Publish by ChinaHCI Membership of ChinaHCI May, 2006

This bibliography is updated periodically. If you would like to be on the update list, please send EMAIL to ChinaHCI at cooperate(at)chinahci.org. If you see any typos or have any comments, please send them along. Thanks. ChinaHCI Membership.

Carroll, J.M. (Ed.)., Morgan Kaufmann: San Francisco, CA, 2003.

HCI Models, Theories, and Frameworks

Johnson, J., Morgan Kaufmann: San Francisco, CA, 2003.

Web Bloopers: 60 Common Web Design Mistakes, and How to Avoid Them

Keates, S. Langdon, P. Clarkson, P.J., & Robinson, P. (Eds.), Springer: London, UK, 2002.

Universal Access and Assistive Technology: Proceedings of the Cambridge Workshop on UA and AT '02

Kuniavsky, M., Morgan Kaufmann: San Francisco, CA, 2003.

Observing the User Experience: A Practitioner's Guide to User Research

Morrell, R.W. (Ed.), Lawrence Erlbaum: Mahwah, NJ, 2003.

Older Adults, Health Information, and the World Wide Web

Snyder. C., Morgan Kaufmann: San Francisco, CA, 2003.

Paper Prototyping: The Fast and Easy Way to Define and Refine User Interfaces

Sutcliffe, A., Springer: London, UK, 2002.

User-Centered Requirements Engineering: Theory and Practice

Travis, D., Taylor & Francis: London, UK, 2003

E-Commerce Usability

Van Oostendorp, H. (Ed.), Lawrence Erlbaum: Mahwah, NJ, 2003.

Cognition in a Digital World

Albers, J., Yale University Press: New Haven, CT, 1975.

Interaction of Color
Albers' 80 page book describes an experiential way of studying how colors interact with other colors. Albers' aim is to develop "... through experience – by trial and error – an eye for color". The constant theme throughout the book is the relativity of color, a complex topic.

Ashcraft, M.H., Addison-Wesley: New York, NY, 1998.

Fundamentals of Cognition
Mark Ashcraft's book on cognition is both readable and comprehensive. You get detailed information on perception, memory, language acquisition and comprehension, and thinking and reasoning. This book is an excellent reference for the usability specialist who wants to understand more about memory than the much cited (and not well understood) article on the "magic number 7".

Baecker, R.M., Grudin, J., Buxton, W. A. S., and Greenberg, S. (Eds.), Morgan Kaufmann: San Francisco, 1995.

Readings in Human-Computer Interaction: Toward the Year 2000 (Second Edition)
This book is a collection of classic articles in human-computer interaction. The editors add valuable commentary to the different sections of the book.

Badre, A.N., Addison-Wesley,:

Shaping Web Usability: Interaction design in context
Badre's book merges cognitive and perceptual psychology with Web design principles and processes. For example, his Chapter 5 on older adults describes how, as users age, motor behaviors slow down, color discrimination becomes more difficult, the useful field of view decreases, and working memory capacity declines. Badre also writes about genres (for example, news, shopping, and information) and their content, expression (how content providers communicate with their target users), and form (the layout of elements of the site). At the end of his book, Badre covers handheld screen design, cultural issues, and evaluating Web usability. These last three chapters are very basic and not nearly as strong as his early chapters on design and cognitive processing.

Barnum, C.M., Pearson Education: New York, NY, 2002.

Usability Testing and Research
Carol Barnum's book is replete with detailed information on usability testing. She covers all aspects of testing from choosing the appropriate method through planning, conducting, analyzing, and reporting results. She has a chapter that focuses on Web usability and a final chapter that deals with working in teams. Carol's book is highly recommended for anyone who will be doing usability testing.

Bawa, J., Dorazio, P., & Trenner, L. (Eds.), Springer: London, UK, 2001.

The Usability Business: Making the Web Work
This book was conceived as a second edition to The Politics of Usability, but as the editors note in the introduction, politics is not the only issue in the Web usability business. The book has three parts:

• Part I: Usability Professionals: Dealing with Organizational Politics in an Uncertain World.
• Part II: A New Usability for New Applications: Adapting Our Skills, Growing Our Role.
• Part III: Politics and New Media: the Overwhelming Importance of Usability on the Web.

As in any edited book, only some chapters may apply to your work. I found Avi Parush's chapter – "What Does That Button Do?" Effective Project Scheduling Around Complicated and Unfamiliar Technology – quite relevant for those of us who are user interface design consultants. Avi describes the difficulties that a consulting firm can have when asked to come in and design a user interface for unfamiliar technology like a PDA or Web-enhanced cellphones. I found the chapters somewhat uneven in content, but overall this book is a worthwhile purchase.

Benyon, D., Green, T., and Bental, D., Springer: London, UK, 1999.

Conceptual Modeling for User Interface Development
This book describes how entity-relationship modeling can be applied to the modeling of user interfaces. The book is meant to bridge the gap between software developers and user interface designers, but the method appears to demand a level of rigor that is rarely possible for most practitioners. The examples and exercises are simple, but a real-world example of any significance would require serious mentoring.

Berleur, J. and Brunnstein, K. (Eds.), Chapman & Hall, 1997.

Ethics of Computing; Codes, Spaces for Discussion and Law
The book compares 30 different codes of ethics.

Beyer, H. and Holtzblatt, K., Morgan Kaufmann: San Francisco, CA, 1998.

Contextual Design: Defining Customer-Centered Systems
Beyer and Holtzblatt provide a set of practical methods for gathering data about users, tasks, and environments. Techniques for taking these data and generating system designs are explained. The book concludes with chapters on designing and evaluating prototypes and how to integrate contextual design into the software development process.

Borchers, J., Wiley: Chichester, UK, 2001. ISBN: 0471498289.

A Pattern Approach to Interaction Design
This book summarizes that use of pattern languages in user interface design. The author claims that HCI patterns have taken the design world by storm, which isn't quite true. Patterns have a place in design and this book is a first cut at explaining how patterns can be employed in user interface design. As an alternative, consider the book The design of sites: Patterns, principles, and processes for crafting a customer-centered Web experience by Van Duyne, D. K., Landay, J. A., & Hong, J. I. (2003).

Bowman, S. & Willis, C., Peachpit Press: Berkeley, CA, 2002.

Designwhys: Designing Web sites that sell
Bowman and Willis provide a usable book on how to design ecommerce sites. The book has many valuable charts, tips, and examples. The authors have methods for understanding stakeholders and task flows.

Bowyer, K.W. (Ed.)., IEEE Press: Piscataway, NJ, 2001.

Ethics and Computing – Living Responsibly in a Computerized World (Second edition)
This book is a compendium of articles on a wide range of ethical issues.

Branaghan, R.J. (Ed.), Usability Professionals' Association: Chicago, IL, 2001.

