As you’re reading this, you’re probably overlooking the reason why you’re using a mouse. Who invented it? What about the toolbar and drop-down menus? Copy and paste? The desktop and icons? All of these things make up the computer systems we use today, but how did we get to this point and why do we interact with these machines in the way we do? These are all questions which Designing Interactions sets out to answer.
Bill Moggridge’s book charts the history of interaction design through a series of interviews, some of which can be seen on the accompanying DVD. Designing Interactions begins with the story of the mouse and the desktop, then goes on to cover handheld devices, the Internet and a numerous other systems and services.
It’s a hefty tome, clocking in at 766 pages, but it’s one that you can dip into at any point. I must admit I watched the DVD first and then went through the book in more detail later. Whichever way you read - or watch - it, Designing Interactions provides an extremely interesting insight into the creation of things that we now take for granted. It covers a wide range of technologies, but I found the story of how the first GUIs came into being the most compelling.
Designing Interactions can’t really be classed essential reading, but if you are interesting in design history, then it won’t disappoint. The inclusion of a DVD, which I wasn’t even aware of when I bought it, is a great bonus too.
Published in Book reviews, Usability on 14th December 2008. No comments.
Creating a successful website is difficult, but getting it to a postion you’re happy with is only half the battle; you also have to make that website sustainable. Thunderbolt had its eighth birthday recently and every year I find myself almost wondering how it’s survived for so long. Eight years isn’t a long time, but in terms of the Internet, it’s eons. Many websites don’t last, even the best. Take IdleThumbs for example; it was a fantastic games site, but then they just stopped producing content and it’s only recently returned as a podcast. So what have I learnt from my experience of Thunderbolt and what can you do to make your website sustainable?
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Published in Websites, tagged sustainability, Thunderbolt on 6th December 2008. No comments.
These days I find myself using JavaScript libraries, specifically jQuery, to add lightweight visual effects to my websites. One of the most useful things you can do with them is hide and show content. For instance, if you’ve got a blog post with a hundred comments, the page is going to be extremely long. However, if you hide all but the first five and then allow users to reveal the rest if they choose, the page is going to be a lot more inviting.
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Published in Usability, tagged ambiguity, jQuery on 16th November 2008. No comments.
Along with Steve Krug’s Don’t Make Me Think!, few usability books come as highly recommended as The Design of Everyday Things. Originally written twenty years ago, Donald Norman’s book analyses the reasons why people interact with objects and systems in the way that they do and what can be done to make this process easier.
Instead of focusing on more specific computer examples of usability problems, Norman chooses to explain his theories with everyday objects like doors, taps and car radios. This not only allows the book to stand the test of time, but reminds us that usability is not just applicable to software; it’s applicable to everything.
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Published in Book reviews, Usability on 18th October 2008. No comments.
I haven’t been posting on here as frequently as I’d like, but I’ve written a few reviews for Thunderbolt in the last few weeks which you may be interested in:
FIFA 09
“Football fans are a loyal, optimistic bunch. Each year they pin their hopes on their team, praying that their support with finally pay off. Yet each season, early promise gives way to inevitable failure. The parallels with football games are uncanny; each year we hope and we’re told that this time we’ll get the title we deserve. In fact, FIFA 07’s motto was “This is the season”; it wasn’t. Euro 2008 was a surprisingly decent improvement over last year’s title, but has FIFA finally become the game we so want it to be?”
Read the full review
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Published in Videogames, tagged Thunderbolt on 12th October 2008. No comments.
I’m again pleased to announce the completion of a project, this time the redesign of the Impact Magazine website. Although I’m currently doing an industrial placement year, I’m the magazine’s Web Editor and so I’ve taken the chance to redesign the site from scratch.
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Published in Websites, tagged Impact, WordPress on 20th September 2008. One comment.
I’m pleased to announce the completion of my most recent project; the Thunderbolt Content Management System, version 3. You might think we’re slightly mad not using a standard system like WordPress at Thunderbolt, but it gives us greater flexability and the chance for me to improve my coding skills in the process of building it. If I were creating a similar site today, I would probably use one of the many readily available CMSs, but ours has grown from being a place where we manage our content to much more. The CMS we use now is also part intranet, allowing us to co-ordinate our work as well. Enough introduction though, let’s take a look:
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Published in Websites, tagged Thunderbolt on 12th September 2008. No comments.
The Metropolitan Police have launched a website which uses Google Maps to display London crime figures. It provides a clear visual representation of complex data and also adjusts depending on how far you’ve zoomed in. It’s a great example of using a clean and simple interface to make otherwise dull information accessible. The related information in the bottom right corner is an inspired touch too, inviting people to learn more about crime in their area and what they can do about it.
Published in Websites on 20th August 2008. No comments.
I’ve just spent the last week in Nottingham designing the first issue of Impact Magazine and I thought I’d share a few of the pages that I’ve designed:
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Published in Design, tagged Impact, magazines on 18th August 2008. No comments.
As far as usability books go, there are few that come more recommended than Don’t Make Me Think! Steve Krug’s expanded and revised second edition, published two years ago, is a surprisingly short introduction to usability, but that’s really the point. It defines a few key principles and lessons from which you can begin to learn about usability or refresh your knowledge of it.
Krug starts by laying out why you’d want to read Don’t Make Me Think! and what it will and won’t contain. It’s a smart introduction to a book which is not just aimed at designers, but manager and executives as well. He then proceeds to outline the book’s central principle: “Don’t make me think!” It’s a remarkably simple rule, but you’d be amazed how many websites and interfaces forget to spell out the obvious.
Don’t Make Me Think! goes on to explain how people really use the Web; not by reading everything and making logical decisions, but by scanning and muddling through. Krug focuses on a great little fact; we don’t make optimal choices; we satisfice (a neat portmanteau of satisfying and sufficing). People choose the first reasonable option, not the best one.
The book moves on to visual hierarchies, choice, writing for the Web and an extensive section on graphical cues and conventions. Krug touches on a few business issues too, including homepage design and how to safely navigate making design decisions in a team. He introduces more formal usability testing, then moves on to accessibility and a brief introduction to cascading style sheets.
What makes Don’t Make Me Think! so easy to recommend is not just the balanced choice of topics, but also Krug’s writing style. He explains issues and suggests guidelines in plain English that everyone can understand. The book is also in full colour with plenty of illustrations, so you know exactly what he’s talking about.
Looking at the cover, you’d be forgiven for thinking that it’s a one principle book that revolves around a few anecdotes and a handful of buzzwords, but it’s the complete opposite. Don’t Make Me Think! is an essential read for anyone remotely interested in the subject and a great title to having lying around as reference. If I could only have one book on usability, this would be it.
Published in Book reviews, Usability on 9th August 2008. One comment.
