Software for Use: A Practical Guide to the Models and Methods of Usage-Centered Design (Paperback)

Stating that software is to be written for humans to use is a phrase that should provoke a sarcastic reaction questioning the intelligence of the one uttering it. If that were always the case, then there probably would be a comic strip similar to the immensely popular Dilbert devoted to this topic. Unfortunately, time pressures, complexity, ignorance, and low user expectations combine to make it all too common that the phrase "user friendly" might as well be a mantra in whale song. Some projects are developed without any input from those considered the target costumer base and in others, the input is solicited only to be ignored or belittled. The authors of this book argue for the insertion of what they call "usage-centered design" into the intense, often chaotic process of building software. Chapter 11, "Help Me If You Can: Designing Help and Helpful Messages," made the greatest impression. Throughout the history of software development, the creation of genuinely helpful documentation has been an art woefully MIA (muddled, incomprehensible, and abstruse). Even the most intuitive of interfaces with occasionally leave you baffled, or you will click on the wrong item or press an inappropriate key. The development of essential use cases for help distills the topic down into eight statement prefixes that any parent of a young child faces several times a day. Some of the best advice for creators of online help comes from the basic principles of newspaper journalism. Get to the point. Tell the whole story in the headline. Tell the whole story in the first paragraph. Or the even blunter advice, "Make your help help." The most significant advance in the design of user interfaces has been the creation of the icon. A section called "' eye-con' design" brings things right to the point--it is the eye that matters. With so little area available, the creation of quality icons is a real art form. However, it is something that can be learned. This is a section that should be required reading before you open the drawing program. No book that promotes the user can be complete without extensive treatment of the World Wide Web. While there is no doubt that the Web has changed the world, as is properly pointed out, programming for the Web does not differ all that much from "traditional" programming. The authors' approach is summarized in the caption, " The chaos and complexity of the Web places a premium on such old-fashioned virtues as making it clear to users where they are and how they got there." I would add the additional line, " and clearly showing them what they should do." This philosophy is backed up by experience, where users will generally not wait longer than the number of seconds they can count on their fingers. Users also avoid sites that are difficult to navigate or as unclear as if they were in monochrome. If there is a weakness in this book, it is the lack of clear examples. As the author highlights in several places, many people function well

I very much enjoyed Software for Use. When I got the book, I read it from cover to cover. Now, six months later, I still turn to it regularly as I develop use cases for our application - especially when I'm working on the user interface for each use case.You might expect that anything from Larry Constantine would be terrific and again he - this time with equally adept co-author Lucy Lockwood - hasn't let us down. SfU (as it seems to be called in the chat groups) addresses one of the most under-addressed issues in our industry: Why is so much potentially useful software in fact useless because of its appalling user interfaces? There are lots of valuable topics in this book. But probably the most valuable thing that I got from the book was a methodical approach to developing user interfaces, through the user role maps, task models, essential use cases, use case narrative, tools and materials and ... well, perhaps you should read the book!If you're in the mood for some edutainment (i.e. cheap laughs while learning something handy), read the section on Web wisdom. There you'll find some wonderfully silly interface designs to avoid on your next e-commerce project.Bottom line: I'll bet this book's on the way to becoming a classic. It's a "must read" for every software developer involved in any way with software that's meant to be used. And if you're actually charged with developing user interfaces, I'd say it's a "must own".

Perseverence is required, as the text is a little dry and verbose. However, there are too many leading edge ideas to score it other than full marks. Advances the state-of-the-art in systems engineering by promoting thorough requirements engineering using interaction neutral Essential Use Cases and then good quality Interaction Design as an integrated part of the lifecycle

Software for Use by Larry Constantine and Lucy Lockwood is the top software book I have read in the last three years. It is a book that is as new as tomorrow, but it builds on decades of research and experience in user-interface design. Most people develop user interfaces by intuition, trying an approach and modifying it until no strong objections are breaking through. Some people call this approach "hacking". Software for Use describes a systematic approach to the design of user interfaces. It starts from the user, identifying the different user roles. For each user all use cases are identified and described. Initially the abstraction level is high, focusing on the essential use cases. Eventually the approach achieves a physical user interface . All the work to get there takes place very naturally. The authors make this work very concrete.Knowing that in many application areas, such as web-design or consumer electronics, the effort in designing the user interface is more than 50% of the work in developing applications, this is a book that I highly recommend every software developer and their managers to read. The Software for Use book is already a classic.

I've been an object-oriented bigot since the late eighties when I first stumbled on Betrand Meyer's "Old Testament" entitled: "Object Oriented Software Construction". Since then I have been on a continual methodology quest, picking and choosing what works from each methodology. When I finally came accross Larry's book it felt like coming home. He has doen an amazing job of amalgamating all the things that in my experience work. How many times have I argued with engineers about user interface design! How many times have they told me that they know better, and oh by the way, look at this cool feature we added (hit shift F6 and it does this...) This is the best book I have found so far when it comes to usage-centered design. I was lucky enough to be at the start of a new project and bought a copy of the book for every team member! This book has become our baseline and the quality of our software will reflect it. If you wan't to build better user interfaces you should buy this book!