Reference Materials for Usability Engineering

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The following literature contains information about usability engineering and user validation which we have found helpful and which may be relevant to a wide variety of applications in the Information Engineering domain.

This page is divided into four sections:

• Books
• Journals
• Journal Articles, Chapters in Collections and WWW Pages
• Conference Proceedings

Adler, P. S., & Winograd, T. A. (eds.). (1992). Usability: Turning Technologies into Tools. Oxford University Press: New York, NY.

Apple Computer, Inc. (1994). Multimedia demystified. A guide to the world of multimedia from Apple Computer, Inc. New York: Random House/NewMedia Series. [The book gives an overview of the development process of multimedia applications , including a description of the different roles of personnel involved in this process.]

Baecker, R. M., Grudin, J., Buxton, W. A. S., & Greenberg, S (eds.) (1995). Readings in Human-computer Interaction: Toward the Year 2000 (2nd ed.) . San Francisco, CA: Morgan Kaufmann Publishers.

Bailey, R. W. (1996). Human Performance Engineering: Designing High Quality Professional User Interfaces for Computer Products, Applications, and Systems . Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall.

Bastien & Scapin (1993). Ergonomic criteria for the evaluation of human computer interfaces. Scientific Report No. 156. INRIA.

Bauersfeld, P. (1994). Software by Design: Creating People Friendly Software . New York, NY: M&T Books.

Beyer, Hugh, & Karen Holtzblatt (1998) Contextual Design - Defining Customer Orientated Systems. Morgan Kaufman, CA. [One of the best and most readable books to appear recently on what we in Europe would call User Centered Design - highly recommended.]

Bias, R.G., & Mayhew, D.J. (eds.) (1994). Cost-Justifying Usability. London: Academic Press. [A by-now classic collection of papers, with some excellent case studies and discussions of various approaches.]

Carroll, J. (1995). Scenario-Based Design - Envisioning Work and Technology in System Development. New York: John Wiley & Sons. [Approaches such as scenarios, use cases, hierarchic task model, are described in this book.]

Chapanis, A. (1996). Human Factors in System Engineering . New York, NY: John Wiley & Sons.

Del Galdo, E. M., & Nielsen, J. (eds.) (1996). International User Interfaces. New York, NY: John Wiley & Sons.

Dumas, J. S., & Redish, J. C. (1993). A Practical Guide to Usability Testing. Norwood, NJ: Ablex Publishing.

Dix, A.J., Finlay, J., Abowd, G., & Beale, R. (1993). Human Computer Interaction (2nd Ed). NY: Prentice Hall. [A useful introductory text to complement Nielsen's more intense approach, extremely good for browsing rather than reading straight through.]

Druin, A., & Solomon, C. (1996). Designing Multimedia Environments for Children: Computers, Creativity and Kids. John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

Fernandes, T. (1995). Global Interface Design: A Guide to Designing International User Interfaces. Boston, MA: AP Professional.

Hackos, JoAnn and Redish, Janice. (1998). User and Task Analysis for Interface Design. John Wiley & Sons, 1998. [a how to guide that goes from field studies, analysis of context of use, to the start of design activities.]

Helander, M. (ed.) (1990). Handbook of Human-Computer Interaction. Amsterdam: North-Holland. [The principles of Human Factors Engineering for the design of the Human-Computer Interface are described on over 1000 pages. The book has both academic and practical purposes. It summarizes research and provides recommendations to computer scientists, human factors engineers, designers, system engineers, managers and executives working with systems development.]

Hix,D., & Hartson, H. R. (1993). Developing User Interfaces: Ensuring Usability through Product and Process. New York, NY: John Wiley & Sons.

Horton, William (1994). Designing and writing online documentation. Hypermedia for Self-Supporting Products. 2nd edition. New York: John Wiley & Sons.

Horton, William (1991). Illustrating computer documentation. The Art of Presenting Information Graphically on Paper and Online. New York: John Wiley & Sons.

Isensee, S., & Rudd, J. (1996). The Art of Rapid Prototyping. London: International Thompson Computer Press. [Some excellent discussions of the rapid prototyping process in the earlier chapters, a rather incomplete catalogue of tools and some disappointing worked examples make up the other 75% of the book. Very worth while studying none the less.]

Jordan, P.W., Thomas, B., Weerdmeester, B.A., & McClelland, I.L. (Eds.) (1996). Usability Evaluation in Industry. London: Taylor & Francis, Ltd. [A refreshing account of some innovative approaches to usability evaluation, as well as some more standard approaches, very industry-orientated.]

Kano, N. (1995). Developing International Software for Windows 95 and Windows NT: A Handbook for International Software Design. Redmond, WA: Microsoft Press.

