Written by the author of the best-selling HyperText & HyperMedia, this book is an excellent guide to the methods of usability engineering. The book provides the tools needed to avoid usability surprises and improve product quality. Step-by-step information on which method to use at various stages during the development lifecycle are included, along with detailed information on how to run a usability test and the unique issues relating to international usability. • Emphasizes cost-effective methods that developers can implement immediately • Instructs readers about which methods to use when, throughout the development lifecycle, which ultimately helps in cost-benefit analysis. • Shows readers how to avoid the four most frequently listed reasons for delay in software projects. • Includes detailed information on how to run a usability test. • Covers unique issues of international usability. • Features an extensive bibliography allowing readers to find additional information. • Written by an internationally renowned expert in the field and the author of the best-selling HyperText & HyperMedia.
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.
Customer Reviews:
Avg. Customer Rating: 4.0 / 5.0
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.
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... more info
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... more info
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.
Privacy policy: we don't collect information
about visitors except for the standard technical server logs. We don't send unsolicited emails. We don't
sell the information that we don't collect about you to anyone. When you follow
links to other sites, their privacy policies apply. Thanks for visiting!