Design by People for People: Essays on Usability
These essays are from the first UPA newsletter, Common Ground. The essays are packed with information that usability practitioners will find useful. For example, Joe Dumas has informative essays on how many participants in a test are enough and how to conduct think-aloud testing; Howard Tamler has an essay on when and how much to intervene during usability testing. This book is small, but packed with wisdom.

Braun, K. Gadne, M. Haughey, M. Roselli, A., Synstelien, D., Walter, T., & Wertheimer, D., Glasshaus: Birmingham, UK, 2002.

Usability: The Site that Speaks for Itself
This book contains first-person case studies of how design and usability decisions were made on major sites like BBC, eBay, the Economist, and Evolt.org. The book describes how the authors went about gathering information, making design decisions, and dealing with personal and political issues.

Brinck, T., Gergle, D., & Wood, S., Morgan Kaufmann: San Francisco, CA, 2002.

Usability for the Web: Designing Web Sites that Work
This book covers usability issues and methods through the entire development cycle: requirements analysis, conceptual design, mockups and prototypes, production, launch, and evaluation. The authors merge practical with academic experience and provide reasonable depth on important topics. This can serve as a textbook for a class on HCI or a reference guide for practitioners. The authors provide sample forms in the book and a Web site with templates and additional information.

Card, S.K. Mackinlay, J. and Shneiderman, B. (Eds.), Morgan Kaufrmann: San Francisco, CA, 1999. ISBN 1-55860-533-9

Readings in Information Visualization: Using Vision to Think
This thick book pulls together classic and recent articles on a wide variety of visualization techniques.

Card, S.K., Moran, T.P., & Newell, A., Lawrence Earlbaum: Hillsdale, NJ, 1983.

The Psychology of Human-Computer Interaction
Simply put, this book is a classic in the field of HCI and should be required reading for everyone in the field. It is one of the few attempts in the HCI world to model human behavior. The GOMS model and the assumptions underlying the model are spelled out in detail. This won't be easy reading, but if you are serious about the field of HCI, it is highly recommended.

Carroll, J.M. (Ed.), MIT Press: Cambridge, MA, 1998.

Minimalism Beyond the Nurnberg Funnel
Minimalism Beyond the Nurnberg Funnel contains chapters by prominent researchers and practitioners of minimalism. This book was the result of an STC sponsored workshop on Minimalism held in 1995. This book reviews the basic principles of minimalism and describes the impact of the minimalist philosophy on documentation over the last 15 years or so. Case studies describe the costs and rewards of minimalist documentation.

Carroll, J.M. (Ed.)., Addison-Wesley: Boston, MA, 2002.

Human-Computer Interaction in the New Millennium
This book contains 29 articles that assess the state of HCI research and practice. The book covers four general areas of HCI:

• Models, Theories, and Frameworks
• Usability Engineering Methods and Concepts
• User Interface Software and Tools
• Groupware and Cooperative Activity.

Cato, J., Pearson Education: Harlow, UK, 2001.

User-Centered Web Design

Caplan, S., Watson-Guptill Publications: New York, NY, 2001.

Icon Design: Graphic Icons in Computer Interface Design
Kaplan's book is aimed at graphic designers involved in the design of icons for computer systems. I would not recommend this book unless you are a graphic designer. If you want basic information on icons buy The Icon Book by William Horton. Icon Design has an odd (though beautifully illustrated) set of chapters including:

• The invention of the stylized image
• The next step: Icons for esoteric use
• Universal recognition
• Crossing the language barrier
• The first computer icons
• Toolbars: The Macpaint paradigmRecognizability: the theory of icons design
• Meaning is use – sometimes
• Pick a letter – or a number

Chak, A., New Riders: Indianapolis, IN, 2002.

Submit Now: Designing Persuasive Web Sites
Submit Now provides advice on how to turn browsers into paying (and repeat) customers. The author begins with a brief summary of persuasive principles (too brief actually) and then provides principles and guidelines that will affect conversion rates of people who browse the Web.

Chandler, K, & Hyatt, K., Prentice Hall PRT: Upper Saddle River, NJ, 2003.

Customer-Centered Design: A New Approach to Web Usability

Chapanis, A., Aegean: Santa Barbara, CA, 1999.

The Chapanis Chronicles: 50 years of Human Factors Research, Education, and Design
This is a poignant history of one of the founders of human factors. The story starts in 1937 and describes Chapanis' impact on the field of human factors and his political struggles in business, government, and academia.

Clark, J., New Riders: Indianapolis, IN, 2003.

Building Accessible Websites
Joe Clark's book describes why it makes good business sense to consider accessibility in the planning and design of Web sites. He discusses how to phase in accessibility and provides detailed explanations and codes samples to help designers.

Clements, P.C. (Ed.), Macmillan Technical Publishing: Indianapolis, IN, 2000.

Constructing Superior Software
This book is a joint project of the Software Quality Institute and Macmillan Technical Publishing. There is one excellent chapter on user-centered design by Scott Isensee and Karel Vredenburg, but the strength of the book is that it deals with the wide range of technical and social issues that are involved in designing and implementing high-quality software.

Constantine, L.L. and Lockwood, L.A.D., ACM Press: New York, NY, 1999.

Software for Use: A Practical Guide to the Models and Methods of Usage-Centered Design
Software for Use guides the reader through a structured user interface design process and also provides concrete advice on window layout, menu design, user assistance, icons, and controls. The advantage of this book is that is covers a plethora of topics; the disadvantage is that some topics are given sketchy treatment. The mathematically inclined will enjoy the metrics for essential efficiency (how closely a user interface matches an ideal interface as specified in use cases), task concordance (a measure of the relationship between the frequency of tasks and their difficulty), task visibility, layout uniformity, and visual coherence. There isn't much validation of these metrics, but they do have some face validity. This is a good book with some novel ideas.

Cooper, A., Sams: Indianapolis, IN, 1999.

The Inmates Are Running the Asylum: Why High-Tech Products Drive Us Crazy and How to Restore the Sanity
This is a thought-provoking book with an unfortunate title. The title aside, Cooper, as he did in his book About Face, has strong ideas about the problems with software that is developed in isolation from customers. Cooper addresses common software problems, the culture of programming, the importance of personas in design, and designing for pleasure and for power. Though a bit polemic, the book has some good recommendations for improving consumer products. Cooper does minimize the relevance of usability testing in this book which I view as a flaw. Usability testing can start with early conceptual designs and continue throughout the cycle.

Cooper, A., IDG Books Worldwide: Foster City, CA, 1995.

About Face: The Essentials of User Interface Design
About Face is a provocative look at both the process and details of user interface design. Cooper starts out by discussing user goals, software models, and high-level user interface design. As the book progresses, Cooper discusses GUI objects like windows, menus, and tabbed dialog boxes. Error prevention is a constant theme throughout the book. The book has many examples of good and bad design (including examples from Windows® 95 applications). There is a new edition of this book out (see the new books at the beginning of this document). The next edition of this bibliography will provide a capsule summary of the new addition.

