The essential guide to user interface design - Wilbert O. Galitz

An informative step–by–step guide to building user–friendly system interfaces

Well–designed graphical user interfaces (GUIs) for business systems can greatly increase user productivity. Unfortunately, designing them can be difficult and time–consuming for both novice and experienced programmers. Fortunately, Bill Galitz has written an insightful, comprehensive guide to the principles and techniques of effective UI design. Written especially for first–time developers, but also very useful for experienced developers, this book includes numerous practical examples illustrating both good and poor interface design for traditional and Web–based information systems.

Extensively updated to reflect the many changes in interface design since the first edition was published in 1996, this authoritative guide addresses interface and screen design from the user's perspective, spelling out hundreds of principles of good design in a clear and concise manner. Galitz blends the results of screen design research, knowledge concerning people, knowledge about the technical capabilities of the interface, and practical experience into designing a display–based system interface.

You'll also find detailed discussions of:
* User behavior, both innate and learned, and how it affects design
* The principles of good interface layout, including an objective measure of screen complexity
* Selecting the key components of interfaces, including windows and controls, and how they can be combined to promote efficient system use
* Designing system menus and navigation schemes
* The proper use of color and graphics
* Creating comprehensible messages and text
* Usability testing to assure system success