Designing Highly Useable Software

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 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 & 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 examples.