The Elements of Friendly Software Design

by Paul Heckel

Book Overview

This text provides information on software design as a communications craft, outlining 30 principles of effective user communication. The book is designed for software developers and should also be of... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0446380407
• ISBN13: 9780446380409
• Release Date: May 1984
• Publisher: Warner Books (NY)
• Length: 205 Pages
• Weight: 0.55 lbs.

Customer Reviews

A seminal work and a must read for any software engineer

Unfortunately, this book has been out of print now for too long for it to be easily available. It should be mentioned that it is actually the second edition of the book, which was originally published in the mid-80s. Paul Heckel observes that using software is analogous to our "interaction" with other media: reading books, watching movies and so on. As a form of communication art, developing software has to have similarities to writing a book or directing a movie. He draws some remarkable conclusions from this simple observation, presenting them in 30 essays on how software should be designed to be useful and enjoyable to use. All these elements of friendly software design are still valid today: 1. Know your subject. 2. Know you audience. 3. Maintain the user's interest. 4. Communicate visually. 5. Lever the user's knowledge. 6. Speak the user's language. 7. Communicate with metaphors. 8. Focus on user's attention. 9 Anticipate problems in the user's perception. 10. If you can't communicate it, don't do it. 11. Reduce the user's defensiveness. 12. Give the user control. 13. Support the problem-solving process. 14. Avoid frustrating the user. 15. Help the user cope. 16. Respond to user's actions. 17. Don't let the user focus on mechanics. 18. Help the user to crystallize his thoughts. 19. Involve the user. 20. Communicate in specifics, not generalities. 21. Orient the user in the world. 22. Structure the user's interface. 23. Make your product reliable. 24. Serve both the novice and the experienced user. 25. Develop and maintain user rapport. 26. Consider the first impression. 27. Build a model in the user's mind. 28. Make your design simple... 29. But not too simple. 30. You need vision. It is a fascinating read. There is also a second part of the book, dealing with legal implications of software copyright, illustrated by the author's case in his successful litigation against IBM.

A great book on software as communications craft

I find this book to be one of the best I've read & applied to my craft.Worth reading and re-reading, it collects pearls of wisdom from many sources, and relates what we do with what has been done before in other, related communications forms.

A timeless book, a fun reading!

This is one of the few timeless technical books. I got this book many years ago, I still kept it on my shelf and flip through it occasionally. Unlike most other high-tech books, this book was written in a fun way with a much broader view. It relates the software development process to the process of creating other communication craft: a movie, a fine art, or a good writing. Revise is the nature of this process. I once used the point I learned from this book successfully convinced my boss(es) at that time to do user interface rapid prototyping.