Designing for the User with OVID [Paperback]

Dave Roberts (Author), Dick Berry (Author), John Mullaly (Author), Scott Isensee (Author)

Book Description

Series: Software Engineering Series | Publication Date: September 17, 1998

Object-based user interfaces allow for a more explicit mapping between the designer's model and the system. OVID was developed to help designers understand the user's models and take advantage of the new interface style. OVID focuses on three design elements: the objects that the user is aware of, views of the object, and the interactions between the user and the objects. OVID produces a set of documented tasks that detail how the objects and the views are used to accomplish tasks A case study shows how OVID streamlines the process of creating a real-world user interface. The authors also provide a glossary as well as a bibliography to help the user understand the concepts in the book and find further information.

Editorial Reviews

From the Back Cover

Object-based user interfaces allow for a more explicit mapping between the designer's model and the system. OVID was developed to help designers understand the user's models and take advantage of the new interface style. OVID focuses on three design elements: the objects that the user is aware of, views of the object, and the interactions between the user and the objects. OVID produces a set of documented tasks that detail how the objects and the views are used to accomplish tasks A case study shows how OVID streamlines the process of creating a real-world user interface. The authors also provide a glossary as well as a bibliography to help the user understand the concepts in the book and find further information.

Product Details

• Paperback: 208 pages
• Publisher: Macmillan Technical Pub; lst ed edition (September 17, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1578701015
• ISBN-13: 978-1578701018
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 7.2 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,070,803 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars typical ibm book, January 25, 2002

By 

Jisoo Kim "jiskim2" (san francisco, ca United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Designing for the User with OVID (Paperback)

Let's just say if you have lot of time, you can try using method described in the book. But for lot of people in business of delivering the products in time, this may not be a good book to get influence from. There are some interesting examples in there that may be useful, but using as a reference....hmmmm.....think twice. There was an article published in ACM Interactions magazine while ago where they reviewed using OVID method, and they also came into same conclusion: high learning curve and implementation time was too long.

Book itself was simple to read, well at least for me. There are lot of examples, but I found them inconsistent. You may want to try IBM's website to get more information on OVID if you don't want to buy the book.

1 of 27 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Here is what people are saying about OVID, October 1, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Designing for the User with OVID (Paperback)

The following quotes are from the cover of the book:

"This book is of critical importance in our endeavors to leverage different world views in order to successfully develop software in combination with users, user interface designers, and programmers. I plan to incorporate this approach in my own work and hope you will see the worth of this in your work also."

Dr. Brad Cox, Author of Object-Oriented Programming: an Evolutionary Approach, George Mason University

"The effective translation of an understanding of the user into highly usable product design is one of the most significant challenges in the information technology industry. OVID directly addresses this challenge by defining a new, comprehensive approach that is based on solid, object-oriented methods."

Karel Vredenburg, Corporate Team Lead for User-Centered Design, IBM

"This is a very good book for introducing programmers to object-oriented GUI style, especially for applying programmers' object notations to OO GUI style. This is one of the rare sources on the critical topic of how to represent object "views" in those notations."

Tom Dayton, Senior Usability Engineer, Sun Microsystems Usability Labs & Services

"There has long been a need for a method which integrates Object Oriented Design of applications and their GUIs. This is it."

Paul Brebner, Software Research Engineer, CSIRO Land and Water, Australia

"Object-oriented interface design is an excellent way to bridge the gap between task data and fully realized systems. Object, view and interaction design (OVID) methodology provides indispensable guidance on bridging that gap successfully."

Christopher R. Hale, Senior Human Factors Engineer, Intel Corporation

User interface design has long been a mysterious area for many software developers. OVID blends the art and science of user-centered interface design and usability with the familiar and structured methodologies of Object-Oriented Design. I will use this book in my consulting work, seminars, and courses--and know its practical approach will be very well-received.

Theo Mandel, Ph.D., Interface Design/Usability Consultant, Interface Design and Development, Author of "The Elements of User Interface Design" and "The GUI-OOUI War"

"At the beginning of this decade, Don Norman characterized usability as 'the next competitive frontier.' Here at the end of the decade, OVID arms user interface designers for that competition, offering a series of proven design methods presented in a cogent framework, with the user kept at the center."

Randolph G. Bias, Manager, Usability Engineering, BMC Software, Inc., co-editor of "Cost-Justifying Usability".