Usability Engineering: Scenario-Based Development of Human-Computer Interaction (Interactive Technologies) [Hardcover]

Mary Beth Rosson (Author), John M. Carroll (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 1558607129 | ISBN-13: 978-1558607125 | Publication Date: October 26, 2001 | Edition: 1

You don't need to be convinced. You know that usability is key to the success of any interactive system-from commercial software to B2B Web sites to handheld devices. But you need skills to make usability part of your product development equation. How will you assess your users' needs and preferences? How will you design effective solutions that are grounded in users' current practices? How will you evaluate and refine these designs to ensure a quality product?

Usability Engineering: Scenario-Based Development of Human-Computer Interaction is a radical departure from traditional books that emphasize theory and address experts. This book focuses on the realities of product development, showing how user interaction scenarios can make usability practices an integral part of interactive system development. As you'll learn, usability engineering is not the application of inflexible rules; it's a process of analysis, prototyping, and problem solving in which you evaluate tradeoffs, make reasoned decisions, and maximize the overall value of your product.

* Written by prominent HCI educators who understand how to teach usability practices to students and professional developers.
* Interleaves HCI theory and concepts with a running case study demonstrating their application.
* Gradually elaborates the case study to introduce increasingly sophisticated usability engineering techniques.
* Analyzes usability issues in realistic scenarios that describe existing or envisioned systems from the perspective of one or more users.
* Emphasizes the real world of usability engineering-a world in which tradeoffs must be weighed and difficult decisions made to achieve desired results.
* Includes a companion Web site which provides additional case studies in a multimedia format, along with a Java application for creating and editing scenarios. This site also provides instructors with sample syllabi, lecture slides and notes, in-class exercises, solutions to textbook exercises, additional project ideas, and links to other HCI resources.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"This book is ideally suited for a problem-based curriculum in which students simultaneously learn good development processes while completing a term project. The book gives excellent guidance, and the case study approach is an excellent organizer and motivator. At last, the proper problem-based textbook."
—Don Norman, Nielsen Norman Group

"One of the nice things about this book is that it identifies where tradeoffs exist in developing user interfaces. Too many books provide guidelines as if they were absolute; unfortunately, this is not the case. Tradeoffs must be constantly made, and understanding how one usability objective can impact another is critical to good design."
—Jon Meads, Usability Architects

From the Back Cover

This book is ideally suited for a problem-based curriculum in which students simultaneously learn good development processes while completing a term project. The book gives excellent guidance, and the case study approach is an excellent organizer and motivator. At last, the proper problem-based textbook.

-- Don Norman, Nielsen Norman Group

One of the nice things about this book is that it identifies where tradeoffs exist in developing user interfaces. Too many books provide guidelines as if they were absolute; unfortunately, this is not the case. Tradeoffs must be constantly made, and understanding how one usability objective can impact another is critical to good design.

-- Jon Meads, Usability Architects

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You don't need to be convinced. You know that usability is key to the success of any interactive system-from commercial software to B2B Web sites to handheld devices. But you need skills to make usability part of your product development equation. How will you assess your users' needs and preferences? How will you design effective solutions that are grounded in users' current practices? How will you evaluate and refine these designs to ensure a quality product?

Usability Engineering: Scenario-Based Development of Human-Computer Interaction is a radical departure from traditional books that emphasize theory and address experts. This book focuses on the realities of product development, showing how user interaction scenarios can make usability practices an integral part of interactive system development. As you'll learn, usability engineering is not the application of inflexible rules; it's a process of analysis, prototyping, and problem solving in which you evaluate tradeoffs, make reasoned decisions, and maximize the overall value of your product.

Features

• Written by prominent HCI educators who understand how to teach usability practices to students and professional developers.


• Interleaves HCI theory and concepts with a running case study demonstrating their application.


• Gradually elaborates the case study to introduce increasingly sophisticated usability engineering techniques.


• Analyzes usability issues in realistic scenarios that describe existing or envisioned systems from the perspective of one or more users.


• Emphasizes the real world of usability engineering-a world in which tradeoffs must be weighed and difficult decisions made to achieve desired results.


• Includes a companion Web site which provides additional case studies in a multimedia format, along with a Java application for creating and editing scenarios. This site also provides instructors with sample syllabi, lecture slides and notes, in-class exercises, solutions to textbook exercises, additional project ideas, and links to other HCI resources.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 448 pages
• Publisher: Morgan Kaufmann; 1 edition (October 26, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1558607129
• ISBN-13: 978-1558607125
• Product Dimensions: 9.5 x 7.4 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.5 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #626,946 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Very well organized, December 21, 2001

By 

cubase di pilsen "‹^› ‹( &#... (60608-CHICAGO, IL USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Usability Engineering: Scenario-Based Development of Human-Computer Interaction (Interactive Technologies) (Hardcover)

This book is a good reference in many points of the usability process - evaluation, design, and testing. The authors organize chapters in a very structured way that the content is very digestible. At 448 pages, the book isn't meant to be read in a single session, but again, it's a great reference.

My favorite part about this book is the fact that it actually has a section on user documentation - something that is lacking in many books on the subject of usability, and the achilles heel of many projects.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Great and applicable for other domains, June 2, 2007

By 

Hussein Ahmed (Virigina, USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Usability Engineering: Scenario-Based Development of Human-Computer Interaction (Interactive Technologies) (Hardcover)

A very good book mainly focused on Scenario-Based analysis which you can actually use in every other subject and aspects of your life (even if you are choosing between trips). I bought this book as a text book for an HCI subject in VT and it was interesting to follow.

9 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Horribly Dry and Boring with Little to Recommend, January 31, 2004

By A Customer

This review is from: Usability Engineering: Scenario-Based Development of Human-Computer Interaction (Interactive Technologies) (Hardcover)

Man, where do I start? I was actually looking forward to a college class on designing easy-to-use computer applications. Boy did I not get what I was looking for, in large part due to this book.

First off, this textbook is boring as heck. Almost everything is black and white, and the design scheme of the book alone makes one not want to read it. In fact, this book is a poor example of usability in its own right.

So that's the looks. The actual content is not particularly useful either. Instead of giving practical, real-world advice, it spends too much time waxing strong about a stupid model called "scenario-based development," as I remember. This is basically the common-sense and annoying pet theory of the authors.

Finally, the examples and interface illustrations in the book seemed so out of date for a book copyrighted in 2002. Just a thought.

Overall: Reads like an academic book written for stuffy academics. Little practical information on designing good applications is provided.