Customer Reviews

Human-Computer Interaction: Concepts And Design (Ics S.)

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4 star:		(3)
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1 star:		(4)

 

 

IMO great for undergrad intro course on usability, and Human factors for CIS. Unlike many Usability books out there instead of why, it presents how and what.

I have used this book in my course in Usability and User Centered Design, and have found that the presentation and segmentation of issues in the book provides a good framework to teach the concepts of HCI especially to Computer Science majors.

I've just started reading this book for a university course and though I've only finished one chapter, I have to say that the writing is so poor that I would not recommend this book to anyone. I find myself continually having to re-read sentences because they are oddly worded. The omission of serial commas and the lack of semicolons in many lists containing the word "and" merely add to the confusion. There are many HCI books out there, so save yourself a headache and find one that's well written.

If you've been using this book (1994) and you want a revised edition, then take a look at our new book (2002) "Interaction Design: Beyond Human-Computer Interaction", jointly authored by Jenny Preece, Yvonne Rogers and Helen Sharp, published by John Wiley & Sons.

This book contains lots of threads that are never tied together. For example, there is some very simple school-level psychology in the opening few chapters which is not related well to user interface design. The book does not contain much practical advice on designing user interfaces.

See Alan Cooper's book "About Face" for a far more entertaining and thought-provoking read.

This book is an apology for bad science. Design must be a serious issue, but this book handles it in an amateur manner for soft-scientists. Imagine writing down your opinions in prose and casting it as facts: now imagine these opinions being set as examinable for students who could have better spent their time watching grass grow. As the Oscars cliche goes "Half an hour of the best entertainment spread over the next four hours".

I really liked this book!