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The Elements of User Experience ::
I remember when I first got into this Web development business, I had a hard time describing exactly what made a good Website. I could use words like “accessibility,” "architecture," and “usability,” but those words had only internal meanings, and at best the only people who knew what I was talking about were those who worked in the same industry as me. You could forget explaining to my parents what exactly it was that Web sites were supposed to do. And the president on the IT firm I was working for? Forget it.
Well, the good news is that those frustrations were not entirely the result of the vagueness of a novice. And the problem also wasn’t entirely that the words I was using were just nonsensical buzzwords hijacked by the marketing forces and stripped of any real meaning. (Though I am in no way denying that those issues did in fact play a role.) No, the biggest single problem I was facing, the singlemost significant barrier to my getting my idea across was -- you guessed it -- a lack of contextual meaning.
Between those early years of my professional development and now, I was able to figure out what the problem was on an intuitive level, though I was never able to put it into words. So I think at best I was working in a way that compensated for the obstacle, instead of actually moving it out of the way. Which was why when I read this book, I breathed a sigh of relief. Finally, finally someone has put together a system of thought, that allows us to leverage all those fragmented ideas that go into making functional Web sites. Finally, we who make Web sites can forge ahead using a unified conceptualization of what exactly we’re supposed to be doing. I can’t believe it took so long for such a thing to be published, but I will not turn it away simply because it was late.
Now, you shouldn’t think that this is any sort of howto guide. Nor is it a silver bullet that will suddenly make your Web development life easy. No, discipline and skill are still a big deal. But this book does provide a common language and direction and vision for all Web development people. I can’t help but think that such an accomplishment will play a role in making the Web a significantly more sane and useful place.
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