Out What They Expected
    1. How Do I Know What the User Model Is?
    2. If Your Program Model Is Nontrivial, It's Probably Not the Same As the User Model
  10. CHAPTER 3: Choices
  11. CHAPTER 4: Affordances and Metaphors
    1. Affordances
    2. Tabbed Dialogs
  12. CHAPTER 5: Broken Metaphors
    1. Obeying Physics
    2. Multiple Rows of Tabs
    3. Those Pesky Navigation Tabs
  13. CHAPTER 6: Consistency and Other Hobgoblins
  14. CHAPTER 7: Putting the User in Charge
    1. Interactive Computing
  15. CHAPTER 8: Design for Extremes
  16. CHAPTER 9: People Can't Read
  17. CHAPTER 10: People Can't Control the Mouse
    1. Snap to Border
  18. CHAPTER 11: People Can't Remember
    1. Designing for People Who Have Better Things to Do with Their Lives, Redux
  19. CHAPTER 12: The Process of Designing a Product
    1. Imaginary Users
    2. Watch Out for Unintended Consequences
  20. CHAPTER 13: Those Pesky Usability Tests
    1. A Story of Silicon Jungle
    2. A Bitter Descent into Reality
  21. CHAPTER 14: Relativity: Understanding UI Time Warps
    1. Days Are Seconds
    2. Months Are Minutes
    3. Seconds Are Hours
  22. CHAPTER 15: But...How Do It Know?"
  23. CHAPTER 16: Tricks of the Trade
    1. Know How to Use Color
    2. Know How to Use Icons
    3. Know the Rules of Internationalization
  24. CHAPTER 17: Designing for the Web
    1. On the Web, Nobody Knows You're on the Moon
    2. HTML Is Not a Windowing System
    3. Use the Web Browser's UI
  25. CHAPTER 18: Programming for Humans
  26. Shockingly Selective Bibliography
  27. Index

Product information

  • Title: User Interface Design for Programmers
  • Author(s):
  • Release date: June 2001
  • Publisher(s): Apress
  • ISBN: 9781893115941