About face 3 : the essentials of interaction design / [3rd ed.], Completely rev. & updated

About the Authors 8
Credits 9
Contents 11
Foreword: The Postindustrial World 23
Acknowledgments 27
Introduction to the Third Edition 29
A Brief History of Interaction Design 30
Why Call It Interaction Design? 32
Working with the Product Team 34
What This Book Is and What It Is Not 35
Changes from the Previous Editions 36
Examples Used in This Book 37
Who Should Read This Book 37
Part I: Understanding Goal-Directed Design 39
Chapter 1: Goal-Directed Design 41
Digital Products Need Better Design Methods 41
The Evolution of Design in Manufacturing 49
Planning and Designing Behavior 51
Recognizing User Goals 51
The Goal-Directed Design Process 55
Chapter 2: Implementation Models and Mental Models 65
Implementation Models 65
User Mental Models 66
Represented Models 67
Most Software Conforms to Implementation Models 70
Mechanical-Age versus Information-Age Represented Models 73
Chapter 3: Beginners, Experts, and Intermediates 79
Perpetual Intermediates 80
Designing for Different Experience Levels 82
Chapter 4: Understanding Users: Qualitative Research 87
Qualitative versus Quantitative Research 88
Ethnographic Interviews: Interviewing and Observing Users 96
Other Types of Research 106
Chapter 5: Modeling Users: Personas and Goals 113
Why Model? 114
Personas 115
Goals 126
Constructing Personas 135
Other Models 144
Chapter 6: The Foundations of Design: Scenarios and Requirements 147
Scenarios: Narrative as a Design Tool 148
Requirements: The \u201cWhat\u201d of Interaction Design 152
Requirements Definition Using Personas and Scenarios 153
Chapter 7: From Requirements to Design: The Framework and Refinement 163
The Design Framework 163
Refining the Form and Behavior 179
Design Validation and Usability Testing 180
Part II: Designing Behavior and Form 185
Chapter 8: Synthesizing Good Design: Principles and Patterns 187
Interaction Design Principles 188
Design Values 189
Interaction Design Patterns 194
Chapter 9: Platform and Posture 199
Posture 200
Designing Desktop Software 201
Designing for the Web 212
Other Platforms 220
Chapter 10: Orchestration and Flow 239
Flow and Transparency 239
Designing Harmonious Interactions 241
Chapter 11: Eliminating Excise 261
GUI Excise 262
Stopping the Proceedings 266
Common Excise Traps 269
Navigation Is Excise 270
Improving Navigation 275
Chapter 12: Designing Good Behavior 287
Designing Considerate Products 288
Designing Smart Products 298
Chapter 13: Metaphors, Idioms, and Affordances 307
Interface Paradigms 308
Further Limitations of Metaphors 314
Building Idioms 318
Manual Affordances 320
Chapter 14: Visual Interface Design 325
Art, Visual Interface Design, and Other Design Disciplines 326
The Building Blocks of Visual Interface Design 328
Principles of Visual Interface Design 331
Principles of Visual Information Design 351
Consistency and Standards 355
Part III: Designing Interaction Details 359
Chapter 15: Searching and Finding: Improving Data Retrieval 361
Storage and Retrieval Systems 362
Storage and Retrieval in the Physical World 362
Storage and Retrieval in the Digital World 364
Relational Databases versus Digital Soup 368
Natural Language Output: An Ideal Interface for Attribute-Based Retrieval 371
Chapter 16: Understanding Undo 373
Users and Undo 373
Designing an Undo Facility 375
Types and Variants of Undo 376
Other Models for Undo-Like Behavior 381
Undo-Proof Operations 386
Chapter 17: Rethinking Files and Save 387
What\u2019s Wrong with Saving Changes to Files? 388
Problems with the Implementation Model 390
Implementation Model versus Mental Model 393
Dispensing with the Implementation Model 394
Designing with a Unified File Model 395
Are Disks and File Systems a Feature? 402
Time for Change 403
Chapter 18: Improving Data Entry 405
Data Integrity versus Data Immunity 405
Auditing versus Editing 409
Chapter 19: Pointing, Selecting, and Direct Manipulation 413
Direct Manipulation 413
Pointing Devices 415
Pointing and the Cursor 424
Selection 428
Drag-and-Drop 435
Control Manipulation 446
Palette Tools 447
Object Manipulation 449
Object Connection 458
Chapter 20: Window Behaviors 461
PARC and the Alto 461
PARC\u2019s Principles 463
Microsoft and Tiled Windows 465
Full-Screen Applications 465
Multipaned Applications 466
Designing with Windows 468
Window States 474
MDI versus SDI 475
Chapter 21: Controls 477
Avoiding Control-Laden Dialog Boxes 477
Imperative Controls 478
Selection Controls 481
Entry Controls 495
Display Controls 506
Chapter 22: Menus 511
A Bit of History 511
Menus Today: The Pedagogic Vector 517
Optional Menus 522
Menu Idioms 523
Chapter 23: Toolbars 531
Toolbars: Visible, Immediate Commands 531
Toolbars versus Menus 532
Toolbars and Toolbar Controls 533
Explaining Toolbar Controls 534
Evolution of the Toolbar 537
Chapter 24: Dialogs 543
Appropriate Uses for Dialog Boxes 543
Dialog Box Basics 545
Modal Dialog Boxes 547
Modeless Dialog Boxes 547
Four Different Purposes for Dialogs 554
Managing Content in Dialog Boxes 561
Chapter 25: Errors, Alerts, and Confirmation 567
Error Dialogs 567
Alert Dialogs: Announcing the Obvious 577
Confirmation Dialog 579
Replacing Dialogs: Rich Modeless Feedback 582
Chapter 26: Designing for Different Needs 589
Command Vectors and Working Sets 589
Graduating Users from Beginners to Intermediates 591
Personalization and Configuration 593
Idiosyncratically Modal Behavior 595
Localization and Globalization 596
Galleries and Templates 597
Help 598
Afterword: On Collaboration 603
Appendix A: Design Principles 607
Appendix B: Bibliography 613
Index 619