At least two other books have been reviewed here that have a similar intention: Nielsen's Designing Web usability and Krug's Don't make me think, the latter having a very similar sub-title, a common sense approach to Web usability. Both were published by the same publisher (New Riders) in 2000. Hoekman refers to both authors several time throughout the text, although not to Nielsen's book specifically. The interesting question for a reviewer, therefore, if how much is different about this book?
Designing the Obvious belongs in the toolbox of everyperson charged with the design and development of Web-basedsoftware, from the CEO to the programming team. Designing theObvious explores the character traits of great Web applications anduses them as guiding principles of application design so the endresult of every project instills customer satisfaction and loyalty.These principles include building only whats necessary, gettingusers up to speed quickly, preventing and handling errors, anddesigning for the activity. Designing the Obvious does notoffer a one-size-fits-all development process--in fact, it lets youuse whatever process you like. Instead, it offers practical adviceabout how to achieve the qualities of great Web-based applicationsand consistently and successfully reproduce them.This latest edition updates examples to show the guiding principlesof application design in action on today's web, plus adds newchapters on strategy and persuasion. It offers practical adviceabout how to achieve the qualities of great Web-based applicationsand consistently and successfully reproduce them.
Designing the Obvious: A Common Sense Approach to Web Application Design
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The trick to designing effective support for an activity is to develop a rich picture of what the activity is about, what it involves, and what participants are trying to accomplish. Activity modeling, part of the well-established usage-centered design method, is a simple and systematic way to capture and organize understanding about human activity as it relates to the design of applications and other technology tools. It draws on extensive project experience to zero in on those things about activities that are most likely to be useful in shaping a good design.
We recently faced this very challenge while designing two Web-based applications, including an enterprise-level content management system. What follows are several techniques that have helped us streamline complex applications into lightweight user experiences.
While feature rich applications and information rich web sites can be a challenge to design, a well structured application or web site can still be approachable and usable for both the novice and experienced user. Simplicity does not mean simplistic solutions, lack of functionality or limited information.
UX Design and software development are by no means mutually exclusive skills. On the contrary, they both require common sense and logic, attention to detail and being able to see the big picture. So, if you are a good developer chances are you can become a good UX designer!
Visual design affects emotions and can affect the credibility of an application or site and the sense of trust (or mistrust) that the user develops. For example, consider the two sites in Figure 7 and Figure 8, each with the same content but different visual design. 2ff7e9595c