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Designing Interfaces: Patterns for Effective Interaction Design [ILLUSTRATED] (Paperback) (平装)
by Jenifer Tidwell
| Category:
Internet, Designing, Interface, Interaction |
| Market price: ¥ 468.00
MSL price:
¥ 448.00
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| Stock:
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MSL rating:
 Good for Gifts |
| MSL Pointer Review:
Do you want to design attractive, easy-to-use interfaces but aren't sure how? This book will help you. |
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AllReviews |
1 Total 1 pages 8 items |
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A reader (MSL quote), USA
<2007-06-29 00:00>
I arrived at "Designing Interfaces" with a hunger for detail and references as we head deep into revising the interface of a whole section of a web site I am in charge of. And the timing couldn't have been better. Jenifer (with one "n") Tidwell is right on the money when it comes to offering a broad range of options to address just about any interface design need you may run into. Her experience working with Matlab's Mathworks didn't limit her to offering advice for client software interface design.
Tidwell goes well beyond it, delving into web design and mobile interface waters, which she swims with equal comfort and efficiency. As a matter of fact, at times the presentation of samples from alternate media/platforms (client software or mobile) pulls those of us who are more comfortable within web application development out of our comfort zone, presenting us with innovative ways to solve old problems.
All in all, this becomes a must reference for anyone needing to learn or polish skills in software interface design for any medium. And this is not limited to designers: I am an Application Development Manager and I learned a lot from "Designing Interfaces" too.
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A reader (MSL quote), USA
<2007-06-29 00:00>
I enjoyed this book for two reasons:
1. It is nicely structured - whether you read it from beginning to end, or dip into it, it is understandable even if you're not a trained designer (I'm not)
2. It is not tied to a particular technology or interface - Tidewell (rightly) concentrates on desigining for human behaviour rather than for specific devices. So it should (mostly) remain relevant to designers for several years.
Previous reviewers have commented that the design of the book itself left a lot to be desired. However, with one exception (see below) I did not notice anything about the book's design that interfered with my reading experience.
One small quibble. The references are presented in a very inefficient way. The citations in the text are not comprehensive enough for the reader to remember whether or not they have looked at the reference before, and the list of references at the end of the book is highly repetitive: references are listed under chapter headings, so if a reference is cited in three chapters, it is listed three times. This makes me cynically wonder whether the publishers wanted to give the impression of a much longer reference list than was actually cited. I would have much prefered a more scientific approach: cite the reference in the text not only with the title but with the author(s) and year, and list the references at the end in alphabetical order of first author's surname (optionally, each reference could be followed by a list of chapters). As it is, it's difficult to remember if a reference has already been cited, and to look a reference up. A minor detraction in credibility from what is otherwise an authoritative and clear book.
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Harold McFarland (MSL quote), USA
<2007-06-29 00:00>
It is hard to write a review on a book that has a title that explains the subject well and the book does an excellent job with the subject without straying off course. That is the problem with this one. The book is entirely on the subject of software interfaces for the user. As such it addresses some of the most frustrating problems a user faces - poor design, unclear layout, lack of intuitiveness, and sometimes just a bother to use. The author examines various interfaces and by clearly examining the purpose of the software shows when and how to display information in an understandable and user-friendly format. Areas discussed include when to use lists, tables, graphs, drilldowns, alternative views, using wizards, entry points, navigation models, sequences, breadcrumbs, page layout, using panels, undo, informational graphics, user forms and controls, and aesthetics. As a user frustrated with many software packages and poorly designed interfaces, Designing Interfaces should be read by everyone working with trying to create a user-friendly product.
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Jim Anderton (MSL quote), USA
<2007-06-29 00:00>
We all know the difference between an application user interface that meets the requirements and a UI that actually feels good to use. I think all of us who design applications aspire to design great user interfaces but often, for various reasons, end up focusing on the hard requirements and cut short the time we spend on really optimizing our UIs. Just like the classic Design Patterns changed the fundamental way software developers talk about code, Designing Interfaces : Patterns for Effective Interaction Design can change the way we talk about the UIs we design. This book categorizes commonly seen UI concepts as a set of patterns. Each pattern is given a name and explored in detail. The book is broken up into nine chapters covering more than 80 different patterns.
Table of Contents:
1 - What Users Do
2 - Organizing the Content: Information Architecture and Application Structure
3 - Getting Around: Navigation, Signposts, and Wayfinding
4 - Organizing the Page: Layout of Page Elements
5 - Doing Thing: Actions and Commands
6 - Showing Complex Data: Trees, Tables, and Other Information Graphics
7 - Getting Input from Users: Forms and Controls
8 - Builders and Editors
9 - Making it Look Good: Visual Style and Aesthetics
The book is well organized. It's a good read front to back but it's also easy to find a particular topic if you need some help as you're working on a UI. Each pattern in the book is presented with a description and a discussion of when, how, and why you might want to use it. The book is beautifully printed in full color and includes tons of screenshot examples of each pattern. If you're interested in improving the user interfaces in the applications you design, take a look at this book. Head over to oreilly.com and check out the sample chapter. Highly Recommended!