Kirakowski, J., & Corbett, M. (1990). Effective Methodology for the Study of HCI. Amsterdam: North-Holland. [A comprehensive account of principles which underly the practice of usability testing.]

Kirwan, B., & Ainsworth, L. K. (1992). A Guide to Task Analysis. London: Taylor & Francis.

Landauer, T.K. (1995). The Trouble with Computers. Usefulness, Usability, and Productivity. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.[A nice sceptical overview with many references to usability and cost benefit studies from over a decade. For this book MIT Press received the 1995 award for `Best New Professional and Scholarly Book in Computer Science' from the American Association of Publishers.]

Laurel, B. (ed.) (1991). The Art of Human-Computer Interface Design. Reading; MA: Addison Wesley.

Laurel, B. (1991). Computers as Theater. Reading; MA: Addison Wesley.

Marcus, A. (1992). Graphic Design for Electronic Documents and User Interfaces. New York: ACM Press. [Introduction to basic terminology and rules for using graphic design in electronic publishing and human computer interfaces, illustrated with case studies.]

Mayhew, D.J. (1992). Principles and Guidelines in Software User Interface Design. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall Inc.

Monk, A., Wright, P., Haber, J., & Davenport, L. (1993). Improving Your Human-Computer Interface: A Practical Technique. New York, NY: Prentice Hall.

Nielsen, J. (1993). Usability Engineering. Boston, MA: Academic Press. [By now the classic introduction to the subject. Pulls no intellectual punches, well worth having on the bookshelf.]

Nielsen, J. (ed.) (1994). Special Issue: Usability Laboratories. Behaviour and Information Technology, Vol. 15, Number 1 and 2. [A description of thirteen usability laboratories in Europe and the US, their main uses in usability engineering with reference to practical use of user testing.]

Nielsen, J. (1995). Multimedia and Hypertext. The Internet and Beyond. Cambridge, MA: AP Professional. [Explains usability issues for hypertext]

Nielsen, J., & Mack, R. L. (eds., 1994). Usability Inspection Methods. New York, NY: John Wiley & Sons.

Norman, D.A. (1988). The design of everyday things. New York, NY: Doubleday. [Contains many examples of good and bad design.]

Preece, J., Rogers, Y., Sharp, H., Benyon, D., Holland, S., & Carey, T. (1994). Human-computer Interaction. Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley.

Redish, G., & Dumas, J. (1993). A Practical Guide to Usability Testing. New York: NJ: Ablex Publishing.

Redmond-Pyle, D. and A Moore (1995). Graphical User Interface Design and Evaluation: A Practical Process. Hemel Hempstead: Prentice Hall. [Explains the GUIDE methodology, which aims to synthesise design and evaluation activities in development using an OO - inspired paradigm].

Reilly, J. P. (1996). Rapid Prototyping: Moving to Business-centric Development. Boston, MA: Thomson Computer Press.

Robin-Prévallée, Y., Gardes, Y., Robert, J.-M., Pavard, B., & Decortis, F. (1996). Guidebook for User Needs Analysis. TAP project TR 1103 Co-Ordinated Dissemination in Europe of Transport Telematics (CODE).

Rubin, J. (1994). Handbook of Usability Testing. New York: John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [One of the best accounts of how to set about the process of testing; clearly written by an author with much experience in the area.]

Rudisill, M., Lewis, C., Polson, P.B., & McKay, T:D. (Eds.) (1996). Human-Computer Interface Design: Success Stories, Emerging Methods, and Real-World Context. Morgan Kaufmann Publishers, Inc.

Schuler, D., & Namioka, A. (Eds.) (1993). Participatory Design: Principles and Practices. Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates. [Some good case studies, and some detailed accounts of different approaches to participatory design. Very practical.]

Shneiderman, B. (1992). Designing the User Interface: Strategies for Effective Human-Computer Interaction. 2nd edition. Reading, MA: Addison Wesley. [Excellent broad introductory coverage, well written and always to the point.]

Smith, W. J. (1996). ISO and ANSI Ergonomic Standards for Computer Productrs: A Guide to Implementation and Compliance. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall.

Sommerville, I. & Pete Sawyer (1997) Requirements EngineeringJohn Wiley &: Sons, NY. [Useful if somewhat academic/ research orientated collection of methods.]

Tognazzi, B. (1992). Tog on Interface. Reading, MA: Addision Wesley. [Cited by some as a classic in the area of interface design this book is full of interesting insights into the business of creating a good interface.]

Vaughn, S., Schumm, J.S., & Sinagub, J. (1996). Focus Group Interviews in Education and Psychology. Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publications.

Wiklund, M.E (ed.) (1994). Usability in Practice. How Companies Develop User-Friendly Products. London: Academic Press. [A collection of papers written by usability experts and practicioners who describe their usability work in US companies.]

