Designing from both sides of the screen

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Language: English
Cover of the book Designing from both sides of the screen

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336 p. · 19x23 cm · Paperback

Design and build better software by understanding the motivations of your collaborators.

  • Illustrates in a step-by-step manner the design processes and presents a practical, hands-on approach to the real world process of designing a user interface (UI).
  • Offers clear principles and a proven design philosophy, which are easily incorporated into diverse design problems.
  • Includes a metric to measure how well a design is enabling "flow", a concept described in the book.
This book not only offers a sound and proven philosophy for designing and building software, it explores the dialog between designer and software engineer, and offers insights which when applied will facilitate a higher degree of collaboration between them. With a minimal understanding of the values and motivations of one another, these people are often team members standing in adversarial relation to each other. The authors provide background, model effective thought processes and dialogs, and give the readers clear, concrete principles and examples for design considerations. This book is written for both software engineers and designers and illustrates a process which they can use to dramatically increase the quality of both product and process.

Ellen Isaacs has been designing software user interfaces for over 11 years at such companies as Sun Microsystems, Excite@Home, AT&T and Electric Communities (now communities.com). She has designed applications for a variety of platforms including Windows, OpenWindows, the Web, and Palm OS.

Alan Walendowski has been a software engineer working in the trenches for over 15 years. He has worked for companies such as Sun Microsystems, 3DFX, AT&T, IBM, and ComputerVision. Walendowski has worked on device drivers, graphics engines, systems software, distributed systems, client-server systems, and user interfaces.

Introduction.

THE GOAL.

1. On Being a Butler.
Its the Relationship, Stupid. How to Collaborate.

2. Dont Impose: Respect Physical Effort.
Treat Clicks as Sacred. Remember Where They Put Things. Remember What They Told You. Stick with a Mode.

3. Dont Impose: Respect Mental Effort.
Use Visual Elements Sparingly. Make Common Tasks Visible, Hide Infrequent Tasks. Give Feedback, Show Signs of Progress. Keep Preferences to a Minimum, Give Smart Defaults. Follow Conventions (Even If Theyre Not Your Ideal Design). Look for Widgetless Features .

4. Be Helpful.
Offer Sufficient Information Early and in Context, Prevent Errors. Solve Problems, Dont Complain or Pass the Buck. Be Predictable. Request and Offer Only Relevant Information, Dont Mislead. Explain in Plain Language.

THE PROCESS.


5. Setting Up: Understanding Users Needs.
The Components of User-Centered Design. The Role of Hubbub. Understanding Users Needs. Specifying the Functional Requirements. Prioritizing the Functional Requirements. Designing the User Interface First. A View from Engineering. A Word on Schedules. Getting into the UI Designer Role.

6. Structuring the User Interface.
The User Interface Spec. Start with Tasks. Map Priorities to Design. Organize the Tasks into Display Units. Create a Task Flow Diagram.

7. Laying Out the User Interface.
Communicating Visually. Example 1: Focusing on Frequent by Many Features. Example 2: Following Platform Conventions. Example 3: Designing for Multiple Platforms. Example 4: Handling Differences in Platform Conventions. Example 5: Removing a Feature. Walk Through the Tasks.

8. Architecting with the UI in Mind
Network Architecture. Multiplatform Architecture. Palm Client Architecture. The Feature List.

9. Initial Development.
Issues Resolved on Engineering Grounds. Issues Resolved on UI Grounds. Unanticipated UI Issues and Adjustments. Hidden UI Implications. Unanticipated Requirements. Designer Activity.

10. Iterative Development: Observing Use.
Using Your Own Technology. Observing Others Using Your Technology. Running a Usage Study. The Effect of Iterative Design.

11. Conclusion.
Example 1: Forum. Example 2: Shopping Web Site. Taking a Step Back.

APPENDIXES.


Appendix A. Guidelines.
Respect Physical Effort. Respect Mental Effort. Be Helpful. Requirements Gathering. UI Structure. UI Layout. Architecture. Project Management. Designer-Engineer Collaboration. Development. Usage Studies.

Appendix B. Recommended Readings.
The Problem. Usability. Understanding Users Needs. Desktop Software Design. Web Design. Design for Devices. Graphic/Visual Design. Development Process. Networking. Usability Testing. Usage Studies. Other.

Index.