The Essential Guide to User Interface Design: An Introduction to GUI Design Principles and Techniques [Paperback]

Wilbert O. Galitz (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0471157554 | ISBN-13: 978-0471157557 | Publication Date: December 13, 1996 | Edition: 1

Software Development/User Interface Design

A concise, fully illustrated introduction to the do's and don'ts of computer interface design

Written especially for software developers, this guide will quickly teach you how to build effective user interfaces to computer systems and applications-even if you are designing interfaces for the first time. Wilbert O. Galitz, an internationally known expert on ergonomics and graphical user interface design, clearly explains the basic principles of interface design. He provides a step-by-step guide through the entire design process highlighted by dozens of examples of good and bad interface designs.

In this valuable guide, Galitz covers the principles of human interaction with screens-for example, how the eye reacts to colors, cascading windows, and overlay and text placement. You'll receive a clear description of each screen element and how it can be used to create interfaces that really work from the user's perspective.

You'll also find coverage of:
* All of the latest interface trends, including WindowsR(r) 95
* Important human characteristics to address during your design process
* How to select the proper kinds of windows
* How to develop system menus
* How to select the proper screen-based controls
* How to organize and lay out windows
* How to choose the most effective colors and create meaningful icons
* How to provide effective feedback, guidance, and language translation

Visit our Web site at: http://www.wiley.com/compbooks/

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

An effective software interface can improve user productivity and satisfaction and reduce errors. But designing effective UIs demands unflinching attention to detail--plus the willingness to apply techniques that may at times contradict your common sense and intuition. The Essential Guide to User Interface Design offers page after page of detailed prescriptions for designing interfaces that work. Goldsmith's scope is comprehensive: He lays out a 12-step approach to UI design that covers everything from how to organize dialog boxes in ways that exploit users' natural patterns of eye movement, to choosing colors effectively, to picking precisely the right words for error messages. The guide is an invaluable resource for anyone who wants to build software that really works.

From the Publisher

Written for system designers and programmers who need to create user-friendly GUIs, this book gives a thorough introduction to graphic interface design. With concise language and detailed illustrations, the book takes readers step by step through the process of GUI design, showing the do's and don'ts with examples of good and bad interface design. Not only does it cover technical information, it also explains important principles of human interaction with screens, to insure the most user-friendly design possible.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 640 pages
• Publisher: Wiley; 1 edition (December 13, 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0471157554
• ISBN-13: 978-0471157557
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 7.5 x 1.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,301,081 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Redundant information, lists; obsolete info, June 21, 2009

By 

spkmn "spkmn" (Atlanta, GA USA) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: The Essential Guide to User Interface Design: An Introduction to GUI Design Principles and Techniques (CourseSmart) (Paperback)

For a book that claims to be the definitive guide, its content is very old. The dialogs look like they are from the early 90s. And, so are the standards cited. The Microsoft guidelines from 1995 are cited as a current reference. I supposed someone could try to claim that the lessons presented are 'timeless', but to me, that is ridiculous. User interfaces are not timeless.

The larger problem I have is the redundancy. The same information is presented over, and over, and over. Eliminate the redundancy, and the book would be 1/2 of its size.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Encyclopedic, authoratative, maybe a little a little too dated., February 24, 2010

By 

Scott Adams "flintyscott" (Flint, MI USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

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This review is from: The Essential Guide to User Interface Design: An Introduction to GUI Design Principles and Techniques (CourseSmart) (Paperback)

"The Essential Guide to User Interface Design" is a huge, massive book that delves very quickly into the dirty details of UI and GUI design. The author, Galitz, has been in the trenches since the earliest computers that actually did interface to humans (predating the PC). He is indisputably an expert and authoritative source for what works, and doesn't, when it comes to UI/GUI design.

The first of two substantial criticisms I have of this book is ironically one of its (and the author's) strengths - it is authoritative because Galitz has been at the forefront of UI research since the beginning, but he puts too much of that historical information into this book. As historical context it has some value, but too much of it leaves one with the feeling that the book is somewhat dated. Editing out the excess detail about text-based CRT displays might leave it feeling more current (the current GUI information is there, but is diluted too much by the historic information).

My second criticism is that the book could also use substantial editing to reduce its bulk, without eliminating any valuable information (of which there is a great deal); there is a lot of redundancy. Some is fine for reinforcing the author's points, but this book has too much - I have frequently read through a bulleted list of design points (presented first), only to then read exactly the same information in a slightly expanded form over many more pages. This is specifically true in what might be considered the heart of this book - the fourth chapter of Part 2; Step 3: Principles of Good Interface and Screen Design. It covers in detail part three of the author's fourteen-step procedure for UI design. This chapter alone is about 180 pages long! With tighter editing it (and the book) could probably be shrunk by 1/3 without any loss of information.

That said, even though this may not be the most concise source of (application and web) UI design guidelines, it makes up for that in breadth and depth, and the credibility and authority of its author.

7 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Useful to understand the why, May 19, 2008

By 

Donald J. Tassin - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Essential Guide to User Interface Design: An Introduction to GUI Design Principles and Techniques (CourseSmart) (Paperback)

Mr. Galitz's reasons for using design standards and the detailed consequences of poor design are backed up by reasearch. He gives specific recommendations for standards such as typefaces, point size, label and caption styles, etc. He explains and uses a good shorthand throughout the book for items as "signal" versus "noise." This is handy to quickly distinguish between things that are good/favorable/communicative/useful compared to things that are interfering/obstructive/not useful. This is an excellent book for anyone wanting to understand the "why" of good screen design and then learn the "what."