Wilson, J. R., & Corlett, E. N. (1995). Evaluation of Human Work: A Practical Ergonomics Methodology. London: Taylor & Francis.

Wixon, Dennis and Ramey, Judith, Eds. (1996) Field Methods Casebook for Software Design. John Wiley & Sons, NY. [an anthology of case studies of usability field studies by practitioners from many companies.]

ACM Transactions on Computer-Human Interaction, published by ACM.

Behaviour and Information Technology. London: Taylor & Francis.
http://www.tandf.co.uk/jnls/bit.htm

Communications of the ACM
http://www.acm.org/catalog/journals/101.html, and http:://www.acm.org/cacm

Ergonomics. London: Taylor & Francis.
http://www.tandf.co.uk/jnls/ergonomics.htm

Ergonomics in Design, a magazine of human factors applications from the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society.

Human Computer Interaction. Lawrence Erlbaum Associates

Human Factors. Santa Monica, CA: Human Factors Society

Information Design Journal

Interacting with Computers. Butterworth-Heinemann

INTERACTIONS. New York: ACM. [targetted at user interface practitioners]
http://www.catalog/journals/123.html, and interactions@acm.org

International Journal of Human-Computer Interaction. Ablex

International Journal of Human-Computer Studies. Academic Press

SIGCHI Bulletin. New York: ACM.
http://www.acm.org/catalog/sigs/sigchi.html

Brooke, J. (1996). SUS: A Quick and Dirty Usability Scale. In: P.W. Jordan, B. Thomas, B.A. Weerdmeester & I.L. McClelland (Eds.), Usability Evaluation in Industry. London: Taylor & Francis.

Caplan, S. (1990). Using focus groups methodology for ergonomic design. Ergonomics 33(5), 527-533.

Cockburn, A., & Jones, S. (1996). Which way now? Analysing and easing inadequacies in WWW navigation. International Journal of Human-Computer Studies, 45, 105-129.

Communications of the ACM, 1995, 38(5), Requirements Gathering, The Human Factor.

Holtzblatt, K., & Beyer, H. (1993), Making Customer-Centered Design Work for Teams. CACM, 36(10), 92-103 [describes the contextual inquiry and analysis approach]

Lewis, J.R. (1995). IBM Computer Usability Satisfaction Questionnaires: Psychometric Evaluation and Instructions for Use. International Journal of Human-Computer Interaction, 7(1), 57-78. [This articles contains and describes the IBM Computer Usability Satisfaction Questionnaires.]

Hartson, H.R., Castillo, J.C., Kelso, J., & Neale, W.C. (1996). Remote Evaluation: The Network as an Extension of the Usability Laboratory. CHI'96 Proceedings (pp. 228-235). New York: ACM.

Kantowitz, B.H. (1992). Selecting Measures for Human Factors Research. Human Factors, 34(4), 387-398.

Kirakowski, J. (1996). The Software Usability Measurement Inventory, Background and Usage. In: P.W. Jordan, B. Thomas, B.A. Weerdmeester & I.L. McClelland (Eds.), Usability Evaluation in Industry. London: Taylor & Francis.

Kirakowski, J, and M Corbett (1994). SUMI: the Software Usability Measurement Inventory. Brit J Ed Technol, 23.

Kirakowski, J. (1997) Background notes on the SUMI questionnaire. http://www.ucc.ie/hfrg/questionnaires/sumi/sumipapp.htm

Muckler, F.A., & Seven, S.A. (1992). Selecting Performance Measures: "Objective" versus "Subjective" Measurement. Human Factors, 34(4), 441-455.

Nielsen, J., & Sano, D. (1994). SunWeb: User Interface Design for Sun Microsystem's Internal Web. Electronic Proceedings of the Second World Wide Web Conference `94: Mosaic and the Web. http://www.ncsa.uiuc.edu/SDG/IT94/Proceedings/HCI/nielsen/sunweb.html

Nielsen, J., & Sano, D. (1995). Interface Design for Sun's WWW Site. http://www.Sun.COM/sun-on-net/uidesign

Nielsen, J., & Faber, J.M. (1996). Improving System Usability Through Parallel Design. IEEE Computer 2, 29-35. [Cost/benefit of iterative and parallel design approaches are compared. `Parallel design is more expensive than traditional iterative design, but it explores the design space in less time.'(p. 34-35)]

Yang, Y. (1990). Interface usability engineering under practical constraints: A case study in the design of undo support (pp. 549-554). In D. Diaper, D. Gilmore, G. Cockton, & B. Shackel (Eds.), Proceedings of the IFIP INTERACT '90 (Cambridge, UK, 27-31 August). Amsterdam: North-Holland.

CHI Proceedings. ACM New York. (yearly since 1982).
http://www.acm.org/catalog/proceedings/chi.html