Synopses & Reviews
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.
Synopsis
- Author's Web site Joel on Software is among the most popular independent sites for programmers with between 5,000-15,000 page views daily. His site has been called the anti-Dilbert manifesto and quoted by Salon, Le Monde, The Motley Fool, and others. - Focuses on what programmers need to know about UI (User Interface) design, with numerous examples of how to improve common programs. - Written with an audience of programmers in mind, but does not assume prior programming knowledge, nor any specific language. - Limited competition to this book - what books are available are usually laundry lists of actual bugs or rants against bad UI or too focused solely on Web sites.