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Usability Engineering
 
 
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Usability Engineering [Paperback]

Jakob Nielsen (Author)
3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (14 customer reviews)
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An authoritative text by one of the premier researchers in usability engineering in the 1990s, Jakob Nielsen's Usability Engineering provides a landmark guide to software design that has helped bring this area of research into the mainstream of computing. "Usability" is the measurement of how easy or difficult it is to be productive with a piece of software. It often looks at the user interface--what elements appear onscreen and how efficient, confusing, and/or intuitive they are for beginning, intermediate, and advanced users. "Usability engineering" is the formal study of usability. It grew out of research on human factors, which looked at the way people interact with their environment.

The best thing about this book is its concise, cut-to-the-chase approach when defining usability and ways to measure and improve it. As the author notes, in the old days of computing, documents that attempted to define usability might have over 1,000 rules. The author offers just a handful of guiding principles for creating better software that apply even today. (Published just before the Internet revolution, this book's principles still hold true for Web designers, as well as those who create more traditional applications.)

Throughout this text, the author argues for the benefits of improved software usability. With software use as with all things, time is money and making more efficient interfaces translates into lower personnel costs and more productivity. The book also does a fine job of integrating usability design into the software development process, with guides for planning, working with end users, and running tests with users (whether on videotape or in person). The 50-page bibliography attests to the author's previous research on usability.

For anyone who needs to create better, more efficient software, Usability Engineering can help. This clear and intelligent guide to the science of usability engineering has helped enhance the potential of computers to work with end users more efficiently. In the new century, software developers will undoubtedly seek new advances in usability, in part because of the groundwork laid by books like this one. --Richard Dragan

Topics covered: Usability basics, measuring usability, types of users, history of user interfaces, the usability engineering lifecycle, design techniques, heuristics and hints for improving usability, testing, managing user tests, assessing usability, interface standards, internationalization, and Computer-Aided Usability Engineering (CAUSE) tools.

Review

"The purpose of Jakob Nielsen's Usability Engineering is to help nontechnical people improve the systems so that they are not only error-free but also easier and more pleasant to use, and more efficient. It is a book that ...shows us how to change the world and does so admirably....One of this book's strengths is that it provides a wide selection of methods for improving systems, and allows for the unavoidable constraints of the real world."
--NEW SCIENTIST
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Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index | Back Cover
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Customer Reviews

14 Reviews
5 star:
 (6)
4 star:
 (3)
3 star:
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2 star:
 (2)
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Average Customer Review
3.9 out of 5 stars (14 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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3.0 out of 5 stars Good for user interface pros, too much for developers, Oct 8 2001
By 
Eric D. Napier (Brandon, MS United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   
This review is from: Usability Engineering (Paperback)
If your specialty is the user interface, you need to read this book. If you are interested in developing a user interface design process, you should read this. If you are a software developer who wants to know how to build good interfaces, skip it. It is too much about perfecting the design process.

I was looking for 'use this button for x and this widget for y'. In other words, here are the rules for a good user interface. What I got was 'here is the process for studying users and their interfaces, and here is a mountain of statistics to back it up'. No fault of the author, I just mis-understood what I was getting.

Having said that, if you want to make your living studying and perfecting interface design, read this book.

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4.0 out of 5 stars Well worth a read if you want people to use your software, Aug 8 2001
By 
RA Botha (Summerstrand, Port Elizabeth South Africa) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Usability Engineering (Paperback)
If you are an experienced user interface designer who thoroughly understands what usability is about you probably don't need to read the book (although I would find it strange that you are experienced and did not read this book which is attributed to have coined the term "Usability Engineering").

So who should read the book. Everybody that is going to develop any form of software. No, it won't make you an expert, but it will get you thinking.

On the negative side, some of the examples may some be slightly old (but its a 1993 book!). Sometimes you're also going to feel that you could stress this concept in half the space. However, the information and the thought process behind the information is extremely relevant and is well-worth the effort of reading the book.

If you are new in software development this book is an absolute must. In a sense it helps you develop "a way of thinking" rather than giving any specifics.

However, if you are looking for specifics, Chapter 5 deals with usability heuristics, presenting 10 of them. When looking at the list of 10 heuristics, they may seem obvious, trivial almost. It is quite amazing, however, how often those seemingly trivial things are overlooked or ignored. Just use some programs on your PC...

I think it would be worthwhile any software developers time to read Chapter 5 and think long and hard about what is said - then go back to your software and be honest with yourself. It might be some of the best lessons you'll ever learn.

In lots of ways this book has everything that classics are made of - except occasionally the ease of reading.

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3.0 out of 5 stars "Do what I say, not what I do!", Jan 31 2001
By 
"rebelo" (Criciúma, Brazil) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Usability Engineering (Paperback)
The title I use is an old portuguese proverb. It is a good description of this book. In page 115 it says: "User interfaces should be simplified as much as possible,...". And then it takes almost 8 pages to explain it. Read it. His advices are pure gold. But don't build your user interface like this book was built: overcrowded with unnecessary details. There's another funny thing about this book. It's about design, mostly graphical. But doesn't talk to much about "creativity".
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