 | American Psychological Association | |
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 | Usability Professionals Association | |
 | Human Factors & Ergonomics Society | |
Web Site Design & Web Site Usability BooksThe books described here are relevant to Human Factors Design and are available from Amazon. Please let us know if you would like to suggest additional titles.
Our RoleUsernomics can assist your company in making your products easy to learn, easy to use, aesthetically pleasing, and marketable. Our User Interface Design and Usability Testing professionals design both hardware and software products. Their experience covers a wide range of products including web-based and application software, consumer products, communication systems, and vehicles such as automobiles and aircraft.
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Because of overlapping subject matter, some books may be represented more than once. The books listed here are roughly divided into the following categories:
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Recent Publications For Web Site Design
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by Sarah Horton
July 12, 2005
In just over a decade, the Web has evolved from an experimental tool for a limited community of technically inclined people into a day-to-day necessity for millions upon millions of users. Today's Web designers must consider not only the content needs of the sites they create, but also the wide range of additional needs their users may have: for example, those with physical or cognitive disabilities, those with slow modems or small screens, and those with limited education or familiarity with the Web. Bestselling author Sarah Horton argues that simply meeting the official standards and guidelines for Web accessibility is not enough. Her goal is universal usability, and in Access by Design: A Guide to Universal Usability for Web Designers, Sarah describes a design methodology that addresses accessibility requirements but then goes beyond. As a result, designers learn how to optimize page designs to work more effectively for more users, disabled or not. Working through each of the main functional features of Web sites, she provides clear principles for using HTML and CSS to deal with elements such as text, forms, images, and tables, illustrating each with an example drawn from the real world. Through these guidelines, Sarah makes a convincing case that good design principles benefit all users of the Web.
Dan Cederholm
July 28, 2005
No matter how visually appealing or packed with content your Web site is, it isn't succeeding if it's not reaching the widest possible audience. If you get this guide, you can be assured it will! By deconstructing a series of real-world Web sites, author and Web designer extraordinaire Dan Cederholm outlines 10 strategies for creating standards-based designs that provide flexibility, readability, and user control-key components of every successful Web site. Each chapter starts out with an example of what Dan refers to as an "unbulletproof" concept-an existing site that employs a traditional approach and its associated pitfalls. Dan then deconstructs that approach, noting its downsides and then making the site over using Cascading Style Sheets (CSS). By the end of each chapter, you'll have replaced traditional, bloated, inaccessible page components with lean markup and CSS. The guide culminates with a chapter that pieces together all of the page components discussed in prior chapters into a single page template.
Bryan Eisenberg, Jeffery Eisenberg, Jeffrey Eisenberg
May 9, 2005
Having made a living on the Internet for the past 7 years basically flying by the "seat of my pants", I found Bryan's book a absolute goldmine of information. Call to Action is a straight forward, no nonsense, no "fluff" book covering the do's and don't's of website design and marketing. The book is written to be easily understood. I have already adopted many of Bryan's points into my own website design and have seen almost immediate results. I doubt if there is a better book on the subject.
Randolph G. Bias, Deborah J. Mayhew
March 25, 2005
The second edition is a fresh and important contribution to the growing literature on HCI management--it will certainly be influential. This book will satisfy the desires of those who want evidence that usability investments have high payoffs--it also provides wise guidance about how and what to measure to demonstrate the ROI from usability projects. Thorough & thoughtful, practical & actionable; readers will be able to put the ideas to work immediately.
Jeff Cogswell
February 12, 2004
If you're looking for a book on general software design, this book won't help you much. This book is about creating usable software, not software in general. It's very hard to pinpoint what makes something usable, but Jeff does an outstanding job. I liked the fact that he often augmented a technical lesson using stories that make learning the details fun. The manner of presentation is interesting because Jeff doesn't rely on just one technique to present the information. The details are often illustrated using several methods, so it's easier to understand precisely what Jeff means. Unlike many theory type books, this one has source code examples--something that every developer can relate to.
Jeffrey Zeldman
May 14, 2003
You code. And code. And code. You build only to rebuild. You focus on making your site compatible with almost every browser or wireless device ever put out there. Then along comes a new device or a new browser, and you start all over again. You can get off the merry-go-round. It's time to stop living in the past and get away from the days of spaghetti code, insanely nested table layouts, tags, and other redundancies that double and triple the bandwidth of even the simplest sites. Instead, it's time for forward compatibility. Isn't it high time you started designing with web standards? Standards aren't about leaving users behind or adhering to inflexible rules. Standards are about building sophisticated, beautiful sites that will work as well tomorrow as they do today. You can't afford to design tomorrow's sites with yesterday's piecemeal methods.
