Message from Dean - May 8th 2007
I am currently testing out a new version of the APF Bridge Component - If you notice any errors within this demo store please drop me a line.
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Binding: Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 005.43769
EAN: 9781893115941
Edition: New
ISBN: 1893115941
Label: Apress
Manufacturer: Apress
Number Of Items: 1
Number Of Pages: 159
Publication Date: June 26, 2001
Publisher: Apress
Studio: Apress
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Editorial Review:
Product Description:
Most programmers' fear of user interface (UI) programming comes from their fear of doing UI design. They think that UI design is like graphic designthe mysterious process by which creative, latte-drinking, all-black-wearing people produce cool-looking, artistic pieces. Most programmers see themselves as analytic, logical thinkers insteadstrong 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. Spolkys 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 UI 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.
Average Rating: 
Rating: -
This book is aimed at programmers who don't have the time or inclination to do research on user interface design, and it has some good suggestions, but you shouldn't take anything he says on faith because he is flat out wrong a good 25% of the time. Spolsky is very intelligent and the book can be fun to read at times, but he also comes off as really really arrogant and narrow minded. He is particularly and undeservedly venomous towards the Linux / OSS community, and this is really inexcusable.
Here is the executive summary: users can't read dialog boxes, they can't use the mouse, the don't read instructions, they have an idea of how the program is supposed to work, and most of the time they can't be bothered to learn how the program "does things differently," so be consistent and imitate programs your users are already likely to be familiar with.
You can lump all of this under the general heading "reduce user effort" which is a pretty good design philosophy. It ... Read More
Rating:  -
First off, I'm not a (professional) programmer, and I'm not particularly interested in user interface design. I decided to read this book because I've read quite a bit of Joel's other work and I find his thought process illuminating, regardless of the subject. Also, most of the other stuff I've read by Joel is generalist in nature, and I wanted to see if his style would work in a deep dive into a subject. This book isn't a silver bullet in UI design, but it gives a few hints as to how to adjust your thinking to sympathize a bit more with the user. And despite the title "...for Programmers", there isn't much in the book that is programmer-centric, so it's useful for testers, product managers, and others in software development communities who aren't UI designers.
It's interesting reviewing this book in 2008, seven years after it was originally published. Visual design is such a time-sensitive thing, and this book being pre-Web 2.0 looks dated. It's nostalgic in some ways (screen ... Read More
Rating:  -
I rarely give out 5 stars, but this book deserves it.
Well written, on the light side, but serious about providing best practices for UI design with good examples to back it up.
Rating: -
This thin book is a good introduction to the idea of that you should make good software interfaces, but doesn't tell you how to do that. For that, Spolsky provides an excellent bibliography at the end.
If you already have even a little bit of experience with good interface design, this book isn't for you. It's there to enlighten the programming masses that so far don't care or haven't been told that users matter.
You can get this book for free online starting at Joel on Software (I think Amazon deleted the URL I put in there, but google for the book title and you'll find it).
Rating:  -
This book has a number of problems.
First, the writing is amateurish - hardly what I'd expect from someone trying to impart knowledge on a professional audience. It reads as a high school book report, not a reference for software engineers. I expect elegance in material I read, if for nothing else but to gain confidence in the author's intelligence and experience.
Second, much of the information is clearly lifted from books such as 'Tog on Interface' (which I highly recommend). Take for example chapter 10 from User Interface Design for Programmers - 'People Can't Control the Mouse'. Spolsky's ideas on the problem of small mouse targets, as well as his solutions, are almost a direct copy of Bruce Tognazzini's (which I might add were presented much earlier). As another reviewer mentioned, not only are the ideas un-original, but they are presented haphazardly and with little supporting information.
Overall, this book is not worth a penny. It is simply the ... Read More
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