Review-Date: 6/28/2008 Rating: 4 Summary: Some thing old, some thing new...
I‘m not a usability expert, and this didn‘t quite match up with what I hoped to get out a of class on software evaluation for librarians (but that has more to do with the professor‘s slant on the subject and choice of book), but the book was easy to read and I felt that it covered some good points. It is, however, starting to show its age in some of the details, like the assumption that many software users will be unfamiliar with PCs and using a mouse to interact with a PC.
Review-Date: 10/8/2001 Rating: 3 Summary: Good for user interface pros, too much for developers
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.
Review-Date: 8/8/2001 Rating: 4 Summary: Well worth a read if you want people to use your software
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.
Review-Date: 2/3/2001 Rating: 2 Summary: Save your money, read this review:
If his own principles had been applied to the book it could be reduced to a a few bullet points. *the web is slow, less is more. *tell people what a link leads too before they press it, and make sure it does. *use standard fonts in easy to read colours. *use standard web conventions where ever possible as they are familiar. *check for spelling mistakes and grammar errors. *write concisely and arrange depth of detail in hierarchies, like they do in errr reference books. *tell the user where they are, and how they got their, um like a path prehaps. *some people have small screens, some don‘t even use microsoft browsers, not everyone has the latest plug ins, allow for it. *don‘t employ frustrated artists to design your site, use an engineer. Jakob proudly states he has multiple patents in the field of usability, maybe following this book will infringe them, or maybe he just kept the good stuff for himself.
Review-Date: 1/31/2001 Rating: 3 Summary: "Do what I say, not what I do!"
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".
Review-Date: 12/4/2000 Rating: 5 Summary: Excellent primer
This book is not perfect, but some of the critique is a bit too harsh. The book is not verbose, it is just user friendly =). I mean, really, the book is a breeze to read, it is clear and not once was I unsure about anything it said. There is only a little more than 250 pages of actual text to read. Then there are excercises which I found helpful. Then there‘s a long list of references, which some people may find helpful when trying to find more information.The most incredible part of the book, in my opinion, is the chapter on inexpensive usability engineering methods, that can easily be adapted by small companies without large budgets. They are really worth reading the book! I believe everyone who wants a career in UI design should read this book first, before proceeding further. Those who are not usability engineers per se, will get all they need from this book (about interface–design), the UI pros will probably want to read other material too, but this is the place to start. I would give 4.5 stars if possible. The book is not perfect. But I gave 5 stars to help the average rise a bit... ...hopefully.
Review-Date: 11/3/2000 Rating: 4 Summary: Very good starter
If you are not familiar with usability engineering methods than read this book. It will give you a good overview about the most common techniques. If you are in a big hurry read the executive summary which is also an informative primer, standing for the whole book. The book also provides some usability exercises and includes an extensive and annotated bibliography. The book is very well structured and only shows one "usability problem": it lacks of an index of tables and figures. Therefore I give the book 4 out of 5 stars.
Review-Date: 8/1/2000 Rating: 4 Summary: A good background book for Human Factors Engineers
One of the best ways I judge whether a book is useful for me or not, is to look through the Table of Contents. So here it is:I apologize for the format. The space allowed for comments makes it impossible to put this in true outline format. The Table of Contents PREFACE Audience,Teaching Usability Engineering, Acknowledgements 1. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Cost savings, Usability Now!, Usability Slogans, Discount Usability Engineering, Recipe for Action 2. WHAT IS USABILITY Usability and other considerations, Definition of Usability, Example: Measuring the Usability of Icons, Usability Trade–Offs, Categories of Users and Individual User Differences, 3. Generations of User Interfaces, Batch Systems, Line–Oriented Interfaces, Full–Screen Interfaces, Graphical User Interfaces, Next–Generation Interfaces Long term trends in Usability 4. THE USABILITY ENGINEERING LIFECYCLE Know the User,Competitive analysis, Goal setting, Parallel Design, Participatory Design, Coordinating the total Inteface, Guidelines and Heuristic evaluation, Prototyping, Interface Evaluation, Iterative design, Follow up studies of Installed systems, Meta–Methods, Prioritizing Usability Activities, Be Prepared 5. USABILITY HEURISTICS Simple and Natural Dialogue, Speak the Users Language, Minimize User Memory Load, Consistency, Feedback, Clearly Marked exits, Shortcuts, Good Error Messages, Prevent Errors, Help and Documentation, Heuristic Evaluation 6. USABILITY TESTING Test Goals and Test plans, Getting Test users, Choosing Experimenters, Ethical Aspects of Tests with Human Subjects, Test Tasks, Stages of a test, Performance Measurement, Thinking Aloud, Usability Laboratories 7. USABILITY ASSESSMENT METHODS BEYOND TESTING Observation, Questionnaires and Interviews, Focus Groups, Logging Actual use, User Feedback, Choosing Usability methods 8. INTERFACE STANDARDS National, International and Vendor Standards, Producing Usable In–House Standards, International User Interfaces 9. FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS Theoretical Solutions, Technological solutions, CAUSE tools: Computer aided usability engineering‘ Technology Transfer This book was required reading for a Human Factors class I took. I found it to be a good quick coverage of some basic human factors principles. Additionally, it had good coverage of the practical aspects as well. Some of the information is now dated but the basics still hold.
Review-Date: 4/28/2000 Rating: 5 Summary: A Classic, The Textbook on Usability
I‘ve read some of the criticisms of this book – its wordy, hard to read, etc. I have to say I don‘t agree. Whenever people ask me to recommend books on software usability, this is always one of the top 5 that I suggest.Its a textbook, not a novel, and it has all the advantages (precise, scientific language) and all the drawbacks of a textbook (dry, dense). However, there isn‘t any better source on things like how to put together a usability test, how to cost justify usability in the overall design process, or even simply, what the usability process is all about. You can‘t be serious about software usability if you haven‘t read this book! And while Jakob‘s book "Designing Web Usability" is more popular, to me, this one is the better book.
Review-Date: 11/15/1999 Rating: 2 Summary: Overly wordy.
Although Neilsen has a lot of good information in here, the information is hidden beneath layers of writing. Every point is repeated several times, and the author is incredibly wordy. As a professional writer, it astounds me that someone could go on about usability without having the faintest idea of how to make his own writing usable. If edited properly, this volume could be reduced to half the size and give exactly the same information. The passive voice just about slaughters this book. One gets the impression that the author thinks he must write in this boring, textbook style in order to be considered "The Book" in the industry. This is unfortunate, because many readers simply won‘t make it through this book, despite the important information it has to impart.
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