Interface Design

All too often, books on interface design can be overly academic discussions of theoritcal design issues that are interesting only to other user interface designers.Not so with this book. Mr. Bickford's writing style is accessible and geared toward general users, designers and developers. His coverage of the subject matter is informed and non-technical--you will certainly find it useful whether you are a commercial application developer, multimedia author, or designing applications and sites for the Internet. He argues very eloquently for concepts like elegance, intelligence and thoughtfulness--traits missing in much of today's bloated operating systems and applications (hello Redmond?). He covers both major desktop platforms, PC and Macintosh, citing examples of the virtues and pitfalls of each OS's operations. He also delves into other media, including an intelligent, if conservative, treatment of web design. I am hoping the next edition will be updated with more web coverage.Mr. Bickford's credentials are impressive. He is a former writer for the Apple Directions developer newsletter writing regularly on usability and interface issues. He is very adept at making complex concepts simple through the use of metaphor, humor, and anecdotes gleaned from his years of real-world experience.If you are looking for an accessible and entertaining book that will help you consider your interfaces from a more enlightened perspective, you should definitely pick this book up.

Like the topic it covers, this book has a friendly interface. Unlike most technical books, I found Bickford's text downright entertaining. For example, he uses the analogy of a good waiter in a fine restaurant to drive in the idea of transparent interface, and house-hunting to help designers understand how databases ought to work. Bickford is an excellent teacher - he knows how to make his subject appealing and accessible. (It figures -- given appeal and accessibility are his criteria for good interface.)The book is somewhat Macintosh-centric, given the fact that most of the chapters originally appeared in an Apple Computer newsletter. Nontheless, his ideas and philosophy has helped me build better web sites.

I really found this book helpful in developing my understanding of User Interface design. Although it was written more for designing UI for software I found the examples and explanations VERY applicable to designing web sites. This book also keeps your interest, the author throws in quite a bit of humor. I HIGHLY recommend it!