The effectiveness of the user-computer interface has become increasingly important as computer systems have become useful tools for persons not trained in computer science. In fact, the interface is often the most important factor in the success or failure of any computer system. Dealing with the numerous subtly interrelated issues and technical, behavioral, and aesthetic considerations consumes a large and increasing share of development time and a corresponding percentage of the total code for any given application. A revision of one of the most successful books on human-computer interaction, this compilation gives students, researchers, and practitioners an overview of the significant concepts and results in the field and a comprehensive guide to the research literature.

Like the first edition, this book combines reprints of key research papers and case studies with synthesizing survey material and analysis by the editors. It is significantly reorganized, updated, and enhanced; over 90% of the papers are new.

An invaluable resource for systems designers, cognitive scientists, computer scientists, managers, and anyone concerned with the effectiveness of user-computer interfaces, it is also designed for use as a primary or supplementary text for graduate and advanced undergraduate courses in human-computer interaction and interface design.

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Somewhat dated but overall extremely useful   June 7, 2003
Pratik Dave (New York, NY, USA)
6 out of 6 found this review helpful

If you've gotten this far without actually looking at the summary information about this tome above, please note that this book contains nearly 1,000 pages. This book is a collection of research papers (of the sort you'd find published in books on HCI or from conferences of the ACM SIGCHI committee) organized into chapters by some shared topic (i.e. human factors, hypertext, speed/language/audition). Each chapter is preceded by a summary of the papers contained therein along with often useful bibliographic citation of related works, all grounded in their utility toward the field of HCI by the editors.

Nevertheless, as my title expresses, this book is even by the time I encountered it in graduate school (in 2003), relatively dated. As a supplement to recent publications on the ACM or IEEE digital libraries or through a process of professorial selection of relevant pieces it can nevertheless be an extremely useful textbook to a graduate-level course. As "fun" reading, or as a reference, I would recommend it for the citations to critical work, but also strongly suggest a reading of emergent and current work in the field.