Creswell, J.W., Sage Publications: Thousand Oaks, CA, 1994.

Research Design: Qualitative & Quantitative Approaches
Research Design is aimed at graduate students who will be preparing for scholarly research. The book is not a detailed methods text, but is designed to help researchers make decisions about the use of qualitative and quantitative methods. The book has chapters that focus purpose statements, the use of theories in qualitative and quantitative research, and the basic elements of qualitative and quantitative designs.

Dabbs, A., Watson-Guptill Publications: New York, NY, 2002.

Interface Design: Effective Design of Graphical User Interfaces for the Web and Multimedia Pages.

Del Galdo, E.M. and Nielsen, J. (Eds.), Wiley: New York, NY, 1996.

International User Interfaces
Del Galdo and Nielsen's book is a collection of chapters on topics dealing with usability engineering, culture and design, international differences in software user training, case studies on international user interface design, and the design of multilingual documents. Examples of Arabic, Chinese, Japanese, and Europeans designs are shown.

The Unfinished Revolution: Human-Centered Computers and What They Can Do for Us
Dertouzos, chair of MIT's Laboratory for Computer Sciences before his untimely death in August 2001, worked hard to make complex technology accessible to non-technical users. This book describes how five technologies – speech understanding, automation, individualized information access, collaboration, and customization – will work together to make computing systems simpler.

Dillman, D.A., Wiley: New York, NY, 2000.

Mail and Telephone Surveys: The Total Design Method (Second edition)
This is an update of Dillman's 1978 book refocused toward Internet surveys. This book is packed with practical advice that is often backed by research. Dillman covers the planning, design, and implementation of surveys. He describes how design decisions will affect costs and benefits of a survey as perceived by potential respondents and how to minimize the costs and maximize the benefits.

Dittrich, Y., Floyd, C., & Klischewski, R. (Eds.), The MIT Press: Cambridge, MA, 2002.

Social Thinking – Software Practice
This book is a set of articles that relate various types of social theory to the process of software development. For those interested in ethnographic studies, this recent book might be useful.

Donoghue, K., McGraw-Hill: New York, NY, 2002.

Built for Use: Driving Profitability through the User Experience
Karen Donoghue's book links the value of a good user experience to profitability. Built for Use focuses on the strategic benefits of a good user experience and provides a set of best practices for planners and practitioners. Part one of the book builds the business case for good customer experiences. Part two explains how to meld business and interface models. Part three examines the future and evolution of user experience design as systems become more intelligent and mobile.

Dumas, J. and Redish, J., Intellect: Exeter, UK, 1999. ISBN: 1841500208.

A Practical Guide to Usability Testing (Revised Edition)
This book provides excellent practical advice for groups who want to initiate usability testing. Both new and experienced usability professionals will find this book useful. ics include planning and preparing for usability tests, analyzing data, and communicating the results. If you do usability testing, this is one of the three books that you should read (Barnum (2002) and Rubin (1994) are the others).

Ericsson, K.A. and Simon, H.A., The MIT Press: Cambridge, MA, 1993.

Protocol Analysis: Verbal Reports as Data (Revised Edition)
Ericsson and Simon have compiled a massive amount of research on thinking aloud methods. This book discusses theory and empirical data on verbal protocols from psychology, education, and cognitive science. The validity, predictability, and completeness of verbal reports are reviewed. This book would be useful reading for anyone who uses thinking aloud methods and verbal data for usability testing and design.

Evan, W.M. & Manion, M., Prentice Hall PTR: Upper Saddle River, NJ, 2002.

Minding the Machines: Preventing Technological Disasters
Evan and Manion go beyond usability into the realm of public safety, health, and financial catastrophe. The authors discuss more than 30 disasters ranging from the Titanic to Love Canal to the Space Shuttle. The book looks at political factors, human factors, design factors, and other factors that interact to cause serious consequences for humans.

Farkas, D.K. & Farkas, J.B., Longman: New York, NY, 2002.

Principles of Web Design

Fernandes, T., AP Professional: Boston, MA, 1995.

Global Interface Design: A Guide to Designing International User Interfaces
Fernandes' book is a good general reference for GUI designers. His book has sections on visual design, international formats, cultural issues, symbols and taboos, and cultural aesthetics. This book has examples of good and bad international GUI designs.

Flanders, V. & Willis, M., Sybex: San Francisco, CA, 1998.

Web Pages that Suck: Learn Good Design by Looking at Bad Design
Flanders and Willis try to teach good design by providing examples of bad design from a wide variety of individual, government, non profit, and commercial sites. The book is an outgrowth of a popular Web site that highlighted bad sites. The book is entertaining and irreverent, but sometimes pushes too hard on basic issues like background colors and flashing graphics. One problem with books like this is that they spend most of their time critiquing bad designs, but fail to discuss how to create good designs. I enjoyed some of the book and found other parts somewhat boring.

Flanders, V. & Peters, D., Sybex: San Francisco, CA, 2002.

Son of Web Pages that Suck: Learn Good Design by Looking at Bad Design
This is a sequel to the 1998 book.

Fleming, J., and Koman, R., O'Reilly & Associates: Sebastopol, CA, 1998.

Web Navigation: Designing the User Experience
Web Navigation is a good primer on how to design an efficient and enjoyable Web site. Fleming focuses on user goals (education, entertainment, shopping, forming a virtual community) and how those goals should influence the design of Web sites. The book has many examples and a companion CD.

Fogg, B.J., Morgan Kaufmann: San Francisco, CA, 2003.

Persuasive Technology: Using Computers to Change What we Think and Do.
There are classes in business schools that teach future entrepreneurs the principles of human-human persuasion; Fogg's groundbreaking book describes how technology designers can take apply many of these same principles to the design of hardware and software products "to change what we think and do." Fogg starts his book with an introduction to Captology, the study of computers as persuasive technologies and a discussion of the advantages that computers have over human persuaders. He then elaborates on computers as persuasive tools, persuasive media, and social actors. Each chapter contains a set of design principles (for example, the principle of suggestion notes that a computer technology will have more persuasive power "if it offers suggestions at opportune moments."), examples from multiple technologies, and a detailed set of research notes for those who want more background. Chapters 6 and 7 focus on issues of computer and Web credibility (a critical topic for this Web-enabled world). Chapter 8 delves into the persuasive potential of mobile technologies (imagine advertisements in stores or on billboards that change to meet your interests as you walk or drive by). Chapter 9 deals with the dark side of persuasive computing – can you persuade people to do things that are not in their best interest? This ethical discussion is an important one since persuasive computers, like many other new technologies, can be used in socially acceptable or unacceptable ways.

Frascara, J., Taylor & Francis: London, UK, 1997.

User-Centered Graphic Design
This small book (146 pages) focuses on how visual design can affect attitudes and behavior. One case study, for example, deals with how visual communication design impacts traffic safety. A common theme through the book is that designers have ethical and social responsibilities. A chapter on design methods deals with issues and limitations of semiotics, data collection methods, and data validity.

