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Being mostly a software developer I find that the hardest thing for me is to produce usable user-interface.

I did read some books, including The Smashing Book and Web Design For Developers. But those are mostly concentrated on the Design rather than on building more complex interfaces (like allocating many-to-many items with search with different options on both sides, grouping using different fields and so on).

Are there any books, articles that target building more (logically) complex UIs for the web?

Based on the other answer on the SO the Designing Web Interfaces book looks good

Thanks,
Dmytrii.

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Dmytrii Nagirniak
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5 Answers5

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I like Don't Make Me Think

Matt Phillips
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  • I thought about it. Definitely have to read it. But I prefer a PDF. Do you know where I can get it in PDF? – Dmytrii Nagirniak Oct 19 '10 at 01:49
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    I would argue that it is still very relevant today. It focuses on simplicity and the psychology of how non-technical people would browse a site. – Matt Phillips Oct 19 '10 at 03:15
  • @Dmytrii: Neurosciencehas made amazing progress in the recent years, but from what I understand (as a total amateur) nothing of it really contradicts the cognitive model(s) that have been in use for a long time. – peterchen Oct 22 '10 at 12:52
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Here are the books you absolutely have to read for anything related to usability

  1. The Design of Everyday things - Donald Norman
  2. The inmates are running the asylum - Alan Cooper
  3. The Humane interface - Jeff Raskin
  4. How things work - Donald Norman
  5. Designing Web Usability: The Practice of Simplicity - Jackob Nielsen

If you want to get more into the science of why:

  1. Principles of cognitive psychology - Eysenck
Dmytrii Nagirniak
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Kirit Chandran
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As with any topic, get your hands on as many resources as possible.

My most recent addition to my pile of books is Designing Interfaces Patterns for Effective Interaction Design by Jenifer Tidwell. Links: Official website and Amazon.

I highly recommend it: it describes user interfaces in patterns (something that we are familiar with).

A few titles from my book shelf:

I could list more titles, however the above will get you started.

...

Possibly a bit Off-topic, however I cannot resist as this is an area that I know.

If you have the opportunity, talk with your users (or even better sit down with them as they work). It is the best research you can do when trying to improve usability of your software.

If you want to measure your usability check out running System Usability Scale test (commonly referred to as SUS scores). Link 1 and Link 2 (PDF)

HTH,

Dennis

Dennis
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  • Thanks a lot. Nice set of books. Talking to users does indeed help. But when we see overly complex screen THEY propose solutions to it (like can't we just group the list on XYZ?) and I often can't offer a better alternative. It leads to overly complex UI. – Dmytrii Nagirniak Oct 19 '10 at 02:35
  • @Dmytrii: I agree, however try to break down what the user is trying to achieve and then try to simplify the action. Sometimes you may need to be ruthless and go back to the drawing board with your UI or need to invest more time in documentation/help/training. – Dennis Oct 19 '10 at 02:40
  • I always end up next to the whiteboard. Breaking down the actions often brings to ten pages and a lot of state management page. So I have to agree with the users. I guess I need to gather more information about how to correctly do that. – Dmytrii Nagirniak Oct 19 '10 at 02:55
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I also like this one:

The Design Of Sites - second edition

Marco Mariani
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Jenifer Tidwells book Designing Interfaces: Patterns for Effective Interaction Design is a good one.

alt text

Chapters:

  1. The user and the task.
  2. Organizing content
  3. Navigation
  4. Organizing the page
  5. Actions and commands
  6. Complex data
  7. Input
  8. Buildes and editors
  9. Making it look nice
Jørn E. Angeltveit
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