Usability for the Web: Designing Web Sites that Work
by Tom Brinck, Darren Gergle, and Scott D. Wood
Morgan Kaufmann Publishers, October 2001
ISBN: 1-55860-658-0
481 pages
"Usability for the Web" provides a comprehensive approach to the web design process, with a devotion to the principles of usability. The book is intended for web professionals and students of web design, with a practical focus. The authors - Darren, Scott, and I - were all involved in the genesis of Diamond Bullet Design, a web design company founded in 1996 with the goal of bringing usability to the web, and together we worked out how a web design and development process should reflect usability at every stage, while making this a feasible process within the business constraints of actual development.
The book is organized into 6 sections, according to the activities of the design process: Requirements Analysis, Conceptual Design, Mockups and Prototypes, Production, Launch, and Evaluation. We view Evaluation as an ongoing activity throughout the process, which is integrated at every step. Detailed chapters cover topics such as defining the target audience and target platform, user needs analysis, task analysis, information architecture, visual design, writing, software development incorporating usability, quality assurance, user testing, and usability inspection.
Numerous forms and checklists are included that are straightforward to apply in real-world design situations. These forms are designed to create a reliable, complete, and repeatable design methodology.
"Usability for the Web" is the most complete and detailed book covering the steps involved in professional web design. Rather than being a set of design critiques or a usability manifesto, it is a get-down-to-business how-to book for practicing designers.
Here are some example forms from the book that can be downloaded from the publisher's site:
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