The Essential Guide to User Interface Design [Paperback]

Wilbert O. Galitz (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 15, 2002 | ISBN-10: 0471084646 | ISBN-13: 978-0471084648 | Edition: 2

• Well-designed graphical user interfaces (GUIs) for business systems can greatly increase user productivity, but designing them can be difficult and time consuming. This book walks developers through the basics of good interface design, using real-world examples from systems that are proven successes.
• Galitz is an internationally recognized consultant, author, and instructor with many years of experience with information systems and user interface design.
• Written especially for developers who may be designing user interfaces for the first time, but also extremely useful for any developer involved in GUI or Web site design.
• Revised to reflect the profound enhancements in interface design, specifically how Web page design has revolutionized interface design.
• New information covers a variety of platforms, both traditional and Web-based.

Editorial Reviews

From the Back Cover

An informative step-by-step guide to building user-friendly system interfaces

Well-designed graphical user interfaces (GUIs) for business systems can greatly increase user productivity. Unfortunately, designing them can be difficult and time-consuming for both novice and experienced programmers. Fortunately, Bill Galitz has written an insightful, comprehensive guide to the principles and techniques of effective UI design. Written especially for first-time developers, but also very useful for experienced developers, this book includes numerous practical examples illustrating both good and poor interface design for traditional and Web-based information systems.

Extensively updated to reflect the many changes in interface design since the first edition was published in 1996, this authoritative guide addresses interface and screen design from the user's perspective, spelling out hundreds of principles of good design in a clear and concise manner. Galitz blends the results of screen design research, knowledge concerning people, knowledge about the technical capabilities of the interface, and practical experience into designing a display-based system interface.

You'll also find detailed discussions of:
* User behavior, both innate and learned, and how it affects design
* The principles of good interface layout, including an objective measure of screen complexity
* Selecting the key components of interfaces, including windows and controls, and how they can be combined to promote efficient system use
* Designing system menus and navigation schemes
* The proper use of color and graphics
* Creating comprehensible messages and text
* Usability testing to assure system success

About the Author

WILBERT O. GALITZ is an internationally recognized consultant, author, and instructor on information systems and user interface design. He is president of Galitz, Inc., a firm that focuses on the human factors and ergonomics of systems.

Product Details

• Paperback: 736 pages
• Publisher: Wiley; 2 edition (June 15, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0471084646
• ISBN-13: 978-0471084648
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 7.4 x 1.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.6 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,195,864 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

16 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Required for anyone who is serious about interface design, January 15, 2003

By 

Ben Rothke "Author of 'Computer Security: 20 ... (USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Essential Guide to User Interface Design (Paperback)

The field of interface and interaction design is formally known as Human-Computer Interaction (HCI). It is significant that a large amount of HCI deals with non-programming issues such as psychological approaches to end-user experience, social manners of the audience, and more. The Essential Guide to User Interface Design provide a comprehensive overview of the essentials of interface design.

The Essential Guide to User Interface Design focuses on the actual design of the GUI. While Interaction Design: Beyond Human-Computer Interaction explains why a user may react a specific way to a GUI, The Essential Guide to User Interface Design details the principles and techniques effective for GUI design. Although the book does focus on end-user interaction with systems, the bulk of the book focuses on the actual interface design and layout.

The book provides numerous examples of how small changes can affect end-user productivity, including how the selection of the appropriate component can be used to make a more efficient application. From a business perspective, Chapter 1 shows how one company saved a fortune in operational costs by simply redesigning one window in their application. While ROI is generally not a case for better GUI design, it is a compelling byproduct, nonetheless.

The book is divided into two parts. The first two chapters make up Part 1 and provide an overview of the importance of the user interface. The basics of HCI and GUIs are also detailed in this section.

Part 2 constitutes the bulk of the book (Chapters 3 through 16). In Part 2, the author describes 14 steps involved with the user interface design process. Steps 1 and 2 involve understanding who the end user is and the business function. Steps 3 - 14 go into the nitty gritty of interface design and address menus, windows, control selections, text and messages, and more. The Essential Guide to User Interface Design also provides screen shots that illustrate how to properly design effective user interfaces.

13 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Dear Bill,, March 1, 2006

By 

Jared S. Davis (Columbus, OH) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Essential Guide to User Interface Design (Paperback)

Bill,

In regard to "The Essential Guide to User Interface Design", 2nd Ed, please note the following:

1) Subject matter poorly organized. No chapter summaries, and the "overview" of the chapter is wordy, and doesn't directly link itself to details in the chapter, but rather vaguely talks about the chapter in ambiguous terms.

Action needed: Concise summaries and overviews, bulleted, using the same terminology as the chapter body.

2) Section and paragraph headings use the same font type and nearly the same font size. Distiguishing between a main heading and a subheading is nigh impossible. Juxtaposing the thick lines for sub headings and thin lines for main headings give the impression of similar importance, and destroys the coherency of each main subject.

Action needed: Double under-lines for main headings. Make them thicker as well. Single thin underlines for subheadings. A significant font size change between headings, subheadings, and lists. Italicize the list headings.

3) Repetitous material. The division of your topics, rahter than taking a top-down view and noting similarities of each component, you have taken a bottom up view and established a need to repeat material that applies to all topics. As an example, you have (paraphrased) said "control a can needs consistency. THis is how it is achieved." Rather than "All controls need consistency. here is how to acieve it in all situations"

Action needed: Divide the theory from the practice. Place general information (consistency, symmetry, readability, standardization, etc.) in one discinct portion of the book. Place the control explanations and tips in another. Also, quit utilizing synonyms as separate topics. Symmetry is Balance. Standardization is consistency. Stop taking single topics, finding synonyms, and writing on each one.

4) The lack of cited material in your text is disturbing. Your references pages are extensive, but no real effort has been made to link the material to the references.

Action needed: Put in-text citations.

5) Use the power point presentations to hightlight the text, not repeat it word for word.

I bought you book in new condition (never used) for less than ten dollars. I have no idea why the instructor chose it. It is painfully obvious that the instructor has no real world programming experience. It is also obvious that while you have a pedigree printed in your introduction, you have little actual coding or direct design experience. For someone that is supposed to specialize in media communications, your text is very poorly done.

Sincerely,

Jared Davis

11 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars This book should have been under 200 pages .., January 8, 2004

By 

Kelly Maurice "Eight For Eight" (Boulder, CO) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Essential Guide to User Interface Design (Paperback)

There is useful information in this book but it
could have been said in about 1/10 of the space.
Concept are repeated ad nauseum. And author uses
ancient GUI styles for examples instead of current
ones. Extremely painful to read.