Programmers are People, Too
Written for programmers and applicable to User Interface Designers ...
"I would like to start out this article with an odd, yet surprisingly uncontroversial assertion, which is this: programmers are human.
Just to be clear, when I say human factors, I am referring to the design practices for all things people use, not just human-computer interaction (HCI). People who design doorknobs, car dashboards, graphical layouts, and martini shakers have a long head start on HCI, and good HCI practitioners look to this experience to inform their own work. Now it’s our turn
Good computer design has been a topic since computers were a Lovelace-analyzed gleam in Babbage’s eyes. Experience has improved our understanding of what makes good design. We have even reached into some human-factors-influenced fields for ways to describe our understanding, such as using architecture’s notion of pattern languages for our own design patterns (and anti-patterns).
What we have rarely done, however, is reach into the field of human factors for its insights and apply them to what we design. We may be the last set of folks to realize that our users actually are humans, and so directly learn from what is known of how to design things for humans. API and language designers should dive headfirst into the field of human factors and drag its lessons back into what they do. And we programmers—we users—should demand it." continued ... (Via ACM Queue)
"I would like to start out this article with an odd, yet surprisingly uncontroversial assertion, which is this: programmers are human.
Just to be clear, when I say human factors, I am referring to the design practices for all things people use, not just human-computer interaction (HCI). People who design doorknobs, car dashboards, graphical layouts, and martini shakers have a long head start on HCI, and good HCI practitioners look to this experience to inform their own work. Now it’s our turn
Good computer design has been a topic since computers were a Lovelace-analyzed gleam in Babbage’s eyes. Experience has improved our understanding of what makes good design. We have even reached into some human-factors-influenced fields for ways to describe our understanding, such as using architecture’s notion of pattern languages for our own design patterns (and anti-patterns).
What we have rarely done, however, is reach into the field of human factors for its insights and apply them to what we design. We may be the last set of folks to realize that our users actually are humans, and so directly learn from what is known of how to design things for humans. API and language designers should dive headfirst into the field of human factors and drag its lessons back into what they do. And we programmers—we users—should demand it." continued ... (Via ACM Queue)
Working with UI designers.
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