Recommended Reading

• Arlov, Laura. GUI Design for Dummies. Foster City, CA: IDG Books Worldwide, Inc., 1997.

Chapter 6, "How Users Get Around: Navigation Models," describes using prototyping to design navigation models and the benefits of using paper prototypes.

• Cooper, Alan. "The Perils of Prototyping." Visual Basic Programmer's Journal, August/September 1994.

In this article, Alan Cooper, "the father of Visual Basic," concludes that Visual Basic should not be the mother of all prototypes. He believes that paper and pencil are a superior design tool. As he states, "Everyone knows that Visual Basic is a great tool for prototyping, so many VB programmers design user interfaces by prototyping them. They are misinterpreting programming for design, and make no mistake about it: prototyping is programming and it is harder than concrete to change." I agree.

• Dent, Andy. "Paper Prototypes." Windows Tech Journal, June 1997.

Discusses the advantages of paper prototyping and describes a design process that uses paper prototypes.

• Nielsen, Jakob. Usability Engineering. Chestnut Hill, MA: AP Professional, 1993.

Chapter 4, "The Usability Engineering Lifecycle," presents several different prototyping techniques and ways to evaluate them. The prototyping techniques discussed include horizontal and vertical functional prototypes, scenarios, and competitive analysis. The chapter also describes the problem of using a prototype as a specification. Chapter 6, "Usability Testing," describes the difficulty of evaluating prototype test results and the difficulty of getting suitable test users.

• Weinschenk, Susan; Jamar, Pamela; and Yeo, Sarah C. GUI Design Essentials. New York, NY: John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 1997.

Chapter 3, "Design," presents a detailed design process that uses prototyping. I especially like the fact that the authors recommend using a paper prototype (or a "lo-fi" prototype, as they call it) in the design phase.