On Oct 25, 2004, at 5:19 AM, Amir Kolsky wrote:
> Even if it is not the customer's
> role (as customers are usually not qualified for it) to implement the
> UI, it
> is their job to define it.
I disagree. Users are responsible for understanding the business need
that the software is to address, developers are responsible for
understanding how to build that in software. This includes
understanding how to design an interface for it that's at least decent
and integrates well with the target platform or intended use.
It's not that much different than knowing the syntax to a programming
language. Ask any competent Mac developer how buttons are supposed to
be named in dialog boxes, and you'll get a decent answer. Ask them
when an ellipsis should be used and you might or might not get the
right answer, but the answer will probably be "right enough" for most
cases. They won't even think about where the default button in a modal
dialog or alert belongs, or when to use a confirmation alert, they'll
just know.
This comes from reading the Macintosh Human Interface Guidelines and
having a developer culture where not knowing them just isn't
acceptable. The Guidelines are pretty slim (the original Inside
Macintosh had them as one of the first chapters, before any Toolbox
details) and easy to digest, and they'll give you all the basic
heuristics you need to keep in mind when designing normal apps for end
users.
Will reading them and following them make you an expert? No, that
takes practice, and different people have different aptitudes for it.
But it's surprisingly easy not to design terrible interfaces.
And the Mac's not the only platform with extensive HI guidelines
either. Windows has them, Java (Metal) has them, GNOME and KDE have
them...
-- Chris
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