RE: GUI resources?

[Chuck Martin <CMartin -at- serena -dot- com>]

For books, start with Alan Cooper's "The Inmates are Running 
the Asylum," and then follow it up with his "About Face." If 
you can get the other members of the development team to read 
these, so much the better.
 
Then read "Microsoft Windows User Experience," followed by 
"Developing User Interfaces for Windows." Both of these 
should be reference resources for all members of the development team.

There's also "GUI Design for Dummies." And Donald Norman's 
"The Design of Everyday Things" (an outstanding work).

Then, look on the web. Check out http://www.iarchitect.com/ 
and its Interface Hall of Fame (small) and Interface Hall of 
Shame (large, with several detailed case studies), 
http://www.uidesign.net/, http://www.cooper.com/, 
http://www.useit.com/ (more toward web sites, but still 
useful), and http://www.nngroup.com/.

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Mason, Catheryn [mailto:CMason -at- INFINITEC-COM -dot- com]
> Sent: Thursday, January 06, 2000 10:55 AM
> 
> All:
> I'm beginning a new project and would welcome any suggestions 
> for getting
> myself prepared. I'm going to be part of the development team 
> for creating a
> Windows GUI for our software. (I work in telecommunications, 
> documenting our
> hardware and the software that makes it run. Our software 
> right now is
> TL1-based; we're going to make a Windows GUI available for 
> customers who
> want it.) The development team will include the project 
> engineers, our
> product manager, the manager of our field services division, 
> and myself. I'm
> excited about doing something totally new, but also feel woefully
> unprepared. Documenting a GUI is one thing, helping to create 
> it seems like
> quite another.

..

> 
> I have looked at competitors' materials, which helps when 
> planning my
> documentation of the end product but doesn't help me 
> understand the process
> involved. I've also learned, from the archives, that there is 
> material on
> the Microsoft website that I should review (especially since 
> we will be
> creating an MS Windows GUI). Has anyone out there been in my 
> position, and
> if so, what resources (books, websites, articles, etc.) did 
> you find that
> helped you understand GUIs, GUI requirements, and the GUI 
> development
> process? 
 
-- 
Chuck Martin
Sr. Technical Writer, SERENA Software

"People who use business software might despise it, but they 
are getting paid to tolerate it....Most people who are paid 
to use a tool feel constrained not to complain about that 
tool, but it doesn't stop them from feeling frustrated and 
unhappy about it."
          - "The Inmates are Running the Asylum" 
            Alan Cooper

 


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