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A reader (MSL quote), USA
<2007-06-29 00:00>
Interfaces. Everything has one. Even this website, or journal you are reading.
This book will appeal to designers of websites and to software designers. Today software may run on the web, desktop, handheld or phone. With so many different ways to deliver information and content, its a daunting thing to deal with the differing nuances of each interface - an interface determined by the device.
This book is very up todate, but probably will requrie a new edition by this time next year as next generation phones hit the North American market in full stride.
The strong message in this book is the need for simplicity. Too often a product gets overdesigned. Usually by a product manager. They should be forced fed this book, though that might make them think they are designers, so not a good idea maybe.
Each chapter is divided into two parts.
First is the subject experience such as layout. This section is followed up by a great Patterns showcase of new and familiar interfaces and how they meet the challenges and elements that the chapter discusses.
The chapters themselves are grouped into three parts: overall (OS, web, apps, etc.), specific items (data, user input, text and graphic editors) and polish (style, form and function).
This is a great reference, and - yes - and lazy Sunday afternoon read. You should be a design professional and ahve experience under your belt such as nav bars, dialogue boxes and what a drop down is, and what it is used for effectively. This book does not tell or show you how to get that golden interface (nor should it). Designing Interfaces explains some of the key things that you should know inheritly (if not know, after you have read it) and helps strenghten your cerebral toolbox and amaze yourself.
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Larry Constantine (MSL quote), USA
<2007-06-29 00:00>
Simply brilliant! Absolutely the best book on UI design patterns, it is also one of the best new books on interaction design in years. Clear, crisp, and engagingly written, this text manages a mix of fundamentals and sophisticated concepts to satisfy beginners and boffins alike. It goes way beyond the trivially obvious of so many "pattern languages" to explore and expose subtle tradeoffs and genuine dilemmas in interaction design. More than just a collection of patterns, this is virtually a complete course in modern visual and interaction design. It is must reading for designers of every ilk.
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Thomas Duff (MSL quote), USA
<2007-06-29 00:00>
OK... this one earns a spot on my bookshelf at work... Designing Interfaces by Jenifer Tidwell.
Contents: What Users Do; Organizing The Content; Getting Around; Organizing The Page; Doing Things; Showing Complex Data; Getting Input From Users; Builders and Editors; Making It Look Good; References; Index
This is one of those books that you'll read once and then start making post-it note bookmarks in certain areas. Tidwell starts each chapter with an explanation of that particular area of interface design. For instance, in Organizing The Content, she talks about how layout of content makes a difference in how users find and perceive the data. In addition, you have a number of constraints to work under, depending on the target of your application (full-screen monitor vs. cell phone browser). Then things get really good. She presents a number of "patterns", or practical examples of how you can implement a design technique. Sticking with the Organizing chapter, you have the following patterns: Two-Panel Selector, Canvas Plus Palette, One-Window Drilldown, Alternative Views, Wizard, Extras on Demand, Intriguing Branches, and Multi-Level Help. Each pattern has a visual showing what it looks like, a "what" explanation, a "use when" description of when it should be considered, "why" it works as a technique, "how" it should be implemented, and some "examples" of how it's used in real software and websites. What you end up with is a rich volume of design techniques that can make the difference between a "wow" application and shelfware...
Like many good designs, you will probably look at some of these and not even realize that there was a pattern at play. Some designs have become de-facto standards for particular situations, and we don't even think about them any more. But when you deconstruct a site and see what's really going on, you can start to become more savvy in your choice of layout and interaction with the user. And for those of us who are more comfortable with back-end coding than front-end user interfaces, we'll take all the help we can get!
This book will carve out a space within arm's reach on my work bookshelf. Periodic review of the contents will go far in making me a better designer in my development activities. I really like this book...
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A reader (MSL quote), USA
<2007-06-29 00:00>
This book is different from most books on designing user interfaces since the ideas are presented as design patterns, much as you would see in Gamma's classic book on the subject had it been adapted to human-computer interfacing rather than programming. Each of the patterns and techniques presented in this book are intended to help the reader solve common design problems. Patterns and techniques are presented for web sites, desktop applications, and everything in between such as web forms, Flash, and applets. The user interface design patterns presented in this book are intended to be read by people who have some knowledge of UI design concepts and terminology: dialogs, selection, combo boxes, navigation bars, whitespace, branding, and so on. The book does not identify many widely-accepted techniques such as copy-and-paste, as it is assumed that you probably already know what this is. However, some common techniques are described here to encourage their use in other contexts - for instance, desktop apps could make better use of Toplevel Navigation - or to discuss them alongside alternative solutions. If you're running short on ideas, or hung up on a difficult design problem, skimming this book and its design patterns may help you produce a good solution.
Each pattern is presented with an image showing a possible implementation, a "Use When" section, a "Why" section, and a "How" section with very high level tool-independent implementation instructions. The patterns are organized into groups by function - organizing content, getting around, organizing the page, getting input from users, showing complex data, commands and action, direct manipulation, and stylistic elements.
I would highly recommend this logically structured book to anyone from programmer to graphic artist who might be involved in user interface design.
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1 Total 1 pages 8 items |
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