Object Modeling and User Interface Design: Designing Interactive Systems (Paperback)

by Mark Van Harmelen (Editor), Stephanie Wilson (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description
Object Modeling and User Interface Design: Designing Interactive Systems addresses the problem of designing interactive systems that are easy to learn and use, that augment human abilities by supporting users in their activities, and that are satisfying to their end users--topics that are highly significant for readers who design and specify interactive systems, object modelers, user interface designers, and software design methodologists.

This book showcases the vanguard of new methods for object-oriented and component-based interactive system development, incorporating contributions from international experts in object modeling and human computer interaction. It shows how object modeling approaches can be modified to bring user interface concerns into the earliest stages of the software design life cycle, where they have the greatest possible effect on the subsequent system design and on the end system usability. Adopting the perspective that system scope, contents, functionality, and detailed user interface are all inextricably related, this book provides methods for integrated and concurrent consideration of user requirements, analysis-level object models, interaction modeling, detailed user interface design, and interactive system usability. The methods integrate the best applicable user interface design practice with object modeling techniques that use the Unified Modeling Language (UML).

Four major themes are explored: participatory modeling, scenario- and task-based design, use case based design, and user-centered design. Within these broad overlapping areas, ten individual chapters cover specific topics, such as

- Participatory modeling of business concepts by users
- The use of scenarios and task descriptions to build object models of interactive systems
- New notations for Structured Essential Use Cases in the Software For Use method
- User interface design in the Rational Unified Process (RUP)
- User-centered design approaches for interactive system design

Object Modeling and User Interface Design merges theories with practical techniques to create methods for the design of today's systems. By reading this book you will gain an understanding of the benefits of integrating object-oriented analysis approaches with human computer interaction design, and learn how to systematically design interactive systems for their human users.

From the Author
I am the author of Chapter 9, Toward Unified Models in User-Centered and Object-Oriented Design. In this chapter I present a lightweight approach to user-centred design based around the informal methods associated with UML. The chapter also includes a survey of user-centred techniques and methods currently in use. It should be of interest to anyone trying to develop interactive systems.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 452 pages
• Publisher: Addison-Wesley; 1st edition (April 11, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0201657899
• ISBN-13: 978-0201657890
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 7.3 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,540,613 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars What you need to consider when choosing a modeling technique, March 31, 2002

By	Celia Redmore "Celia Redmore" - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

OM&UID is a book about developing new object-oriented methodologies for interactive software. Nine different methods are presented by an international team of software experts like Larry Constantine and Philippe Kruchten.

All the authors are trying to solve constraints or deficiencies in existing methods. Since these are all new or experimental techniques, each author explains exactly what problem s/he is trying to solve, where the new method might be best used, and how it worked in practice. Most of the sections work through a couple of cases, so you can see how the method works.

A couple of the writers have pointed out how difficult current heavy-weight methodologies are to use. The models generated, unless the modeler is extremely experienced, are usually not correct. What's more, as the first chapter notes, the modelers don't realize that their models are bad. A couple of writers have tried to deal with the problem that business customers can't understand UML-style notation, and don't mentally describe their jobs in terms of classes or windows. That cuts customers out of the system design process at exactly the point where they should be most engaged.

The editor repeats what is generally recognized: that very few people use a methodology as such. Most of us use a grab bag of techniques from a mix of methods, heavily customized to our own needs. Mark van Harmelen's book may be best addressed to those who use mixed methods, because it helps us to see how experienced architects decide which techniques to use in different circumstances and how we can determine whether we were successful.