Galitz, W.O., Wiley: New York, NY, 2002.

The Essential Guide to User Interface Design: An Introduction to GUI Design Principles and Techniques. (Second Edition).
Galitz's book is a classic on basic user interface design principles. His earlier work doesn't seem to get the respect it deserves, possibly because his graphics and style are not flashy. Galitz has examples of evolutionary designs that are quite useful for understanding design trade-offs.

Garrett, J.J., New Riders: Indianapolis, IN, 2003.

The Elements of User Experience: User-Centered Design for the Web
This book is based on Garrett's useful diagram that shows the relationships between various elements of user experience and Web design. This book is aimed at management and designed for those who are interested in the "new field" of usability. The book seems to ignore the long history of usability engineering. This might be a useful primer for managers who are trying to understand what "user experience" means, but it has very little information or practical guidance (beyond the useful conceptual diagram) for anyone with even a few years experience in design. The reference list is skimpy for anyone who wants to go to the next level of designing the user experience.

Gause, D.C. and Weinberg, G.M., Dorset House Publishing: New York, NY, 1989.

Exploring Requirements: Quality Before Design
This book is a collection of ideas on how to gather requirements that meet the needs of customers and users. While not specific to usability requirements, many of the techniques would apply.

Gottesdiener, E., Addison-Wesley: Boston, MA, 2002.

Requirements by Collaboration: Workshops for Defining Needs
The purpose of this book is to provide detailed guidance on how to conduct requirements definition workshops involving both clients and members of the product team. This book overflows with advice on facilitation, deliverables, logistics of meetings, and social dynamics. There are several case studies which illustrates the principles and methods highlighted by the author. If you will be involved in helping groups define requirements, this book would be a good resource.

Graham, I., Addison-Wesley: London, UK, 2003.

A Pattern Language for Web Usability
This book explains the history of patterns (sometimes in too much detail) and provides a set of 79 patterns related to Web usability. This book is the most readable of the 3 books available on user interface patterns (see Van Duyne, D. K., Landay, J. A., & Hong, J. I. (2003) and Borchers, J. (2001).

Hackos, J.T., & Redish, J.C., Wiley: New York, NY, 1998.

User and Task Analysis for Interface Design
This book has a great deal of practical advice on the meaning of user and task analysis, how to gather useful data, how to set up and conduct site visits, and how to integrate user and task data into the design of a user interface. Hackos and Redish offer concrete examples of faulty assumptions about users and tasks throughout the book that strengthen the case for user and task analysis.

Hancock, P.A. (Ed.), Academic Press: San Diego, CA, 1999. ISBN: 0-12-322735-6.

Human Performance and Ergonomics
Human Performance and Ergonomics has chapters on the discipline of engineering psychology and ergonomics, cognition in HCI, human engineering and quality of life, applied decision-making, communication aids for people with hearing loss, developing and evaluating conversational agents, multi-operator systems, and scaling problems in the design of work spaces for human use. Each chapter has a detailed bibliography (which I've found useful for locating hard-to-find research in HCI).

Harris, R.L., Management Graphics: Atlanta, GA, 1996.

Information Graphics: A Comprehensive Illustrated Reference—Visual Tools for Analyzing, Managing, and Communicating
This book is a veritable encyclopedia of information graphics – charts, maps, graphs, diagrams, and tables (over 4000 according to the book cover). Each entry describes the purpose of the information graphic and guidelines for drawing and using the graphic. If you want to know more about jittering, flow maps, stem and leaf charts, or patch graphs, buy the book.

Horton, W., Wiley: New York, NY, 1994.

The Icon Book: Visual Symbols for Computer Systems and Documentation
Everything you ever wanted to know about icon design. The Icon Book describes the process for designing icons, provides guidelines for icon design, and gives advice on how to design for international audiences. There is one version of the book that includes a disk with a set of 500 icons. Small companies that can't afford graphic designers might find this set of icons useful as a starting point for design.

Isaacs, E. & Walendowski, A., Indianapolis, IN: New Riders, 2002.

Designing from Both Sides of the Screen: How Designers and Engineers can Collaborate to Build Cooperative Technology
This book was a pleasant surprise. It is one of the few books that focuses on the tensions between designer and developer (or development team). Isaacs is an interaction designer and Walendowski is a "general-purpose programmer". Together they discuss the goal of respecting users (don't overburden them with mental of physical effort), the process of designing an interface, how to resolve thorny UI problems, how to prioritize requirements, how to discuss bugs and bug fixes, and a multitude of other topics. The book has good examples and clear guidelines, but is a little weak on references and the appendix listing other resources is a bit sparse. Overall, there are some discussions here that you won't find in many other books about how to reconcile the different views and goals of designer and developer.

Jacko, J.A. & Sears, A. (Eds.), Lawrence Erlbaum: Mahwah, NY, 2003.

The Human-Computer Interaction Handbook: Fundamentals, Evolving Technologies, and Emerging Applications.
This 1277 page collection of review articles is the most up-to-date survey of the field of HCI. Many of the articles are excellent summaries and critiques of the field. I would recommend this book to practitioners and researchers alike. Examples of excellent chapters are:

• User-based evaluations
• Inspection-based evaluations
• Human-computer interaction in health care
• Cost justification
• Motivating, influencing, and persuading users
• Information appliances

Johnson, S., HarperEdge: New York, NY, 1997.

Interface Culture: How New Technology Transforms the Way We Create and Communicate
Steven Johnson's book discusses how art, engineering, and culture are intertwined in the design of user interfaces. This book – full of historical references to biblical mnemonics, Memex, bad predictions by famous computer scientists, Shakespeare, and Guttenberg – describes how interfaces have influenced our culture and communication patterns. There are six main chapters in the book:

1. Bitmapping: An Introduction
2. The Desktop
3. Windows
4. Links
5. Text
6. Agents

Sprinkled throughout these chapters are discussions of consistency in UI design, the limitations of hierarchical file systems, the dangers of ceding controls of tasks to agents, and the knitting together of disparate chunks of information through frames.

Johnson, S., Scribner: New York, NY, 2001.

Emergence: The Connected Lives of Ants, Brains, Cities, and Software

Jordan, P.W., Taylor & Francis, London, UK, 2000. ISBN: 0-748-40844-4.

Designing Pleasurable Products: An Introduction to the New Human Factors
Jordan describes how there are three levels of human needs (relative to consumer products): functionality, usability, and pleasure. The first two levels are the primary focus of most product teams. Jordan argues that we must go beyond usability and design pleasurable products. He defines four pleasures: physio-pleasure, socio-pleasure, psycho-pleasure, and ideo-pleasure. After describing these pleasures, Jordan gives some examples of pleasurable products and methods for designing pleasurable products.

