Human-centered interface design interactive systems latest guidelines: English version

Author: J. Raskin (USA)
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2002-08-01
Features: This is a valuable book for two reasons. First, it explains how human cognitive abilities and limitations determine which UI designs will be easy vs. difficult for people to learn and use. It can therefore help to educate those software designers who lack training in cognitive psychology. Second, it challenges long-standing GUI design assumptions, pointing out many ways in which conventional GUIs are actually bad for users. It can therefore point the way for evolution of current-day GUIs into something better. What this book is NOT is a design guide for creating GUIs that are Windows (or Mac, Motif, or Web) compliant. If that's what you want, you should look elsewhere. My one criticism is that, in my opinion, the book loses steam in its later chapters, becoming a collection (the author calls it a 'potpourri') of Raskin's pet peeves about computers, along with his remedies. For the second edition, these chapters could be tightened up or cut. Nonetheless, The Human Interface should be required reading for every software designer and UI researcher.
The series covers core courses commonly offered in domestic university computer science programs, such as programming, data structures, operating systems, computer architecture, databases, compiler principles, software engineering, graphics, communication and networks, and discrete mathematics. Each course has its own unique characteristics—some are designed by renowned proofreaders, some have remained relevant for three decades, and some have been adopted by hundreds of universities worldwide.