Customer Reviews

The Elements of User Interface Design

5 star:		(12)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

This book will not tell you how to create an intuitive and loyalty-inspiring interface for your company's applications. It won't help you create technologically cutting edge interfaces. It doesn't tell you how to design software or plan for change. It offers essentially no applicable guidelines for style or component choice. It doesn't have much to offer when it comes to the graphic design of icons or splash pages. And it won't tell you how to write the code to make a good UI happen.

What will it do? At best, it will open your mind to the field of human interface design, if you don't know it already. But there are no revelations and no surprises here.

If you have no previous knowledge of user interface design and/or have little knack for such things, Elements will break you in easily and comprehensively to the concepts. But with a little experience or common sense, you could gleam as much from a good twenty page tract as from this verbose tome. Skim it in an hour, or use it to feel vaguely productive during a lazy day at work, while you stare out the window. But don't count on much in the way of concrete benefits.

On page 7: "[UI] must have complexity, be interesting, have intensity, depth and richness, and be distinctive. It must have length, in its finish and in our memory, engage our minds, make us think about it."

If all my software had a user interface as defined by the term above, I would get no work done. And with the number of software titles available, if they all tried to be complex and deep, and distinctive, surely users will suffer. This is just one example, but I strongly believe that this book starts off on the wrong foot. And it even says to come back to that chapter so to remind yourself which foot you are suppose to be starting from. This book is NOT going to improve interfaces.

Some books can trick you into thinking that there is going to be something to say when there really isn't. Sadly, this book falls into that category. Bound between the covers are 400-plus pages of common sense, rants about Windows, praises for OS/2, and constantly repeated philosophies that are never truly demonstrated.

There is an interesting section on memory and the way people learn, which are important considerations for designing UIs, so it's not a complete loss, but when the book actually got down to putting something together, it doesn't really have much you can look to for guidance. The iceberg analogies and the perspective models weren't very helpful either.

At the start of every chapter, the author cites numerous quotes from people no one has ever heard of and doesn't give any context as to why we should listen to them.

The most ironic aspect, however, is that the book, at times, is poorly structured. The sections don't seem to have any logical ordering to them making whole portions sound like a rambling of loosely connected topics, and of the text will cite a table or figure and then display it in a completely different section or even two pages down the line from where it was cited, making the examples seemingly irrelevant to the text.

All-in-all, this is one you can easily avoid.

I've just seen the author present a full-day tutorial at Seybold Seminars and I've read his books. Dr. Mandel offers practical, easy-to-understand advice and insight about interface design and usability.

In his books and tutorial, he uses examples to highlight the many principles of good design. Dr. Mandel's web site also provides valuable presentations and links on web design and usability.

I would recommend this book for anyone needing to gain an understanding and appreciation for the art and science of interface design.

This is a very good book on user interface design - far better than Alan Cooper's About Face.

But if you want a book that tells you how to write code to make good user interfaces then this is not for you. Instead, try "Constructing the User Interface" by Ian Horrocks.

This is an excellent reference on interface design and usability testing. Mandel's key ideas and "Golden Rules" should be required reading for all developers and web designers.

The book is enjoyable reading and increases awareness of interface design issues and practical applications.

the book isn't a bad book but it's more of a reference and a little on the novice side. If you haven't already, check out "The Human Interface" by Jef Raskin. That is a far superior book.

I loved the personalize note I received with my order. The speed was amazing and the book was in the exact condition that was stated. I am very happy with my purchase.

Mandel's book was one of several UI books I got when I was trying to implement a process for designing Web user interfaces at my workplace. Mandel has an entire chapter on it, "The User Interface Design Process", which on flipping through the pages seems quite comprehensive.

It turns out, however, that Mandel's intention in this book is to introduce the theory and practice of Object Oriented User Interfaces (OOUIs), through a brilliant "foundations" part that covers the concepts and evolution of user interfaces, two OOUI parts that profile and detail OOUIs, and an "Advanced" part that looks at evolving user interface concepts and issues.

Unfortunately, not only are Web interfaces covered in but a single chapter in the last part of the book, but the chapter merely explores, without a conclusion, how the Web interface is strikingly different from the traditional PC desktop interface. OOUI principles are in no way applicable to building Web applications (Consider what impact the OOUI tenet "Users must Understand Direct Manipulation (Drag and Drop)" would have on download time and cross-browser development costs in a Web project).

Overall, the book is a great read, a necessary reference for any UI designer, but avoid it if you're looking for solutions, especially for Web-based applications.

I'm a usability / human factors / HCI professional, and I thought I'd already read all the standard UI design books I'd ever need. After reading Mandel, I realized this book was an excellent standard reference. It belongs on the desk of anyone who is currently doing UI design, is planning to do UI design, or is merely curious about how good user interfaces can be created. This work has a good balance of friendly, accessible readability, and pointers to the basic scholarly research upon which the principles are based. Highly recommended.