Jordan, P., Taylor & Francis: London, UK, 1998. ISBN: 0748407626.

An Introduction to Usability
Jordan's book has only 120 pages, but those pages contain an excellent survey of usability topics. ics include usability requirements, measures of usability, general principles of design, requirements gathering methods, prototyping techniques, empirical and non-empirical usability methods, and procedures for conducting usability evaluations. The book uses examples from hardware, software, and documentation and mixes research with practical advice. The book would be most appropriate for new usability practitioners.

Jordan, P.W., Thomas, B., Weerdmeester, B. A. and McClelland, I. L. (Eds.), Taylor & Francis: London, UK, 1996. ISBN 0748404600.

Usability Evaluation in Industry
This book has 26 chapters dedicated to elements of usability evaluation, selecting evaluation methods, field studies, informal usability methods, new usability methods, "off-the-self" usability methods, task analysis, and issues relating to usability evaluation. "Quick and dirty" techniques are featured in about 25% of the chapters. The book describes some uncommon techniques like the repertory grid method and the private camera conversation where users are not asked questions, but are simply asked to face a camera in a private cube (with no interviewer or observer) and tell a story about their use of a product. The chapters vary in quality, but overall this book is useful because it introduces some human factors concepts and methods that are seldom considered by usability specialists who lack formal training in human factors methods.

Kirwan, B. & Ainsworth, L.K. (Eds.), Taylor & Francis: London, UK, 1992.

A Guide to Task Analysis
A Guide to Task Analysis is a compendium of task analysis techniques and detailed case studies. Techniques described in this book include: charting and network analysis, decomposition, hierarchical task analysis, link analysis, operational sequence diagrams, and timeline analysis. User interface designers can adapt the techniques described in this book for the frenetic software development process.

Klein, G., The MIT Press: Cambridge, MA, 1998.

Sources of Power: How People Make Decisions
Gary Klein has received a lot of press in publications like The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, and Science News for his work on understanding how experts make decisions under difficult conditions. His methodology is based on naturalistic observation and a detailed analysis of critical incidents. Klein's work indicates that experts under duress do not use rational decision-making techniques. The book underscores the power of stories in understanding decision-making. Each chapter ends with a list of key points. This is a highly recommended book.

Krug, S., QUE: Indianapolis, IN, 2000. ISBN: 0789723107.

Don't Make Me Think: A Common Sense Approach to Web Usability
Don't Make Me Think is a compact, but stimulating book on Web design. When I saw the term "common sense" in the title, I was a little suspicious because as Voltaire said "Common sense is not so common", but as I read chapter after chapter, I found that the author was indeed wise and his advice quite useful for both new and experienced Web designers.

Kulak, D. and Guiney, E., ACM Press: New York, NY, 2000. ISBN: 0-201-65767-8.

Use Cases: Requirements in Context
If you are involved in the creation of use cases or the definition of product requirements, this book would be useful. The book starts out with a discussion of the issues involved in gathering requirements (conducting user interviews, making lists, doing prototypes) then it moves to a thorough description of use cases and UML. The book then describes a "use case-driven approach to requirements gathering". The book walks through several case studies and has a chapter called "classic mistakes" which summarizes mistakes and pitfalls in creating use cases and defining requirements. The book notes that the concept of a use case is easy to understand, but the process of using use cases in the development process is not. This is a practical book with clear prose, good advice and many examples.

Kyng, M. & Mathiassen, L. (Eds.), MIT Press: Cambridge, MA, 1997.

Computers and Design in Context
This book deals with the design of computer systems in context. The first part of the book describes problems in understanding how computers are used in the context of work. The second part focuses on the use of participatory design to improve both usefulness and usability.

Laurel, B., Addison-Wesley: Reading, MA, 1991, (Reprint edition, 1993).

Computers asTheatre
I recently re-read Computer as theatre and found it just as relevant today as it was when first introduced in 1991. Computer systems and theatre have much in common. Laurel's brilliance shows through in this book where she ranges from Aristotle's Poetics to the dynamics of plot progression in a play.

Lazar, J., Jones and Bartlett Publishers: Sudbury, MA, 2001.

User-Centered Web Development

Levitin, D.J. (Ed.), The MIT Press: Cambridge, MA, 2002

Foundations of Cognitive Psychology: Core Readings
This is a thick compendium of classic articles in cognitive psychology including several on HCI.

McGraw, K.L., & Harbison, K., Lawrence Erlbaum: Mahwah: New Jersey, 1997.

User-centered requirements: The Scenarios-Based Engineering Process

Meadows, M.S., New Riders: Indianapolis, IN, 2003.

Pause & Effect: The Art of Interactive Narrative
Pause & Effect examines how storytelling and information design combine in modern technologies. The book types of narratives, points of view, composition, symbols, character roles, plots, and the influence of space on story presentation. The book is lavishly illustrated and contains interviews and case studies. Unlike many books on Web design, this book does not promote easily digested one or two sentence rules about interactive design – you need to sit back and take time to reflect on the factors that yield a powerful narrative.

Mayhew, D., Morgan Kaufmann: San Francisco, CA, 1999. ISBN: 1558605614.

The Usability Engineering Lifecycle: A Practitioner's Handbook for User Interface Design
Mayhew's book is a detailed blueprint of the usability engineering life cycle with a wealth of practical advice. This book has four sections: Requirements Analysis, Design/Testing/Development, Installation, and Organizational Issues. Each chapter discusses usability engineering tasks, roles, resources, levels of effort, short cuts (quick and dirty techniques to use when a rigorous approach isn't possible), Web notes, and sample work products and templates. The book is both detailed and readable and worthwhile for both new and experienced usability specialists.

Moore, G., Harper Business: New York, NY, 1999.

Crossing the Chasm (Revised edition)

Mullet, K. and Sano, D., SunSoft Press: Mountain View, CA, 1995.

Designing Visual Interfaces: Communication Oriented Techniques
Mullet and Sano's book provides clear examples of some of the elusive concepts of visual layout and design of GUIs. There are good descriptions of design concepts like unity, scale, proportion, grouping, balance, and cohesiveness. The book is heavily illustrated with good and bad visual designs.

Munro, A.J., Höök, K., and Benyon, D. (Eds.), Springer: London, UK, 1999.

Social Navigation of Information Space

Nardi, B. (Ed.), The MIT Press: Cambridge, MA, 1995.

Context and Consciousness: Activity Theory and Human-Computer Interaction
The articles in this book describe how "activity theory" can be used to understand how people actually use computer systems. Activity theory is a psychological theory based on field research and naturalistic theory.

Nielsen, J., Morgan Kaufmann: San Francisco, CA, 1994.

Usability Engineering
Nielsen's Usability Engineering is highly recommended as a solid introduction to the design of usable products. The book details how usability issues must be considered throughout the development process and provides techniques for gathering usability data. There is excellent information on low-cost usability testing techniques.

