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Interface Hall of Shame

- Design Links -

Principles of good GUI Design - James Hobart

While our Interface Hall of Shame illustrates out how not to design an application, our approach to how applications should be designed might be overly subtle for some visitors. James Hobart's article takes a more conventional approach by describing the principles of GUI design. The article is a valuable resource.

How to design a good User Interface

An excellent overview of the interface design process by Laura Arlov, author of GUI Design for Dummies.

The National Center for Accessible Media

The Web Access Project researches, develops and tests methods of integrating access technologies (such as captioning and audio description) and new Web tools into a World Wide Web site, making it fully accessible to blind or deaf Internet users.

Macintosh Interface Guidelines

Despite the proprietary nature of the title, this resource has a great deal to offer designers and developers of all applications, regardless of the target operating system.

Windows Interface Guidelines

An online copy of Microsoft's design guidelines. Provides some useful information on the principles of GUI design, but unfortunately spends too much time on the "G" in GUI. We found that the first version of the book, although intended for Windows 3.1 applications, provided much more useful design information.

OSF/Motif Style Guide

Again, despite the proprietary nature of the title, this resource offers a good discussion of basic user interface design principles

Color Contrast and Partial Sight

Color sensitivty affects a much wider population than the 6-8% of males that Perception textbooks typically identify as congenitally color-deficient. This article provides some startling information on the breadth of the problem, and also provides a very informative discussion of designing with color.

The Windows 95 User Interface: A Case Study in Usability Engineering

Sources describing Microsoft's usability testing of the Windows 95 user interface are very difficult to locate. This article is the most frequently cited source, and while it does describe the testing process, it is lacking in data and conclusions. There were however several findings that we found interesting, especially since they were apparently not corrected:

The L.U.C.I.D. Computing Movement

In their own words:
"The L.U.C.I.D. Computing Movement has been formed to fight for software usability. The word lucid means 'clear' and 'easy-to-understand.' Our goal is to humanize the design of software. In doing so we will save industry billions of dollars, we will create new markets for computer products and increase our well-being."

Quinn's Human Interface Subtleties Page

An interesting discussion of several subtle interface features found in Macintosh software.

Human-Computer Interaction Sites

ACM SIGCHI Special Interest Group on Computer-Human Interaction
Australian Computer Society Western Australia Branch
Cognitive Recognition and Interface Design
Computer Assisted Learning Pages (Andrew Doherty)
The EPSS InfoSite
ErgoWorld
dotParagon (Kathy Gill)
GNOME Style Guide
Group for User Interface Research, University of California at Berkely
Hans de Graaff's HCI Index
Human Computer Interaction - Massimo Zancanaro
Human Factors and Ergonomics Society - Potomac Chapter
Interaction personne-système inforatisé
Nomos Management AB (Stockholm Ergonomics Consultancy)
Online Resources for Human-Computer Interaction
Usability First
Usability Professionals' Association
Useful Resources for UTEST Subscribers
useit.com: Jakob Nielsen's Website
Louis Vroomen's Human Computer Interaction Page
Sylvia's Human Computer Interaction pages

Academic use of the Hall of Shame

Electronic Textuality (English 379C)
GUI Design & Programming (COEN 277), Santa Clara University
Human Computer Interaction, Napier University
Human Computer Interaction (CS 488/688), North Dakota State University
Human Computer Interaction (COMP3511/9511), The University of New South Wales
Human Factors (BAE360), Royal Military College of Canada
Human Factors in I.T. (GIT2141), Nottingham Trent University
Internet for Educators Home Page
Introduction to Health Care Informatics, Indiana State University School of Nursing
Introduction to Visual Basic 5.0 Programming, Napier University
Multimedia Information Systems (CA414), Dublin City University
Psychology of Human Computer Interaction (HUC302), Loughborough University
Systems Design (CIS 331), Georgia State University
Usability Engineering (CS491), Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology
User Interface Design, Prototyping, and Evaluation (CS 160), University of California at Berkeley
The Visualization of Information Structures, Rutgers University
Visual Representation of Information (CUIN7317), University of Houston

Technical Writing Sites

Internet Resources for Technical Communicators
TechComm - the technical communicators' discussion list
The Role of the Technical Writer in User Interface Design (LeRoy L. Miller)
Web Sites of Interest for Technical Communicators

Visual Basic Sites

Carl & Gary's Visual Basic Home Page (the mother of all VB sites)
The Development Exchange
Dr. VBs' Question Page
Jose's World of Visual Basic
Visual Basic Online Magazine
Visual Basic Q&A Tips & Techniques

Other Programming Sites

Aralis Developer Links
The Computing Page
ESB Consultancy (Delphi)
Jim Menard's Geek Page
OSU Linux Club
Seattle FoxPro User Group
Software Design Smorgasbord (Craig Marion)

Miscellaneous Sites

The Coalition for User's Rights
The Complete Macintosh Web Site
Communications for a Sustainable Future
CSS Internet News Disability Internet Resources
Grand Central
Internaut University
Lemon Law Warranties: worth the paper? (PC Mag Article)
MacAddict
MacKiDo
Microsoft Fact, Fiction, and Fun
The MSBC Superlist of Anti-Microsoft Web Sites
Multimedia Cafe
Tony Pittarese's Business Sense
Professional Opinions About Win95 and the Future of Windows in General
Software warranties: Time to clean up their act (PC Week Article)
The Support Group for People Used by Microsoft
Why are Macs Better than Windows Computers?
Why Windows95 Sucks!
WordFixers
YAMOO! (Yet Another anti-Microsoft Oriented Oracle!)
Yet Another Anti-MS Page (Ben Hutchings)


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