Designing the obvious : a common sense approach to Web and mobile application design

cover image

Where to find it

Information & Library Science Library

Call Number
TK5105.8883 .H64 2011
Status
Available

Authors, etc.

Names:

Summary

Designing the Obvious belongs in the toolbox of every person charged with the design and development of Web-based software, from the CEO to the programming team. Designing the Obvious explores the character traits of great Web applications and uses them as guiding principles of application design so the end result of every project instills customer satisfaction and loyalty. These principles include building only whats necessary, getting users up to speed quickly, preventing and handling errors, and designing for the activity. Designing the Obvious does not offer a one-size-fits-all development process--in fact, it lets you use whatever process you like. Instead, it offers practical advice about how to achieve the qualities of great Web-based applications and consistently and successfully reproduce them. This latest edition updates examples to show the guiding principles of application design in action on today's web, plus adds new chapters on strategy and persuasion. It offers practical advice about how to achieve the qualities of great Web-based applications and consistently and successfully reproduce them.

Contents

  • Acknowledgments p. x
  • Author Biography p. xi
  • Chapter 1 Defining the Obvious p. 3
  • What Is 'the Obvious'? p. 6
  • Qualities of a great application p. 8
  • How Do You Design the Obvious? p. 10
  • Turn qualities into goals p. 10
  • The Framework for Obvious Design p. 12
  • Know what to build p. 14
  • Know what makes it great p. 14
  • Know the best way to implement it p. 15
  • Chapter 2 Lead with Why, Follow with What p. 17
  • Know Your Motivation p. 19
  • What follows Why p. 22
  • Make Authentic Decisions p. 24
  • Audit the user experience p. 24
  • Define the vision p. 28
  • Plan the new design p. 31
  • Implement it p. 32
  • Measure everything p. 32
  • Having vision p. 34
  • Chapter 3 Ignore the User, Know the Situation p. 35
  • Designing for the User p. 37
  • Designing for the Activity p. 44
  • Solve for the Situation p. 47
  • Understand How Users Think They Do Things p. 55
  • Understand How Users Actually Do Things p. 57
  • Find Out the Truth p. 61
  • Contextual inquiry p. 63
  • Remote user research p. 66
  • Surveys p. 67
  • Write Use Cases p. 68
  • Task-flow diagrams p. 74
  • My advice p. 76
  • Chapter 4 Build Only What Is Absolutely Necessary p. 77
  • More features, More frustration p. 78
  • So what's a geek to do? p. 79
  • Think Different p. 80
  • The dashboard and New Invoice screen p. 81
  • The finished invoice p. 82
  • The result p. 83
  • Think Mobile p. 84
  • Hey, it's your life p. 87
  • Not present at time of photo p. 87
  • Drop Nice-to-Have Features p. 88
  • The Unnecessary Test p. 89
  • The 60-Second Deadline p. 90
  • Aim low p. 92
  • Interface Surgery p. 93
  • Reevaluate nice-to-have features later p. 98
  • Let them speak p. 99
  • Chapter 5 Support the User's Mental Model p. 101
  • Understanding mental models p. 103
  • Design for Mental Models p. 104
  • Making metaphors that work p. 107
  • Interface Surgery: Converting an implementation model design into a mental model design p. 111
  • Eliminate Implementation Models p. 119
  • Create wireframes to nail things down p. 119
  • Prototype the Design p. 127
  • Test It Out p. 130
  • Chapter 6 Turn Beginners into Intermediates, Immediately p. 139
  • Use Up-to-Speed Aids p. 141
  • Provide a welcome screen p. 145
  • Fill the blank slate with something useful p. 147
  • Give instructive hints p. 149
  • Interface Surgery: Applying instructive design p. 153
  • Choose Good Defaults p. 160
  • Integrate preferences p. 163
  • Design for Information p. 163
  • Card sorting p. 166
  • Stop Getting Up to Speed and Speed Things Up p. 168
  • Reuse the welcome screen as a notification system p. 169
  • Use one-click interfaces p. 170
  • Use design patterns to make things familiar p. 171
  • Provide Help Documents, Because Help Is for Experts p. 173
  • Chapter 7 Be Persuasive p. 175
  • Draw a Finish Line p. 176
  • Ownership p. 177
  • Solve a Significant Problem p. 178
  • Make It Explainable p. 180
  • Know Your Psychology p. 181
  • Reciprocity p. 181
  • Commitment and consistency p. 182
  • Social proof p. 184
  • Authority p. 185
  • Liking p. 186
  • Scarcity p. 187
  • Ethical persuasion p. 188
  • Chapter 8 Handle Errors Wisely p. 189
  • Prevent and Catch Errors with Poka-yoke Devices p. 191
  • Poka-yoke on the web p. 192
  • Prevention devices p. 193
  • Detection devices p. 195
  • Turn errors into opportunities p. 200
  • Feeling smart p. 202
  • Ditch Anything Modal p. 203
  • Redesigning rude behavior p. 204
  • Replace it with modeless assistants p. 205
  • Write Error Messages That Help Instead of Hurt p. 207
  • Interface Surgery p. 209
  • Create Forgiving Software p. 211
  • Good software promotes good practices p. 213
  • Chapter 9 Design for Uniformity, Consistency, and Meaning p. 217
  • Design for Uniformity p. 220
  • Be Consistent Across Applications p. 229
  • Understanding design patterns p. 230
  • Intelligent inconsistency p. 233
  • Leverage Irregularity to Create Meaning and Importance p. 234
  • Interface Surgery: Surfacing the bananas in a process p. 237
  • Chapter 10 Reduce and Refine p. 243
  • Cluttered task flows p. 244
  • The path to simplicity p. 245
  • Clean Up the Mess p. 246
  • Reducing the pixel-to-data ratio p. 247
  • Minimizing copy p. 248
  • Designing white space p. 251
  • Cleaning up task flows p. 255
  • Practice Kaizen p. 258
  • The 5S approach p. 259
  • Eliminate Waste p. 262
  • Cleaning up your process p. 263
  • Put Just-in-Time Design and Review to Work p. 265
  • Chapter 11 Don't Innovate When You Can Elevate p. 269
  • Innovation p. 270
  • The problem with innovative thinking p. 270
  • Elevation p. 272
  • Elevate the User Experience p. 272
  • Elevation is about being more polite p. 273
  • Elevation means giving your software a better personality p. 274
  • Elevation means understanding good design p. 276
  • Seek Out and Learn from Great Examples p. 277
  • Inspiration p. 278
  • Elevate the standards p. 278
  • Take Out All the Good Lines p. 279
  • Get in the Game p. 280
  • Index p. 283

Other details