Nielsen, J. and Mack, R.L. (Eds.), Wiley: New York, NY, 1994. ISBN: 0471018775.

Usability Inspection Methods
Nielsen and Mack describe the experiences of usability engineers who have applied inspection techniques to user interfaces.

Paciello, M., CMP Books: Lawrence, KS, 2000 ISBN 1929629087

Web Accessibility for People with Disabilities
This book provides the why's and the how's of Web accessibility in a usable format. Mike Paciello delivers the reasons for developing accessible pages as well as the guidelines and tools to develop them efficiently. Web Accessibility for People with Disabilities was one of the first comprehensive books on accessibility for people with disabilities.

Pande, P.S., Neuman, R.P., and Cavanagh, R.R., McGraw-Hill: New York, NY, 2000. ISBN: 0071358064.

The Six Sigma Way: How GE, Motorola, and Other Companies are Honing Their Performance
This entertaining book describes the Six Sigma process. I didn't expect to enjoy reading this book, but it had a wealth of ideas that could be applied to user-centered design, for example, Chapter 13 describes methods for defining customer requirements (a process that not enough of us are involved with). The book has some dry moments, but is generally well written with entertaining case studies. Not one of your typical books for UCD or usability practitioners, but a good book that might yield some new ideas.

Peppers, D. and Rogers, M., Doubleday: New York, NY, 1996. ISBN: 0-385-48566-2.

The One to One Future: Building Relationships One Customer at a Time
This book is often cited in discussions about personalization. It discusses issues of mass customization and share of customer (as opposed to market share). The book makes distinctions between mass marketing and 1:1 marketing. For example, mass marketing is adversarial whereas 1:1 marketing is collaborative. The first edition of the book was written in 1993 before Web commerce took off, but many of the lessons in the book can be applied to e-commerce or face-to-face transactions.

Pearrow, M., Charles River Media: Rockland, MA, 2000.

Web Site Usability Handbook
This book is an amalgam of information on usability, UCD, human factors, usability lab setup, Web accessibility, and basic statistics. There is also a CD and examples of consent forms and post-test questionnaires. The writing style is informal. This is a good book for someone wants to get into the field and get a sense of the breadth of topics that are important. The attempt at breadth was laudable, but sometimes the author had too many small chunks of information (especially the short chapter on human factors where the APA is cited rather than the HFES and the chapter on statistics). Both human factors and statistics are critical topics, but the coverage was too brief to provide any real benefit.

Perlman, G., Green, G.K., and Wogalter, M.S., Human Factors and Ergonomics Society: Santa Monica, CA, 1995. ISBN: 0-945289-05-7.

Human Factors Perspectives on Human-Computer Interaction: Selections from Proceedings of Human Factors and Ergonomics Society Annual Meetings: 1983-1994
These articles include some classic papers on methods, guidelines, hardware human factors, accessibility, and usability. Authors include Tom Tullis, Dennis Wixon, Randolph Bias, Gary Perlman, and Robert Williges. There is a 1983 paper by Betsy Comstock that describes what is probably the first documented use of the co-participation method where two participants work together. You can order this book from the HFES.

Picard, R.W., The MIT Press: Cambridge, MA, 1997.

Affective Computing
Affective Computing is a book about how to imbue computers with emotion. The author's thesis is that emotion can have a positive effect on decision-making. This book reviews the literature on theories of emotion and the impact of emotion on decision making. Picard notes that "emoticons", those little faces made of text characters, are already used to help people understand the meaning of text and that new technologies will soon allow computers to express emotion. Picard describes work by Daniel Goleman who wrote the book Emotional Intelligence, Patti Maes, a strong voice for agent technology, Reeves and Nass, authors of the Media Equation, and other prominent psychologists delving into the importance of emotion in human-human and human-computer interactions.

Powazek, D.M., New Riders: Indianapolis, IN, 2002.

Design for Community: The Art of Connecting Real People in Virtual Places

Preece, J., Wiley: Chichester, UK, 2000. ISBN: 0471805998.

Online Communities: Designing Usability, Supporting Sociability
Jenny's book pulls together research from psychology, HCI, sociology, and other disciplines that describe how to create, nurture, and sustain online communities. Online Communities is replete with case studies, concrete examples, research summaries, and practical suggestions. Jenny notes that the usability of tools is important, but equally important is the concept of building sociability into an online community. Jenny provides a checklist of usability and sociability heuristics on page 291 that should be considered in the design of online communities. These heuristics deal with the following questions:

1. Why should I join this community?
2. How do I join or leave the community?
3. What are the rules?
4. How do I read and send messages?
5. Can I do what I want easily?
6. Is the community safe?
7. Can I express myself as I wish?
8. Why should I come back?

Anyone trying to build an online (profit or non-profit) community should read this book. Jenny Preece has done a superb job melding research from different disciplines and providing theoretical foundations and practical advice. A more complete review will be in next month's newsletter.

Preece, J., Rogers, H., & Sharp, H., Wiley: New York, NY, 2002.

Interaction Design: Beyond Human-Computer Interaction
Interaction Design is a textbook for undergraduate and graduate students studying HCI. Preece et al. describe interaction design, conceptual modeling, user and task analysis, style of interaction, requirements, prototyping, and evaluation. Preece and her colleagues sprinkle the chapters with examples from different types of systems and interviews with prominent HCI researchers and practitioners. This book could be used for full semester or short, intensive courses. The strength of Interaction Design is its breadth of coverage of modern HCI topics. If you want a survey of interaction design, this is a good book. If you want to learn about a specific area of HCI, this gives you a starting point, but you will need supplemental readings if you want to understand topics like usability testing or participatory design in detail.

Price, J. & Price, L., New Riders: Indianapolis, IN, 2002.

HotText: Web writing that works
Jonathan and Lisa Price have compiled an informative set of principles with before and after examples and a table that discusses how the principles apply to Web visitors who have different goals: to have fun, to learn, to act, to be aware, and to get close to people.

Raskin, J., Addison-Wesley: Reading, MA, 2000. ISBN: 021379376.

The Humane Interface: New Directions for Designing Interactive Systems
Raskin, the creator of the Apple Macintosh project, pushes hard for a design process that is based on cognitive psychology (GOMS) and quantitative measures and presents a number of design recommendations for breaking out of the current GUI paradigm. There are a lot of good design principles, but they are spread throughout the book. I would have found a single list of the principles useful.

Rubin, J., Wiley: New York, NY, 1994. ISBN: 0471594032.

Handbook of Usability Testing: How to Plan, Design, and Conduct Effective Tests
This handbook is a step-by-step guide to effective usability testing. Rubin provides many tips that will benefit both the new and the experienced usability practitioner. The book was written with the assumption that readers won't have human factors training. This book complements the books by Dumas and Redish (1999) and Barnum (2002)

Reeves, B. and Nass, C., CLSI Publications: Stanford, CA, 1996.

