>From Michael Andrews <snip - recommendation>
> The chapter on forms (chapter 20) is only 15 pages, but is very modern in its discussion of user centered approaches and graphic treatments. I understand that David Sless, an Aussie who is a major researcher of forms, contributed to the chapter. (I am guessing Caroline Jarret would approve??) I would certainly recommending reading and thinking about anything written by David Sless. It's just not all that easy to get hold of his publications. Much of his forms material was published by his Communications Research Institute of Australia, on paper, in the 1980s and early 1990s. His site is currently saying 'closed for maintenance' http://communication.org.au While we're on the topic of Australian forms persons, I can also strongly recommend Robert Barnett, who has also been writing about usability of forms for over 20 years (he uses the Australian spelling useability): http://www.rbainformationdesign.com.au/ If you're in the USA, it might be easier for you to get his books from the Business Forms Management Association (BFMA): http://www.bfma.org/bookstore/main.php And there's also Jessica Enders, who's business Formulate is just a year old: http://formulate.com.au/ If you're wondering why I'm mentioning several Australian forms people and none from the rest of the world, that's because there aren't all that many elsewhere. You can track some of them down through BFMA, but to be honest if you ask a question about usability of paper forms on their list (formspace), you're likely to get answers from me again, and/or possibly Jessica or Rob Barnett - the usual suspects, in other words. There are other people on that list who know a LOT about forms, but it's other aspects of forms e.g. the management of forms, the details of programming Acrobat forms, career progression of forms professionals. There are three heroes of the world of paper document design who have great things to say about forms: Patricia Wright, now at Cardiff University researching medical information devices. Published extensively on forms and information design of paper from the mid-1970s. Her bibliography is here: http://www.cf.ac.uk/psych/contactsandpeople/lecturing/wright-patricia-prof-p ublications_new.html but it doesn't mention her earlier stuff, such as the excellent paper "Just fill in this form" (with Barnard). I'm away from my library at the moment so I can't give the exact reference. Ginny Redish (Janice C. Redish), http://www.redish.net/. Ginny used to be director of the Document Design group at American Institutes for Research and they did loads of work on paper forms and indeed paper documents in general. If you are lucky enough to come across the AIR Guidelines for Document Designers, treasure it. I got my copy by persuading someone to let me photocopy his disintegrating version (obviously I made him a copy as well). (USA government material is not copryright, so this was legal). I wrote a brief summary of the guidelines here: http://www.usabilitynews.com/news/article1224.asp These days, Ginny is concentrating on writing for the web and usability in general, and if you ask her about forms she's rather likely to refer back to me :-) Karen Schriver (long interview with her at http://www.informationdesign.org/special/schriver_interview.php) Karen is interested in information design in general. Her book is EASY to get hold of (hurrah), and it's called 'Dynamics in Document Design' http://www.amazon.com/Dynamics-Document-Design-Creating-Readers/dp/047130636 3 Although it's not about forms as such, it does have a lot to say about the design of documents in general (and can therefore be applied to forms in particular. If you'd like a more comprehensive bibliography, then (shameless plug, again, I'm afraid), I've put a whole bunch of suggestions in the back of our book. Best Caroline Jarrett Out now: "Forms that work: Designing web forms for usability" http://www.amazon.co.uk/Forms-that-Work-Interactive-Technologies/ dp/1558607102 http://www.amazon.com/Forms-that-Work-Interactive-Technologies/dp/product-de scription/1558607102 ________________________________________________________________ Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ....... [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe ................ http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines ............ http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .................. http://www.ixda.org/help
