Designing Highly Useable Software

By: Jeff Cogswell

Write A Review

eText | 26 December 2006 | Edition Number 1

At a Glance

Format
PDF

eText

$58.29

or 4 interest-free payments of $14.57 with

Instant online reading in your Booktopia eTextbook Library *

Why choose an eTextbook?

Instant Access *

Purchase and read your book immediately

Read Aloud

Listen and follow along as Bookshelf reads to you

Study Tools

Built-in study tools like highlights and more

* eTextbooks are not downloadable to your eReader or an app and can be accessed via web browsers only. You must be connected to the internet and have no technical issues with your device or browser that could prevent the eTextbook from operating.

Learn What Usability Really Is, Why to Strive for It, and How to Achieve It

"Highly useable" software is easy to use. It does what you expect it to. And it does it well.

It's not easy to build but as this book demonstrates, it's well worth the effort. Highly useable software is highly successful software???and everyone wins.
Inside, an accomplished programmer who has made usability his business systematically explores the world of programming, showing you how every aspect of the work is implicated in the usability of the final product. This is not just an "issues" book, however, but systematic, real-world instructions for developing applications that are better in every way. As you'll learn, there's no such thing as "intuitive" software. Instead, there are just the factors that make it highly useable: simplicity, consistency, the recognition of accepted conventions, and the foregrounding of the user's perspective. With these principles under your belt, you'll quickly discover dozens of ways to make your applications more useable:

Making windows and dialog boxes easy to comprehend and use
Designing software that is time- and resource-efficient
Making your software easy to navigate
Reducing the complexity of reports and other presentations of data
Understanding how the wrong programming decisions can limit usability
Ensuring smooth starts and stops
Capitalizing on the usability advantages of object-oriented programming
Understanding how usability affects your product's financial success
Using the testing process to improve usability
Promoting usability in training, installation, and online help
Making management decisions that will benefit software usability

Some chapters are written primarily for programmers, one primarily for managers. Most are for everyone, and all are filled with illuminating, usually amusing examples drawn from both inside and outside the technical world. A helpful appendix provides information on standards, usability groups, and sources for more information.