These patterns are grouped into thematic chapters, and each chapter has an introduction that briefly covers the concepts those patterns are built upon. I want to emphasize briefly. Some of these concepts could have entire books written about them. But the introductions will give you some context; if you already know this stuff, they'll be review material, and if not, they'll tell you what topics you might want to learn more about. The first set of chapters are applicable to almost any interface you might design, whether it's a desktop application, web application, web site, hardware device, or whatever you can think of:
Next comes a set of chapters that deal with specific idioms. It's fine to read them all, but real-life projects probably won't use all of them. Chapters 6 and 7 are the most broadly applicable, since most modern interfaces use trees, tables, or forms in some fashion.
Finally, the last chapter comes at the end of the design progression, but it too applies to almost anything you design.
I chose this book's examples based on many factors. The most important factor is how well an example demonstrates a given pattern or concept, of course, but other considerations include general design fitness, printability, platform varietydesktop applications, web sites, devices, etc.and how well-known and accessible these applications might be to readers. As such, the examples are weighted heavily toward Microsoft and Apple software, certain web sites, and easily-found consumer software and devices. This is not to say that they are always paragons of good design. They're not, and I do not mean to slight the excellent work done by countless designers on less well-known applications. If you know of examples that might meet these criteria, please suggest them to me. |