James R. Williams, CRC Press
May 26, 2004
The author presents an integrated performance support systems approach for increasing the usability and learnability of computer systems, providing planning, design, and development guidance for designers, developers, and managers involved in performance support for users. Primarily addressing the development of performance support for large software systems such as business information systems, he describes different types of design environments and strategies; discusses the estimation of resource requirements; explores the performance of needs assessment and task analysis; examines information presentation, media selection, and accessibility issues; and provides a method for testing performance support products.
Jakob Nielsen
February 24, 2006
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by Eric Freeman, Elisabeth Freeman
December 1, 2005
Tired of reading HTML books that only make sense after you're an expert? Then it's about time you picked up Head First HTML with CSS & XHTML and really learned HTML. You want to learn HTML so you can finally create those Web pages you've always wanted, so you can communicate more effectively with friends, family, fans and fanatic customers. You also want to do it right so you can actually maintain and expand your Web pages over time, and so your Web pages work in all the browsers and mobile devices out there. Oh, and if you've never heard of CSS, that's okay - we won't tell anyone you're still partying like it's 1999 - but if you're going to create Web pages in the 21st century then you'll want to know and understand CSS.
by Jakob Nielsen, Marie Tahir
September 15, 2004
The book begins with a briefing on Jakob's web usability principles, themselves culled from years of research. The 50 sites fall under such categories as Fortune 500 Sites, Highest-Traffic Sites, and E-Commerce Sites. The content is simply presented: Four book pages are devoted to each homepage. The first page is a clean screenshot of the site's homepage (for readers to make their own, unbiased judgments), followed by a page that explains the site's purpose and summarizes its success--or failure--at usabilty. The third and fourth pages are devoted to crtiques, where Jakob and Marie present no-holds-barred commentary for specific usability practices, as well as suggestions for improvement. Although only the homepage of each site is analyzed, many of the critiques can be applied to overall website design.
by Eric Schaffer
February 11, 2004
Intended for executives and usability engineers, this book outlines a four-stage process for initiating a new attitude towards product and web site design that focuses on the user interface and experience rather than on programming and technical issues. It discusses hiring a usability consultant, knowledge and skills training, the Schaffer method, testing facilities, design standards, staffing, and the activities of an established usability group.
by Sanjay J. Koyani, Robert W. Bailey, Janice R. Nall
August, 2004
These guidelines are available for free on the web at http://usability.gov/pdfs/guidelines.html. But, the best way to view then is on paper and not on your computer monitor. Do be warned if you try to print, you will need a color printer, as much of the information is lost in black and white. So, save yourself a big hassle and the cost of much toner/ink. The 187 peer-reviewed guidelines are each rated on a 1 to 5 scale to indicate the strength of evidence supporting its hypothesis. These are not ideas promoted by one organization to further its reputation or advance its agenda. This is the result of review and input from experts from government, academia, and the private sector. Your tax dollars were spent developing these unbiased guidelines. They provide a roadmap that should help designers and developers avoid problems and produce more effective websites.
by June Cohen
May 23, 2003
The Unusually Useful Web Book is the only book you need to find out everything you need to know about web sites. In fact, it's 2 books in 1. You can skim the sidebars and checklists for tips and techniques you can use right away. Or you can follow along with the main text for a detailed discussion of planning, designing, building, and maintaining your web site. The Unusually Useful Web Book is jam-packed with do-it-yourself worksheets, lessons from the trenches, advice from experts, and jargon-free explanations. But don't just take our word for it. Read what others are saying about The Unusually Useful Web Book: "This book definitely stands out. Most books of this nature are stuffed with irrelevant and non-substantive information that only add confusion. This book delivers an overwhelming amount of information in a way that is both approachable and useful. There was a lot of information that I could immediately apply to current projects." Garo Green, Director of Publications, lynda.com "Anyone who has a passion for web design will enjoy this book. For the novice, it's an eye opener and the reader will probably be compelled to soak in all the material, cover to cover. For the professional, it's a strong reinforcement of things we often overlook and a great reference tool. I'm a professional and found it to be an up-to-date and refreshing read, and I plan on using it as a required textbook in the classroom!" Rosanna Yeung, Multimedia & Web Design Instructor, The Art Institute of California
by Nuray Aykin
August, 2004
Contributors from the US, Europe, and Asia provide a theoretical foundation and practical examples and guidelines for designing information technology for different cultures, languages, and economic standings, describing methods that can be used to ensure their usability across cultural boundaries. Case studies describe research on cross-cultural design for children in a cyber setting, user requirements in mainland China, and travel planning on the Web. Aykin is affiliated with Siemens Corporate Research.
