User Interface Design for Programmers
by Joel Spolsky
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Book Reviews of User Interface Design for Programmers
Book Review: The Title is Honest
Summary: 5 Stars
One of the first question I always notice about books: Is the title honest? For this book I can unabashedly say, Yes. This book is for programmers.
I've been a full time developer for just over 5 years. Making technology work is my game, but when it comes to designing UIs, it's more like random dart throwing and voodoo. But, considering some of the stuff I've seen other people put out. . . my stuff is not too bad! Still, I like doing a professional job and users expect programmers like us to know UI design-in spite of the fact most of us can't even draw decent stick figures!
The best thing about this book is Joel speaks my language. He makes art comprehensible to the techny. Not an easy accomplishment, but Joel is no ordinary guy either. He runs his own ISV in New York City and hosts one of the most popular software development blog sites around. (joelonsoftware.com) To survive financially in a place like NYC says something of his abilities. This book like his other writings bear that out: great concepts, great illustrations and well packaged thought.
One note, this book is about principles of design. It is not a quick how-to book. If you need some templates for a GUI project you are starting tomorrow, or need to know the ins/outs of a particular OS graphical system, this book isn't for you. But, if like me you've struggled with every new UI and are searching for guiding principles, this book is great!
Book Review: Microsoft what?
Summary: 2 Stars
if i had to use one word to describe this book it would be brevity. the chapters i cared about the most were more like quick summaries of 3 - 4 pages mixed with some large photos. i also didn't appreciate most of the examples being microsoft products. i realize they rule the world, but their software is pretty much all the same. i would have appreciated more examples. additionally, i have to design for pc and mac-based computers. this book is primarily for the pc user/programmer.i would have appreciated much more on how to design for the fringes (e.g., people with disabilities now constitute about 1/5 of the population). instead, i got 3 pages and a big 1/2 page picture of a cheese slicer. huh? and, it appears that nothing is based on actual research beyond the author's own experiences. i like a book that thoroughly reviews the research in the field and brings in the work of other experts to solidify positions and advice. that is quite missing here. his bibliography includes 6 books and no journal articles.
perhaps i was too generous with the 2 stars. perhaps, i just had different expectations and this book actually does what the author intended. who knows? it just didn't work for me.
Book Review: Short, sweet, succinct
Summary: 5 Stars
Most programmers hate user interface programming. They think UI design is in the realm of groovy graphic designers. But UI design is not art, it's just a set of rules. Joel Spolsky's cardinal axiom of all user interface design is to match your program model to the user model. In other words, your program should behave exactly as the user expects. If you can do that, and apply the other corollaries he provides, your program will be usable.In this 144 page color illustrated book, Spolsky shows you plenty of examples of what works, and what doesn't. You'll learn UI design rules you can apply to improve any user interface, from traditional GUI applications to Web sites to consumer electronics. Spolsky *sounds* like a programmer too, boiling things down to their essence with wonderful wit.
Even if you have the best algorithms in the world, if users can't figure out how to use your program, it's practically useless. Giving users what they expect makes learning your program that much easier. But how do you find out what the user model is? Ask them.
This is a great book written by an experienced software industry veteran. Recommended. From WebReference.com.
Book Review: Its a good book, but falls short.
Summary: 3 Stars
User Interface Design is a topic which I have always been interested in. I believe it was PCWorld Magazine that used to have a column dedicated to improving the design of a submitted interface, and there were many things I learned from that column. This book seems to work from the basis of that column, but doesn't go as far as I would have liked it to.There are many anecdotes included in the book, and they were very illustrative as to the problems people encounter when working with a badly designed interface. I especially liked the concept of the mile-high menu bar that Mac users have, and how that compares to the small footprint that a Windows user must target to open a menu.
Still, I was left wanting more. The book serves as a great introduction, but if you're already done some UI Design, you might already be familiar with most of what is explained in the book. The anecdotes are what really make the book appealing, but I wouldn't recommend purchasing the book just for those.
It's a good book, it just falls short of what it could have been.
Book Review: Enjoyable from Start to Finish
Summary: 5 Stars
It was a pleasure to read this book. Joel has an amazing writing style that is friendly, upbeat, funny, and insightful. While he clearly isn't the world's definitive expert on UI design, his years of real world experience and wealth of examples make this book both valuable and enjoyable. This has to be one of my favorite technical books.Joel's irreverent, tell-it-like-it-is, approach is part of the charm of this book. For example, chapter 10 is titled, "People Can't Control the Mouse" and chapter 13 is titled, "Those Pesky Usability Tests". From my years of software development in the games industry, many of his points on UI design hit home in a big way. I was actually shocked at how applicable the entire book was to game development. As a professional programmer, I felt the book was talking my language and completely in agreement with my own experiences.
The truth is that there are so many boring and questionable technical books out there, it's refreshing to read something that is so honest and dead-on right.