false http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1167341499m/22147.jpg 22147 3 An authoritative text by one of the premier researchers in usability engineering in the 1990s, Jakob Nielsen's <I>Usability Engineering</I> 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.<p> 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.)<p> 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.<p> For anyone who needs to create better, more efficient software, <I>Usability Engineering</I> 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. <I>--Richard Dragan</I><p> <B>Topics covered</B>: 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. 23210 1993 Usability Engineering (The Morgan Kaufmann Series in Interactive Technologies) total:24|5:9|4:7|3:6|2:2|1:0| 24 95 49 2 5 0 false false Wed Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 1997 Fri Mar 20 13:32:23 -0700 2009 Fri Mar 20 13:34:27 -0700 2009 3 0 false false Mon Feb 02 06:02:20 -0800 2009 Fri Nov 21 04:52:54 -0800 2008 Mon Feb 02 06:02:20 -0800 2009 4 0 false false Tue Nov 24 11:49:43 -0800 2009 Tue Nov 24 11:50:23 -0800 2009 0 0 false false Sun Nov 01 21:10:09 -0800 2009 Sun Nov 01 21:35:26 -0800 2009 0 0 false false Tue May 01 00:00:00 -0700 2001 Mon Aug 24 20:48:27 -0700 2009 Mon Aug 24 20:48:37 -0700 2009 0 0 false false Tue Aug 04 16:08:00 -0700 2009 Tue Aug 04 16:08:00 -0700 2009 5 0 false false Tue Jul 28 08:05:06 -0700 2009 Tue Jul 28 08:05:06 -0700 2009 0 0 false false Tue Jul 14 10:13:51 -0700 2009 Tue Jul 14 10:13:51 -0700 2009 0 0 false false Sun Jun 21 10:21:53 -0700 2009 Sun Jun 21 10:21:53 -0700 2009 4 0 false false Wed Jun 10 07:25:44 -0700 2009 Wed Jun 10 07:25:44 -0700 2009 3 0 false false Mon May 25 01:56:23 -0700 2009 Mon May 25 01:56:23 -0700 2009 0 0 false false Mon May 11 11:15:37 -0700 2009 Mon May 11 11:15:37 -0700 2009 5 0 false false Sat Apr 25 05:14:54 -0700 2009 Sat Apr 25 05:14:54 -0700 2009 0 0 false false Fri Apr 17 10:47:20 -0700 2009 Fri Apr 17 10:47:25 -0700 2009 5 0 false false Sat Mar 28 05:02:30 -0700 2009 Sat Mar 28 05:02:30 -0700 2009 0 0 false false Fri Mar 20 10:30:02 -0700 2009 Fri Mar 20 10:33:06 -0700 2009 3 0 false false Tue Mar 17 10:06:34 -0700 2009 Tue Mar 17 10:06:34 -0700 2009 0 0 false false Sat Mar 07 08:32:49 -0800 2009 Sat Mar 07 08:33:27 -0800 2009 0 0 false false Wed Mar 04 14:14:51 -0800 2009 Wed Mar 04 14:14:51 -0800 2009 0 0 false false Mon Mar 02 22:05:45 -0800 2009 Mon Mar 02 22:05:45 -0800 2009 http://www.goodreads.com/book_link/follow/8?book_id=22147