This meditation reports the interface and API design references I've found useful and further presents some general interface design ideas and checklists in the hope that they may prove useful -- and that they might be improved upon by your insightful feedback.
For me the two greatest tools for interface/API design I've come across are Test Driven Development and Refactoring. Growing effective interfaces/APIs over time, rather than designing them all up front, is a stupidly useful technique.
API Design Checklist
Alan Shalloway and Ron Jeffries' list of features for a simple design is one that resonates for me:
- Runs all the tests.
- Contains no duplication.
- Expresses all the ideas you want to express.
- Minimizes classes and methods.
The three greatest experts in the human side of interface design that I'm aware of are: Donald Norman, Jakob Nielsen, Larry Wall
I know lots of people who would argue with Nielsen's place on that list - especially with the absence of Alan Cooper!
While Larry is a hugely talented programming language designer (in my opinion anyway :-) I'm not entirely convinced that this necessarily maps onto "human" interface design in general.
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