The Media Equation: How People Treat Computers, Television, and New Media Like Real People and Places
Reeves and Nass are professors of communication at Stanford University. The Media Equation summarizes several years of research on how humans relate to computers, television, and other types of new media. Reeves and Nass present findings that humans treat computes and other media technology as real people and places. Some of their conclusions are that (1) people have natural social responses to computers, (2) that people assign traits to computers, and (3) that designers of "new media" could improve ease of use by employing rules for social and physical relationships. One design problem with this book is that it only has an author index which makes it hard to locate specific information.

Rheingold, H., Perseus Publishing: Cambridge, MA, 2002.

Smart Mobs: The Next Social Revolution
Rheingold explores how ubiquitous computing, low-cost technology, and social activism will create "smart mobs". Rheingold notes on page xvii that new technologies "enable people to act together in new ways and in situations where collective action was not possible before." These smart mobs will change everything from advertising to voting to surveillance. We are building many systems that will facilitate smart mobs so designers might want to read this book to get a sense of how to design "mob technology".

Rosson, M.B. & Carroll, J.M., Morgan Kaufmann: San Francisco, CA, 2002.

Usability Engineering: Scenario-Based Development of Human-Computer Interaction
This is one of the best HCI textbooks on the market. It follows a single project from beginning to end so students have some context for the methods and principles described in the book.

Rudisill, M., Lewis, C., Polson, P.B., and McKay, T. (Eds.), Morgan Kaufmann: San Francisco, CA, 1996.

Human-Computer Interface Design: Success Stories, Emerging Methods, and Real-World Design
Part I of the book focuses on success cases. Chapter 1 describes how a focus on user-centered design resulted in a dramatic increase of revenues in a database product. Part II focuses on emerging methods (from the mid 1990s). Part III has articles on real-world problems with bring interface design methods into the development process.

Schrage, Michael, Harvard Business School Press: Boston, MA, 2000.
ISBN: 0-87584-814-1.

Serious Play: How the World's Best Companies Simulate to Innovate
Serious Play examines the importance of prototyping to innovation in industry. Schrage's main argument is that "the future of prototyping is the future of innovation." The book is a bit heavy on business philosophy (it was published by the Harvard Business School Press), but it describes a range of prototyping techniques and poses key questions surrounding the nature of prototyping like "What is this model for?" and "Who stands to lose if a useful prototype or simulation is created?" This book is important for understanding the politics of prototyping.

Schriver, K.A., Wiley: New York, NY, 1997.

Dynamics in Document Design: Creating Text for Readers
Schrivers' book describes how document design has evolved and discusses how users react to different facets of documents (for example typography, illustrations, and examples). The book uses case studies extensively and draws on research from rhetoric, design, writing, and cognitive science. Schriver's work highlights how interactions among different variables (for example, justification, word spacing, and leading) affect readability and interpretation and how designers should be cautious about basing decisions on "main effects".

Schuman, H. & Presser, S., Sage: Thousand Oaks, CA, 1996.

Questions and Answers in Attitude Surveys: Experiments on Question Form, Wording, and Content
Schuman and Presser report a set of studies on attitude surveys. The studies focus on question-answer issues in surveys such as: the assessment of no opinion, measuring middle position, acquiescence, and open versus closed questions. The studies were largely done in the 1980s using carefully design probability samples. The research reported by the authors is compared with similar research done in the 1940s and some observations are made about changes over time.

Sudman, S., Bradburn, N.M. Schwarz, N., Jossey-Bass: San Francisco, CA, 1996.

Thinking About Answers: The Application of Cognitive Processes to Survey Methodology
Thinking About Answers explores cognitive issues associated with survey methods. These issues include: context effects in surveys, order effects, event dating, counting and estimation, and autobiographical memory. The final chapter summarizes implications of cognitive research for survey design, administration, and interpretation.

Slatin, J.M. & Rush, S., Addison-Wesley: Boston, MA, 2003.

Maximum Accessibility: Making Your Web Sites Nore Usable for Everyone

Spence, R., Addison-Wesley: Harlow, UK, 2001.

Information Visualization

Thatcher, J. Bohman, P., Burks, M., Henry, H.L., Regan, B., Swierenga, S., Urban, M.D., & Waddell, C.D., Birmingham, UK: Glasshaus, 2002.

Constructing Accessible Web Sites
This is a detailed reference manual on accessibility techniques. Here is a list of chapters:

• Understanding Web Accessibility
• Overview of Law and Guidelines
• Assistive Technology Browsers and Accessibility
• Creating Accessible Web Sites
• Accessible Navigation
• Accessible Data Input
• Testing for Section 508 Compliance
• Web Development Tools and Accessibility
• Separating Content from Presentation
• Accessibility and Macromedia Flash
• Implementing Accessibility in Enterprise
• Emerging Technologies
• US Web Accessibility Law in Depth

Thomas, R.C., Springer-Verlag: London, UK, 1998.

Long Term Human-Computer Interaction: An Exploratory Perspective
This book focuses on research into long-term computer use, a topic seldom covered in most basic books on usability. However, it is quite academic and probably most useful for those planning longitudinal research.

Tognazzini, B., Addison-Wesley: Reading, MA, 1996.

Tog on Software Design
Tognazzini's book focuses on the higher levels of design. He covers topics ranging from trends in computing to the true meaning of quality. The book is full of useful data and anecdotes for those aiming for the next generation of computing.

Tufte, E.R., Graphics Press: Chesire, CT, 1983.

The Visual Display of Quantitative Information
This is a classic book on the minimalist approach to presenting quantitative information. Tufte provides a language for discussing statistical graphics and suggests many techniques for refining graphics and making them more usable. This is the most useful of the three Tufte books for user interface designers.

Tufte, E.R., Graphics Press: Chesire, CT, 1990.

Envisioning Information
Envisioning Information is a guide to presenting multi-dimensional data in two dimensions. This is a beautiful book, but not quite as useful as Tufte's 1983 book.

Tufte, E.R., Graphics Press: Cheshire, CT, 1997.

Visual Explanations: Images and Quantities, Evidence and Narrative
In his third book on graphical design, Tufte focuses on how to present data about "motion, process, mechanism, cause and effect." Tufte notes that visual explanations are often used to make critical decisions. Tufte uses some provocative case studies like the Space Shuttle Challenger hearings and esoteric examples like instructions for magic tricks to illustrate some of the problems of visual explanation. Tufte's work is beautiful, but it takes some work to draw out how his ideas can be applied in the day-to-day bustle that confronts most user interface designers. His first book, The Visual Display of Quantitative Information, has concepts (for example, chartjunk), that were much easier to assimilate and apply.

Underhill, P., Simon & Schuster: New York, NY, 1999. ISBN: 0-684-84913-5.

Why We Buy: The Science of Shopping
Underhill describes how his team observes (and videotapes) shoppers and makes conclusions about what factors affect buying decisions. A theme throughout the book is that tedious observations can yield almost miraculous inferences about what affects buying decisions. Underhill has a chapter about the Internet, but that is not his strength.

