Amazon.com Review
Susan Fowler descends on the interface scene with a book that should prove to be a valuable resource for the independent developer.
GUI Design Handbook lists all the major GUI components--buttons, check boxes, sliders, labels, and more--alphabetically, like encyclopedia entries. Each component's entry comes with a list of good uses (use a message box to explain an error), a list of bad uses (don't use a tabbed dialog box to present a sequence of events), and plenty of information about usability and how users intuitively perceive particular components. The text is rife with references to academic and technical papers, so you can get more information on particular details if you like. There is no language- or platform-specific information here. This book is about designing good-looking, intelligent interfaces, and it excels at that task.
From the Back Cover
At last! Here's the dictionary of GUI components that every software designer has been searching for. Simply look up the component you're interested in and find: how to test it on users to make sure you picked the right approach; what it is; what it's good for; how to design it. The book contains an easily implemented procedure for designing a good GUI, and describes a dozen of the most effective types of usability tests, many of them quick and easy to do. What readers said about Fowler's first book, The GUI Style Guide: "... Everything you always needed to know about to communicate across that flat glass barrier-the computer screen."--Nicholas Zvengintzov, Software Management News. "Practical, comprehensive guide to creating GUI interfaces... An excellent resource for software developers and technical writers."--Computer Book Reviews. ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Susan Fowler runs FAST Consulting Corporation with Victor Stanwick, illustrator. FAST Consulting specializes in GUI and technical communication design services. She has created interfaces, done training, and written technical documents since 1982 for such firms as AT&T, JP Morgan, Saloman Brothers, McGraw-Hill and IBM. Fowler is the author of numerous articles in ID Magazine, Computer Reviews, Software Development and other technical publications.
