Descripciones mejoradas de Syndetics:

Unlike most books, Usability for the Web treats Web site usability as a practical and realizable business goal, not a buzzword or abstraction. It teaches readers the concepts and skills they need to know to produce cohesive, easy-to-use sites while meeting tight deadlines and staying on budget. Not just a book of secrets and tips, but also sensible, step-by-step procedures that the authors have developed and proven again and again in their own successful business.

Tabla de contenidos provista por Syndetics

• List of Forms(p. xi)
• Preface(p. xii)
• Introduction(p. 1)
• What Is Usability?(p. 2)
• Why Is Usability Important for Web Sites?(p. 3)
• Web Usability Problems(p. 4)
• Pervasive Usability
• Chapter 1. Usability throughout the Design Process(p. 12)
• Web Sites for People(p. 14)
• Usability Methods(p. 14)
• The Design Process(p. 15)
• Project Management(p. 20)
• Resources: Budget, Staff, and Schedule(p. 21)
• How to Succeed at Project Management(p. 29)
• Comparing Usability Methods(p. 30)
• Pervasive Usability(p. 35)
• Requirements Analysis
• Chapter 2. Target Audience and Target Platforms(p. 36)
• Understanding Your Audience(p. 38)
• Scenarios(p. 39)
• Design for Diversity(p. 42)
• Individual Differences(p. 45)
• Differences in User Preference Settings(p. 49)
• International Differences(p. 51)
• Hardware and Software Differences(p. 55)
• Walking in Someone Else's Shoes(p. 61)
• Chapter 3. User Needs Analysis(p. 62)
• The Objectives of User Needs Analysis(p. 64)
• Setting Your Objectives(p. 65)
• Background Research(p. 72)
• Surveys(p. 72)
• Competitive Analysis(p. 83)
• Interviews and Focus Groups(p. 85)
• Informed Project Objectives(p. 93)
• Conceptual Design
• Chapter 4. Task Analysis(p. 94)
• What Is Task Analysis?(p. 96)
• Task Analysis for Web Site Design(p. 99)
• Use Cases(p. 99)
• Hierarchical Task Analysis(p. 101)
• A Hybrid Approach to Task Analysis(p. 108)
• Performance Improvements(p. 110)
• Human-Error-Tolerant Design(p. 115)
• Chapter 5. Information Architecture(p. 118)
• What Is Information Architecture?(p. 120)
• How People Navigate(p. 120)
• The Process of Developing an Architecture(p. 130)
• Maintenance and Expansion(p. 142)
• Organization Schemes(p. 146)
• Ways to Present Navigation to the User(p. 155)
• Labeling and Orientation Cues(p. 164)
• Search Techniques and Search Engine Design(p. 169)
• Embedding Your Site within the Framework of the Rest of the Web(p. 175)
• Conceptual Design(p. 177)
• Mockups and Prototypes
• Chapter 6. Page Layout(p. 178)
• The Goals of Your Layout(p. 180)
• Page Components and Basic Page Layout(p. 182)
• Some Common Page Structures(p. 183)
• Page Layout Techniques(p. 184)
• Page Layout Constraints, Common Pitfalls, and Solutions(p. 197)
• How Does Page Layout Affect Usability?(p. 210)
• Chapter 7. Envisioning Design(p. 212)
• The Goals of Envisioning Design(p. 214)
• The Fidelity of Mockups and Prototypes(p. 216)
• Mockups(p. 216)
• The Mockup Creation Process(p. 220)
• The Mockup Review Process(p. 232)
• Prototypes(p. 238)
• Production
• Chapter 8. Writing for the Web(p. 244)
• Writing to Communicate(p. 246)
• How People Read(p. 256)
• What to Write About(p. 264)
• Writing Style(p. 276)
• How Writing for the Web Differs from Writing for Print(p. 281)
• Text Formatting(p. 294)
• Getting Your Message Across(p. 301)
• Chapter 9. Design Elements(p. 302)
• Goals of Graphic Design for the Web(p. 304)
• Establishing the Design Parameters(p. 305)
• Color(p. 309)
• Typography as a Design Technique(p. 310)
• Icon Design(p. 314)
• Designing Online Forms(p. 318)
• Navigation(p. 325)
• Interactivity and Multimedia(p. 334)
• Effectively Integrating Visual Design Elements(p. 337)
• Chapter 10. Usability in Software Development(p. 338)
• Usability Problems(p. 340)
• Web Site Engineering Techniques(p. 343)
• Engineering Web Site Components(p. 353)
• Usability of Web Technologies(p. 361)
• Principled Software Development(p. 364)
• Launch
• Chapter 11. Pre-Launch and Post-Launch(p. 366)
• In the Months before the Launch(p. 368)
• The Challenge of Quality Assurance Testing(p. 369)
• Quality Assurance Testing before the Site Is Launched(p. 373)
• The Final Hurdles before Going Live(p. 383)
• Taking the Site Up(p. 387)
• Immediately after the Site Is Up(p. 388)
• Post-Launch Testing and Analysis(p. 393)
• Launch as a Process(p. 402)
• Evaluation
• Chapter 12. Usability Evaluation(p. 404)
• Types of Evaluation(p. 406)
• Usability Inspection(p. 408)
• Group Walkthroughs(p. 419)
• User Testing(p. 423)
• Evaluation throughout the Design Process(p. 441)
• Appendix Usability Inspection of www.whitehouse.gov(p. 442)
• References(p. 451)
• Index(p. 459)
• About the Authors(p. 482)

Reseñas proporcionadas por Syndetics

CHOICE Review

Brinck, Gergle, and Wood examine techniques for infusing usability into the Web site design process. They discuss the spectrum of usability issues, including site architecture, navigation, and page layout. They take readers through the Web design process from project inception to site launch and demonstrate how usability can be incorporated into the steps of the design process. The book provides excellent practical applications and tools that designers can incorporate into their own projects. The authors define and demonstrate usability issues through both description and examples. Furthermore, they illustrate the effects poor usability can have on a site. The authors are well versed in both the subjects of human-computer interaction and usability and provide expert knowledge and practical design experience. Though this book is useful to almost any Web designer, it is focused toward Web project managers and designers of large corporate sites. However, the book contains an excellent, in-depth discussion of usability issues. As a result, it is an excellent resource that all Web designers should own. Professionals. K. A. Coombs SUNY College at Cortland

Notas de autor provistas por Syndetics

Tom Brinck is chief usability officer at Diamond Bullet Design, a firm specializing in web site design and usability consulting. Tom has M.S. degrees in computer science and cognitive psychology from Stanford University and the University of Michigan. He has done user interface research at Apple Computer, Toshiba, and Bellcore and is currently an adjunct faculty member at University of Michigan's School of Information.

Darren Gergle is a Ph.D. student in human-computer interaction at Carnegie Mellon University. Before beginning his graduate work, he was lead designer at Diamond Bullet Design.

Scott D. Wood is a senior scientist at Soar Technology, an R&D company focused on cognitive modeling, AI, and information visualization. He has more than ten years experience in software development, e-business consulting, cognitive modeling, and HCI. He holds a Ph.D. in computer science and engineering from the University of Michigan.