Customer Reviews

Human Factors and Web Development

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While I liked the organization of the book (each chapter written by a different "expert") with few exceptions, there was very little practical knowledge delivered despite the abundance of minutia. For example, one author went into great detail about visual perception: proximal vs. distal stimuli, how the eye tracks across text, etc., but conclusions drawn were SO obvious, they could have been culled from the most basic design books (avoid crowding the letters in text; it makes it hard to read). Duh. From the title, I was expecting more human factors information, and less "no sh*t, sherlock" design tips (FYI the discussion on proximal and distal stimuli lead nowhere, and those were the most technical terms in the book).

This book covers a considerable amount of ground by addressing the results of laboratory-based studies on human information processing and those attained in more applied settings. While I felt that the organization of information in the book was well done the overall results and recommendations given in many of the chapters were not a great revelation. For example, one author states that "attention can be disrupted when several items on a visual display are designed to capture attention" (p. 39), while the chapter on designing Web pages for individuals with disabilities suggests that one should "use a consistent, simple layout across all pages of the site", and "use large buttons and controls" (pg. 90). I'm not convinced that even relative neophytes to Web design would be enlightened by these and other such comments. However, my chief complaint with this book is that it is unequivocally the most poorly edited collection of chapters that I have ever read. Perhaps I'm a bit jaded from having read and graded one too many papers but is it too much to ask that a book addressing human information processing and Web design principles have correctly spelled words, proper grammar, and understandable formatting conventions (my personal favorite is Table 11.1 on page 141)?