User Interface Design for Programmers: Amazon.ca: Joel Spolsky: Books

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"Scripting News Blogger of the Year, 2001" -- Scripting News,January 11,2002

Book 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.

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Customer Reviews

28 Reviews

5 star:		(16)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(1)

Average Customer Review

4.0 out of 5 stars (28 customer reviews)

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2.0 out of 5 stars outdated, Nov 28 2008

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H. Ho "ACC-HE" (Vancouver, BC Canada) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: User Interface Design for Programmers (Paperback)

I just borrowed this book from my local library and read it. The points made by this book are either well-known, or super outdated. I guess it was new at the time, but time has changed. It is not useful anymore to point out the design flaws of Windows 95 vs Mac. This book is too old for today's applications. Please only get this book from library and read for fun.

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5.0 out of 5 stars insightful and hillarious, July 17 2004

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Eli Courtwright - See all my reviews

This review is from: User Interface Design for Programmers (Paperback)

My family kept asking me how I could possibly be laughing so much at a book on programming. The anecdotes in this book are fantastic at conveying fundamental UI principles, but they're also so entertaining that I finished the entire book the day I got it.

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3.0 out of 5 stars Its a good book, but falls short., Sep 29 2003

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Antonio A. Rodriguez "taserian" (Columbia, SC United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: User Interface Design for Programmers (Paperback)

User Interface Design is a topic which I have always been interested in. I believe it was PCWorld Magazine that used to have a column dedicated to improving the design of a submitted interface, and there were many things I learned from that column. This book seems to work from the basis of that column, but doesn't go as far as I would have liked it to.

There are many anecdotes included in the book, and they were very illustrative as to the problems people encounter when working with a badly designed interface. I especially liked the concept of the mile-high menu bar that Mac users have, and how that compares to the small footprint that a Windows user must target to open a menu.

Still, I was left wanting more. The book serves as a great introduction, but if you're already done some UI Design, you might already be familiar with most of what is explained in the book. The anecdotes are what really make the book appealing, but I wouldn't recommend purchasing the book just for those.

It's a good book, it just falls short of what it could have been.

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Most recent customer reviews

3.0 out of 5 stars Fun to read
Lots of great stories and examples, good illustration though at times it seems quite disjoint with the text and just thrown in for example's sake. Read more

Published on Sep 23 2003

5.0 out of 5 stars Great Beginner UI Book
This book is an excellent first book on UI design. It covers a lot of ground and is easy to read. The author is both witty and entertaining. An excellent read.