Item Description: How humans and computers mix
Review Synopsis:
TOG is the man behind the Macintosh user interface. His official title within the organization was 'Interface Evnagelist'. He collects his experiences and expertise in this excellent study of how human meets computer.
First of all, this book is fun. It joins Programming Perl on the list of technical books that I laugh out loud reading. Secondly, it is informative on so many levels. His anecdotes and examples run the gamut from the army's quest to find the archeotypical soldier to fences around tar flats.
Mixed in with all this are amazing insight on how people interact with computers and how to guide users rather than force them (always a better proposition).
He discusses Kinetothisis(sp?)- the study of feedback and how important it is in the user experience. He addresses the mouse vs keyboard speed issues and draws some wonderful conclusions. Throughout the book, he shows the difference between actual and percieved performance and convenience.
All in all, it is a great book that every designer, coder, artist, manager and documenter should read. It will make you question and refine your designs to better suit the needs of your users. For that matter it will help you to better understand what those needs are in the first place.
pete
Entropy isn't what it used to be