Tuesday, September 04, 2007

Interface Design Koans @ Business Of Software Blog

via wikimedia.org/New_radiation_symbol_ISO_21482
Nice piece by Neil Davidson on the eat your vegetables don't run with scissors principles of software interface design in a piece called:
Porridge, Wonko the Sane and restrooms: the good, the bad and the ugly of user assistance

Go and study. Clarity, precision, and the idea of being "just clever enough" as covered in Programming Pearls.

NB: In a mid 1980s survey on compilers (conducted by a colleague, not moi), respondent described "C is a write only language, cause I sure can't read it later...."

Sing a song of documentation as well as unambiguous (or, at least, tested) iconography.

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