TechWhirl (TECHWR-L) is a resource for technical writing and technical communications professionals of all experience levels and in all industries to share their experiences and acquire information.
For two decades, technical communicators have turned to TechWhirl to ask and answer questions about the always-changing world of technical communications, such as tools, skills, career paths, methodologies, and emerging industries. The TechWhirl Archives and magazine, created for, by and about technical writers, offer a wealth of knowledge to everyone with an interest in any aspect of technical communications.
I have a fairly good book (~400 page soft cover) called
"The GUI Style Guide" (GSG) -- How to Create Software Interfaces that Make Sense by Susan L. Fowler and Victor R. Stanwick. Published by AP Professional.
The back cover reads: ... explains how to write, draw, and develop sensible user interfaces, (and) why each guideline works. ... The GSG helps developers, technical writers, artists, human-factors experts, and students blah, blah, blah.
The book has three parts:
1. Widgets, describes the standards for developing windows, dialog boxes, icons, buttons, and menus.
2. Text, explains how to write messages and online help.
3. Design, covers three topics you have to design into your applications from the beginning, not just slather on at the end--internationalization, charts and graphs, and color and pattern. Also included is a chapter on multimedia design and development.
Judy Fraser, B.Sc.
Technical Communications Specialist
PO Box 58, Centreville
Nova Scotia, Canada, B0P 1J0
-----Original Message-----
From: Cramer, Kim [SMTP:kcramer -at- NCSLINK -dot- COM]
Sent: Thursday, August 28, 1997 8:25 PM
To: TECHWR-L -at- LISTSERV -dot- OKSTATE -dot- EDU
Subject: Re: GUI Design
From: Matthew J Long
> A few of my developer buddies at work are arguing about the best way to
> design a GUI (They are creating forms for an Oracle database). I have seen
> the User Interface Engineering web site which discusses design, but it is
> web-centric. Does anybody know of a resource similar to the UIE web site
> that discusses design cocepts for non-web GUI apps. I want to find hard
> stats if possible (e.g. productivity is increased by 120% by using "this"
> design technique to develop your interface, etc).
I've got a copy of The Windows Interface: An Application Design Guide
from Microsoft. It's a 1992 version, but has probably been updated. At
the end of the first chapter is the following bibliography of source
books:
Chew, Jane Carrasco, and John Whiteside, eds. Empowering People: CHI
'90 Conference Proceedings. New York, NY: ACM Press, 1990.
Helander, Martin, ed. Handbook of Human-Computer Interaction.
Amsterdam: North-Holland, 1988.
IBM Corporation. Common User Access: Advanced Interface Design Guide.
Boca Raton, FL: IBM, 1989
Laurel, Brenda, ed. The Art of Human-Computer Interface Design.
Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley, 1990.
Nielsen, Jacob, ed. Coordinating User Interfaces for Consistency.
Boston: Academic Press, 1989.
Norman, Donald A.. The Design of Everyday Things. New York: Basic
Books, 1988.
Robertson, S.P., G.M. Olson, and J.S. Olson, eds. Reaching Through
Technology: CHI '91 Conference Proceedings. Reading, MA:
Addison-Wesley, 1991.
Shneiderman, Ben. Designing the User Interface: Strategies for
Effective Human-Computer Interaction. Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley,
1987.
Tufte, Edward R. Envisioning Information. Cheshire, CT: Graphics
Press, 1990.
----
I haven't read any of these books, but you may want to check them out.
*************
Kim Cramer mailto:kcramer -at- ncslink -dot- com
Sr. Information Developer
NCS Education, Mesa AZ
*************
TECHWR-L (Technical Communication) List Information: To send a message
to 2500+ readers, e-mail to TECHWR-L -at- LISTSERV -dot- OKSTATE -dot- EDU -dot- Send commands
to LISTSERV -at- LISTSERV -dot- OKSTATE -dot- EDU (e.g. HELP or SIGNOFF TECHWR-L).
Search the archives at http://www.documentation.com/ or search and
browse the archives at http://listserv.okstate.edu/archives/techwr-l.html
TECHWR-L (Technical Communication) List Information: To send a message
to 2500+ readers, e-mail to TECHWR-L -at- LISTSERV -dot- OKSTATE -dot- EDU -dot- Send commands
to LISTSERV -at- LISTSERV -dot- OKSTATE -dot- EDU (e.g. HELP or SIGNOFF TECHWR-L).
Search the archives at http://www.documentation.com/ or search and
browse the archives at http://listserv.okstate.edu/archives/techwr-l.html
