About Face: The Essentials of Interaction Design

If you only get one book on interaction design, this is the one. I picked up the second edition when I was just starting out as an interaction designer; it was a great primer and filled in a lot of the missing pieces for me. Now that I've been at it a while, it's still the book I go to whenever I have a question. I found the book reads well cover to cover, and also serves well as a handbook. The info you need on a topic is usually well contained in a section. Not only does this book cover the general principles and theory behind interaction design, but also provides lots of real-world practical information. The writers call on designers not simply to follow rigid interaction design rules, but to create elegant, informative and respectful interfaces. That's a loftier goal, and this book give you the tools to attain it. The updated edition also spans new technologies and paradigms that have emerged, and covers them thoroughly. Cooper has an unrivaled depth of experience to draw on, creating a truly comprehensive book.

This book is a self-indulgent rant, that is also poorly edited and structured. If the authors had read their own book and applied their principles to its pages, reading it would have been as much of a pleasure as using software that follows their advice. Why do I give it 5 stars? Because beneath the diatribes and soapbox oration there is a depth of experience and of thought I have not found elsewhere. The authors have considered the issue of what makes using software a pleasurable experience for the user in a depth and with a degree of insight that opened my eyes.

Many of the GUI design books I've read just tell obvious things (align your controls, don't use saturated colors etc). This book is different. It's deeper. It's about how users interact with computers and how to build GUIs that (to use Cooper's words) don't make the user look stupid. The book is provocativly written which might not be everybody's taste. I'm a programmer myself but didn't find the book offending. Although five years old by now I consider this the best book on GUI design out there. Note that there is no mention of Web specific issues in the book.

Cooper's book is a must read for anyone serious about user interface design, especially for Windows. It explores a wide range of subjects, from understanding users and the goals of UI design to an analysis of the major Windows user interface components. He has many interesting things to say and a great deal of insight. The presentation (which could be significantly improved with better editing) is enjoyable reading and thought provoking. One oddity - Cooper has a penchant for naming things, but unfortunately he isn't very good at it. The book is filled with original, often bizarre names for user interface concepts and components, but you could never use them in public without embarrassment.If you are doing Windows user interface development, you should also check out McKay's Developing User Interfaces for MS Windows, which gives a very practical treatment of much of this material and more.

The book is thought provoking. It shows an enourmous insight into what we are doing with the users when we present them with a user interface. Cooper has new and innovative thoughts, and they are well explained and very sensible. Many of the things he tells are really obvious when you start to think about them. If however you for some reason have been thinking about it another way around, of course it is hard. Of course it takes time and resistance for many, before they too see how obvious it really is.If other of these reviews are able to find quotes that don't sound too good, you will be able to find fifty times as many excellent ones. The book contains an enourmous amount of good solid advice, and thought-provoking "why do we really do it like we do it" information. Don't let one or two quotes or questions in these reviews make you stay away from this book. It might not get five stars from everyone. Somehow that isn't too surprising, considering how many of the potential readers who have made user interfaces that don't live up to Coopers high and well thought-out standards.The book focuses on an important aspect of all communication: The language we use makes a difference. If we don't have exact phrases for something, then we are having problems talking about it. Some of the reviewers here make it sound negative that Cooper defines precise and sensible terms for things that haven't been defined previously. It isn't negative, it is necessary. You can't talk about something, and each time use the long explanation for it. And if nobody else has termed it something, someone must be the first. The fact that Cooper has quite a few of these, just shows that he has come further than most in formalizing user interfaces.Highly recommended!