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Home > Designing the User Interface: Strategies for Effective Human-Computer Interaction (5th Edition)

Designing the User Interface: Strategies for Effective

Human-Computer Interaction (5th Edition)
Submitted by superadmin on Mon, 10/22/2012 - 14:45
HP Activity Categories:
Design of working environment and human-machine interfaces [1]
Resource Type:
Guideline
Abstract:

The text book Designing the User Interface: Strategies for Effective Human-Computer
Interaction is one of the classics within the usability literature. Among others, it is famous for
Shneiderman’s eight golden rules of interface design.

The 5th edition of the book from 2009 is an updated version of the book combining the broad
and solid treatment of the HCI field with coverage of current issues like social media and
networking and user-generated content. Also, many of the numerous examples and figures
illustrating design principles and practices are updated to show leading edge applications and
services.

The book treats usability and HCI from different perspectives, covering basic concepts, the
development process, interaction styles, as well as a broad set of design issues. All topics are
described using examples (usually with illustrations in full colour), with a solid foundation in
the research literature. Each chapter starts with a tag cloud showing the most prominent
terms discussed in the chapter, and concludes with a practitioner’s summary and a
researcher’s agenda.

There is a companion web site for the book, to which a special access code is provided for six
month subscription to exclusive contents.

References

Developer and source:

Ben Shneiderman, Catherine Plaisant, 2009. Designing the User Interface: Strategies for
Effective Human-Computer Interaction. Addison Wesley; 5th edition.

Year of development / publication, updates etc:

2009 (first edition was published in 1986)

General Description

Purpose:
The book consists of four parts. Part one is an introduction to usability and HCI, part two looks
at the development process, part three investigates five main interaction styles, while part four
addresses specific design issues.

Through presenting a combination of underlying theory, research results, examples and

guidelines the book aims at presenting a broad field in sufficient depth while still making the
material applicable for practitioners.

The book is not aimed at a specific discipline, but the preface contains a guide of the chapters
that are most relevant for different disciplines (like computer science, psychology and
sociology, business and information systems, and technical writing and graphic design).

Type (e.g. observation, questionnaire, interview, checklist, measurement instrument, etc.):

Textbook.

Technical description of method or tool etc

Description of the content/study:

Part one is an introduction to usability and HCI. It presents basic concepts, goals and
motivation, as well as guidelines, principles and theories. The guidelines presented in this part
include Shneiderman’s eight golden rules of interface design.

Part two looks at the development process. It addresses the design process, including
methodologies, and different techniques like ethnographic observations and participatory
design, as well as approaches for evaluating user interfaces, which includes techniques for
expert evaluation and usability testing.

Part three investigates five main interaction styles, i.e. (i) direct manipulation and virtual
environments, (ii) menu selection, form fill-in, and dialog boxes, (iii) command and natural
languages, (iv) interaction devices, and (v) collaboration and social media participation. All
these styles are presented using a combination of examples, guidelines and best practices.

Part four addresses specific design issues, i.e. quality of service, function vs. fashion,
documentation and help, information search and information visualization. These issues are to
a large extent independent of the interaction styles presented in Part three, and also the
issues are presented using a combination of examples, guidelines and best practices.

Technical requirements for using the method, tool, etc:

n/a

Measure/Response Type:

n/a

Results obtained and interpretation:

n/a
Evaluation

Advantages:

Combines depth, width and practicality in an excellent way.

Contains practical guidelines.

Contains many examples for current practice.

Covers also new themes and issues.

Addresses a broad audience.

Offers a companion web page.

Disadvantages:

By addressing so broadly, the book runs the risk of really satisfying no one

Although this edition of the book is fairly new, some of the examples are outdated

The subscription to the companion web page is limited to six months

Alternative Methods:

There are quite a few text books on HCI and usability, as well as handbooks containing
articles written by different authors.

Usability (ease of use, efficiency, effectiveness)

Using the book will neither guarantee perfect development processes nor perfect user
interfaces, but it will help avoiding many possible pitfalls.

Ease of use:
high
Efficiency:
high
Effectiveness:
medium
Constraints concerning conditions of use:

n/a

Reliability:

n/a

Validity:
n/a

Required effort (to conduct & to analyse):

n/a

Level of HF expertise needed (required user qualification)

Medium: limited level of expertise required, some training required

Other expertise needed (required user qualification):

n/a

Cost Information

Very low: (<100 €) low costs to purchase or free license, no special devices necessary
Experiences of use by SESAR partners (including references):

n/a

(Selected contents from an earlier edition of this book was used as part of the teaching
material in courses on user interface design taught by NATMIG partners in the 90s)

Reported and/or published experiences of use (including references):

n/a, except for reviews of the book.

Applicability to lifecycle phase (E-OCVM):

Applicable in V1, V2 and V3, but probably best suited for use in V3.

Application Area:

The content of the book is independent of application area to perform usability work and
designing user interfaces. Special challenges within aviation, air traffic control and
transportation are not treated specifically in the book.

Keywords:

Usability, human computer interaction, guidelines, design, evaluation, interaction styles,

design issues.

Short Description:

This is a book which treats usability and Human Computer Interaction (HCI) from different
perspectives, covering basic concepts, the development process, interaction styles, as well as
a broad set of design issues. All topics are described using examples, with a solid foundation
in the research literature.

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