by Eric Peterson
March, 2004
It is a book about making data actionable, about turning information into insight... Focusing on the data, the tools, and the metrics that are common to nearly every analytics package available today, regardless of price, performance or popularity, Web Analytics Demystified will help you understand which reports you need to be looking at to run your online business successfully. With a focus on key performance indicators (KPIs), broken down by those best suited for each major business model, this book is truly about making your analytics program work for you! Written by someone who has worked in the field for years, Web Analytics Demystified is as complete a guide to the field of Web Analytics (traffic analysis, log file analysis) as exists today. The author stands on the shoulders of giants like Jim Sterne, Bryan Eisenberg, Jim Novo and Hurol Inan, expanding on each gentleman's ideas on the subject.
by Susan Fowler, Victor Stanwick
June 23, 2004
User interface designers have been debating among themselves for years about how to design effective Web applications. There were no comprehensive references that covered the myriad topics that emerged in these debates until Fowler and Stanwick took on the challenge and wrote Web Application Design Handbook, the first comprehensive guide to building Web applications. This book tackles design problems faced by every Web development team with uncommon wisdom, clear prose, and detailed examples. Key topics include: modifying the browser interface to meet application security and efficiency requirements, searching, sorting, filtering, building efficient and usable data input mechanisms, generating reports, preventing errors, and using creative visualization techniques to optimize the display of large sets of data. This thorough work should be a primary reference for everyone designing Web applications.
by Kelly Goto, Emily Cotler
December 10, 2004
Anyone who has managed the process of developing or redesigning a Web site of significant size has likely learned the hard way the complexities, pitfalls, and cost risk of such an undertaking. While many Web development firms have fantastic technical expertise, what sets the topnotch organizations apart is the ability to accurately manage the planning and development process. Web Redesign: Workflow That Works directly addresses this crucial area with a specific, proven process. This brief but important book lays out a specific five-step strategy--called the Core Process--that can always be applied to the development of Web sites and fine-tuned to almost any type of project. Each step--defining the project, developing site structure, visual design and testing, production and QA, and launch and beyond--contains three related but distinct tracks. The text begins with a brief overview of each of the steps, then delves deeper into each with detailed explanations as well as specific forms and project-management strategies. This book does not cover back-end, server-side programming. Instead, it focuses primarily on the visual, conventional components of a Web site. Authors Kelly Goto and Emily Cotler compiled this book in an attractive, easy-to-read format. This process guide uses numerous full-color screen shots to illustrate site examples, as well as plenty of site diagrams and sample forms. The book even has a companion Web site with downloadable forms in PDF format to put the Core Process into immediate action.
by Edwin Margulies
August, 2004
Web Site Usability Almanac 2004 The Web Site Usability Almanac 2004 is a landmark study in the usability of commercial and non-profit web sites, with an eye on customer service and automation. The Almanac represents the output of a joint research initiative sponsored by Sterling Audits' own research staff and its research affiliates. The research base includes thousands of web sites from 9 industry segments including: Communications; Financial Services; Government; Healthcare; Insurance; Manufacturing; Retail; Transportation; and Utilities. The Almanac concentrates on survey results of each web site in five critical areas: Navigation; Content; Usability; Interactivity; and Credibility. Scores for these critical areas are be tabulated using the Sterling Audits Research Portal software. Research questions are crystallized into small chunks of data that bubble up to the five focus areas mentioned above. Over 200 data points are used from each web site. Each of the five critical areas is assigned 20 points out of a possible 100. Weights are used in each area based on the criticality of the item. The Almanac is arranged by chapter. There is an introductory chapter, a chapter on approach and methodology - and the rest are dedicated to the survey results in the five critical areas. There are over 200 graphs and charts in this almanac. We list the upper quartile, median and lower quartile averages for each category.
Jonathan Lazar
February 1, 2004
This book takes readers from the initial idea of developing a web site, determining the mission and target user, designing the pages and testing the site, to implementing and managing the site. Case studies are presented explaining how these concepts have been applied to web development in real world situations. Covers the principles behind Web Usability and interface design. Provides content needed to learn and build useable websites. Incorporates six practical case studies that have readers working with existing websites to improve their usability. This book is appropriate for anyone interested in designing web sites based off the needs of the user.
Recent Publications For Web Site Design
