Designing Highly Useable Software | Designing Highly Useable Software

Jeff Cogswell

SYBEX

San Francisco • London

Associate Publisher: Joel Fugazzotto
Acquisitions and Developmental Editor: Tom Cirtin
Production Editor: Susan Berge
Technical Editor: David Cronin
Copyeditor: Linda Recktenwald
Compositor/Graphic Illustrator: Jeffrey Wilson, Happenstance Type-O-Rama
Proofreaders: Laurie O’Connell, Nancy Riddiough
Indexer: Ted Laux
Cover Design: Ingalls + Associates
Cover Illustration: Rob Atkins, The Image Bank

1151 Marina Village Parkway, Alameda, CA 94501. World rights reserved. No part of this publication may be stored in a retrieval system, transmitted, or reproduced in any way, including but not limited to photocopy, photograph, magnetic, or other record, without the prior agreement and written permission of the publisher.

Library of Congress Card Number: 2003115580

ISBN: 0782143016

SYBEX and the SYBEX logo are either registered trademarks or trademarks of SYBEX Inc. in the United States and/or other countries.

Internet screen shot(s) using Microsoft Internet Explorer 6 reprinted by permission from Microsoft Corporation.

TRADEMARKS: SYBEX has attempted throughout this book to distinguish proprietary trademarks from descriptive terms by following the capitalization style used by the manufacturer.

The author and publisher have made their best efforts to prepare this book, and the content is based upon final release software whenever possible. Portions of the manuscript may be based upon pre-release versions supplied by software manufacturer(s). The author and the publisher make no representation or warranties of any kind with regard to the completeness or accuracy of the contents herein and accept no liability of any kind including but not limited to performance, merchantability, fitness for any particular purpose, or any losses or damages of any kind caused or alleged to be caused directly or indirectly from this book.

Manufactured in the United States of America

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Dedication

This book is dedicated to my students—past, present, and future—who aspire to create great software.

Acknowledgments

You’ve heard it before, and it’s true: So many people contribute to the production of abook that the author is just one piece of the whole puzzle.

For this book, first I want to thank Joel Fugazzotto, Associate Publisher, whom I have known for several years now and with whom I am once again having the pleasure to work. And special thanks to Tom Cirtin, who wore many hats throughout the creation of this book, including Acquisitions Editor, Developmental Editor, and general Usability Idea Bouncer-Offer. (It’s amazing how many hours we spent on the phone talking about our own usability encounters!) Thanks also to the friendly Senoria Brown, for handling the contracts, for the forgiveness of my losing an important CD-ROM, and for her amazing timeliness and concern. Thanks for the wonderful editorial work of Susan Berge and Linda Recktenwald and for their meticulous work and patience. A special thanks to the eagle eye of usability guru David Cronin, who helped track down problems in the book and make it all the better!

And thanks again to my wonderful friend Margot Maley Hutchison of Waterside Productions.

Thanks to all my friends who helped me make it through my busy schedule, including my sister Amy Page, Jen Lesh, Andrea Vaduva (who just got accepted into medical school!), Fonda Dawson, Gregg Dodd and Jason Skinner, Nikki Ward, Jessica Smith, Mitzie Chrisman, Angel Whaley, and of course Jen Mueller and Jennifer and Greg Wood. And finally, a very special thanks to Christie McAlpine.