User Interface Design for Programmers
by Joel Spolsky
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Book Reviews of User Interface Design for Programmers
Book Review: Not as good as the website
Summary: 3 Stars
I'll admit that I have read Joel's book before .. on his website. Reading it in print was a different experience. Frankly, I expected MORE from something that I can sit on the toilet and read. It's written like a weblog .. which is fine for scrolling across the web, but I would agree with one of the other reviewers that the book is not so meaty as it could be .. and relies too heavily on anecdotes.Nonetheless, Joel's insight and matter-of-fact analysis is good, and can be used to effectively convey some basic UI concepts to programmers -- a species usually less than concerned with such issues. Indeed, I have (in a fit of frustrated anger) suggested that several programmers I've been working with take this book home with them one night and not return until it has been read cover-to-cover. It's a quick read, and a good way to hit someone on the head with the UI religion without too much force.
Book Review: Entertaining Look at Basics of UI Design
Summary: 3 Stars
The strength of this book is that it's one you'll read. With its light style, an abundance of colorful illustrations, and plenty of white space, it can easily be read in a single sitting. It makes quite a few good points, and does so with the help of excellent visual examples.On the other hand, the scope of the book is so broad that its applicability to a specific environment or task will be limited. Unless you're developing an entire operating system, your choices in designing a user interface are constrained by the environment you're working in. Web developers don't have the same choices as Windows developers, who are in a different world from text-based programmers. If the book focused on a single environment it might have been as useful as it is entertaining.
This is a good starting point for application developers, but you'll need something more specific if you want much practical guidance.
Book Review: Overly generic
Summary: 3 Stars
As a programmer, I fit the stereotype and know very little about UI design. Although I was only looking to gain a basic understanding of design, I still found the book's coverage overly generic. The content can be summed up as follows: use tabs, do what Microsoft does, heuristics are overdone in many apps, test designs incrementally, don't overuse colors, and avoid all the fluff in web page design. Critical design issues such as color combinations, UI standards, and best controls for particular jobs were not covered. The author glossed over these by telling the reader to find out what metaphor the user expects and design the application in that context. Despite these failings, the book is well written and can be read rapidly.
This book rates about two stars for content and four for readability. Overall, this book rates approximately three stars.
Book Review: Very well written but it seems like something is missing.
Summary: 3 Stars
Many of us have come to expect very good writing from Joel, and this book delivers. Joel writes in an engaging style and provides us with proper examples to get his point across. The book is divided into properly named sections with titles that we have come to expect from Joel, such as "People can't read", "People can't remember" and "People can't control the mouse". All of which bring up important issues that seem to come up for me in UI design.
However, when I was done with this book, I felt like something was missing. Because the book is more of a collection of tips rather than a unit by itself. In my opinion, this fact makes this book lose some "flow". (This style fits into "Joel on Software" though)
Overall, I think it's a good book to start you off with UI design but definitly not the only resource you should have access to.
Book Review: Basic theory in Human Interface Design. Nothing new.
Summary: 2 Stars
If you're a beginner in the world of Human Interface Design, this book is for you. If you're a programmer looking to make his/her program more user-friendly, this book is for you. Otherwise, for anyone else, the theory and concepts are basic at best. I'd recommend tracking down the long out of print Apple Computer "Inside Macintosh" series of books as they are more detailed and written by some of the pioneers of Human Interface Design. The one redeeming point here is the quality of the screenshots. Very impressive indeed and help to get the point across. Otherwise, you may find this book an entertaining read, but not something you'd learn a great deal from.