Van Duyne, D.K., Landay, J.A., & Hong, J.I., Addison-Wesley: Boston, NY, 2003.

The design of sites: Patterns, principles, and processes for crafting a customer-centered Web experience
The Design of Sites is the first good book on the use of patterns in user interface design. Van Duyne and his colleagues take the general approach used by Christopher Alexander in his classic, A Pattern Language. Part I of the book is a general introduction to customer-centered design and the concept of patterns. A pattern is a concise description of a recurring design problem with general solutions to that problem and also the relationship of the pattern in questions to other patterns (you might call this cross-referencing of patterns). The authors divide Part II of the book into the "pattern groups" listed below.

• Site genres
• Creating a navigation framework
• Creating a powerful homepage
• Writing and managing content
• Building trust and credibility
• Basic e-commerce
• Advanced e-commerce
• Helping customers complete tasks
• Designing effective page layouts
• Making the search fast and redundant
• Making navigation easy
• Speeding up your site

Literature supporting each pattern is found in a resources section at the end of the book (I wish the authors had put the list at the end of each chapter).

Understanding the pattern approach to design takes some patience. This book is not a quick read, but if you are willing to invest the time to understand this approach, you will become a more confident designer.

Van Harmelen, M. (Ed.), Addison-Wesley: Boston, NY, 2001.

Object Modeling and User Interface Design: Designing Interactive Systems
There are four sections to this book: participatory design, scenario- and task-based design, use case based design, and user-centered design.

Vicente, K.J., Lawrence Erlbaum: Mahwah, N.J. 1999. ISBN: 0-8058-2396-4

Cognitive Work Analysis: Toward Safe, Productive, and Healthy Computer-Based Work
The goal of this book is to "help designers of complex sociotechnical systems create computer-based information support that helps workers adapt to the unexpected and changing demands of their jobs" (p. xiv). This book is based on the work of Jens Rasmussen and his colleagues in Denmark over the last 3 decades. The book discusses methods that are similar to contextual inquiry and design, but it does so in a very complex way. This book feels like a PhD dissertation that was turned into a book. This might be a good resource for anyone doing serious research on task analysis or work modeling, but it is not a book for practitioners.

Wixon, D. & Ramey, J. (Eds.), Wiley: New York, NY, 1996 (Out of print, but still good).

Field Methods Casebook for Software Design
Dennis Wixon and Judy Ramey's Casebook is replete with practical advice on field research methods for the design of both hardware and software systems. Methods like contextual inquiry, CARD, PICTIVE, usability round tables, task analysis, and participatory design are explained with authors' commentary on how to integrate the field methods into development cycles, the costs and benefits associated with each technique, how to collect and analyze data, and future trends. This book is out of print, but if you can get hold of a copy, it would be a worthwhile contribution to your HCI library.

Wainer, H., Lawrence Earlbaum: New York, NY, 2000. ISBN: 0805838783.

Visual Revelations: Graphical Tales of Fate and Deception from Napoleon Bonaparte to Ross Perot
Wainer's book is a good companion to Ed Tufte's three books on the visual design of information display's. Wainer provides a short history of graphical data presentation and describes how graphic representations can highlight subtle aspects of data or distort data in ways that manipulate the viewer's perception. The final four chapters in the book provide guidelines for improving graphical presentations. The last chapter in the book is "Making Readable Overhead Displays", a very practical topic.

Ware, C., Morgan Kaufmann: San Francisco, CA, 2000.

Information Visualization: Perception for Design
Ware does a masterful job describing the mechanisms of attention, perception, and sensory physiology. Complex topics like chromaticity coordinates, gestalt principles, and texture coding are explained clearly without sacrificing rigor. This book explains many of the principles that are behind user interface guidelines like "don't use red and blue together" and "don't rely solely on color coding".

Weinschenk, S. and Barker, D.T., Wiley: New York, NY, 2000.

Designing Effective Speech Interfaces
This book is a speech interface style guide. The first part of the book talks about some general issues with speech interfaces and the second part of the book is a long list of general guidelines. For those new to speech interfaces, this is a good summary of many of the issues that must be considered.

Wickens, C.D., Gordon, S.E., and Liu, Y., Addison-Wesley (Longman Imprint): New York, NY, 1998.

An Introduction to Human Factors Engineering
There is the most recent major textbook on Human Factors Engineering and is an excellent reference for general human factors topics. There is a chapter on basic HCI, but the real value comes from chapters on vision, cognition, decision-making, display and control principles (some of the basic research here on memory, layout, compatibility, labeling, and alerting is quite relevant to software design and usability). There are also some good review chapters on stress and workload, human error, and selection and training (EPSS, adaptive training, performance support).

Wildbur, P. and Burke, M., Thames and Hudson: London, UK, 1998.

Information Graphics: Innovative Solutions in Contemporary Design
This lavishly illustrated book presents case studies of the design of software, signage, signaling systems, air traffic control systems, and multimedia kiosks. The book is divided into sections (color coded) entitled: Informing the Traveller, Explaining How Things Work, Controlling the Input, Interacting with the Screen, Exploring the 3-D Interface, and Mapping the Internal and External Worlds. One drawback is the lack of an index.

Wodtke, C., New Riders: Indianapolis, IN, 2003.

Information Architecture: Blueprints for the Web
Wodtke does an excellent job in describing the many facets of information architecture and avoiding detailed checklist that tell designers to "do this and do that". Her book begins with a discussion about gurus and rules and how rules are often wrong in particular contexts. She then lists and explains a familiar set of "First Principles" that resemble common heuristics for good design. Chapter 4 gets into various methods for understanding users including interviews and prototyping. She covers prototype testing in about 7 pages; enough to explain what it is about, but not enough to actually plan and conduct a test. Chapter 7 does have a clear procedure for creating personas and scenarios, but gives short shrift to task analysis. Chapter 8 describes a set of principles for navigation and delves into ideas for future navigation in large information spaces. Chapter 9 describes how to use diagrams to think about design and communicate ideas. Chapter 11 delves into ways to be effective including "take naps at work" (the research supports this though many companies do not :), drink coffee (if your body can tolerate it) when you want a "short push-through of an especially sticky problem", and learn basic persuasive principles such as "give people compliments", and do people favors so they'll do one for you when you need it. While the book has a few shortcomings, it also contains much wisdom and wit.

Wroblewski, L., Hungry Minds: New York, NY, 2002.

Site-Seeing: A Visual Approach to Web Usability

Wurman, R.S., QUE: Indianapolis, IN, 2001

Information Anxiety2
This is an update to a classic book dealing with information design. In Anxiety2, Wurman expands on concepts of information design and provides some enlightening commentary on how to sift through masses of non-information to get at useful information. His book is fascinating, but its visual style seems somewhat busy at times which I found to be at odds with the main thesis of the book.