“Software usability is one of the hardest things to get right. Writing good, usable software is the holy grail of software development, yet few developers give it more than an afterthought. As a professional developer, I delight in writing software for other developers but shy away from writing an interface that the end users will see. What resources/books are recommended for improving your Human Computer Interaction (HCI) / software usability skills?”

If you want the perspective of the Slashdot community (i.e., hardcore geeks) on the topic of usability, this is a must read.

Check out the responses…

“Don’t Make Me Think and The Design of Everyday Things … two of my very favorite books.”

“…don’t confuse usability with user responsibility.”

“Photoshop and Illustrator are classic examples of what I consider bad user interfaces, because things that should be simple and obvious, aren’t.”

“In my mind, the entire point of a GUI is that you shouldn’t have to RTFM to do the basic functions of the application.”

“…it must be known that those that create the software should NOT be responsible for designing the interface.”

“Many people who are good programmers aren’t necessarily good at user interfaces, or worrying about how people will interact with the software.”

“The best resource for making sure your software is usable is to watch people use it.”

Jef Raskin’s The Humane Interface

“So remember to design the interface around your users and your problem. Your program is literally the interface that sits between the users and the problem, a bridge as it were.”

“Spend the money to hire a good usability expert, and have THEM perform proper usability studies. Good usability is NOT necessarily about a “clean UI” or “clean code”. It’s about a product that people know how to use.”

“Don’t assume user expertise: always assume your user knows NOTHING about computers.”

“In other words, while there is indeed a place for simplistic software (witness the popularity of basic photo editing programs that literally only offer crop, size, and red-eye removal), it is by no means desirable for all software to be simplistic. Complex tasks require complex interfaces.”

“If you want to that the basic principles, simply go with the Apple Human Interface Guidelines”

“Read Nielson’s essays. Then do what they say. Specifically conduct usability testing in the manner he prescribes – anything else is a waste of time and money.”

“The importance of “usability” is overstated by people who make money parroting it.”

“Just interface your program with an electrode in the control device. Then when the user does something stupid, you zap them!”

“I highly recommend GUI Bloopers: Don’ts and Do’s for Software Developers and Web Designers”

“I have read those books, and its just a bunch of blowhards telling you what they think is good UI, its not necessarily what is going to be good UI for your applications.”

“The talent is in understanding and putting yourself in the place of an end user. Its understanding your target audience and catering to their needs. This varies with every software project you work on and no book is going to cover all the bases.”

I recommend The User Interface Hall of Shame

“Tog on Interface”

Keep in mind that IT people often serve as usability experts in disquise, as they frequently must find ways to simplify and work with badly designed software and hardware that they have no power to change.

Unfortunately, WebWord was not mentioned. That’s really a shame since I think this site hits on usability and user experience (UX) in ways that engineers and developers would appreciate. If you think that your friends or colleagues would like WebWord, definitely let them know about it. Go ahead and link to WebWord if you have a site.

That’s all for now. Have a great weekend.