More Books

*smacks lips*

• Don't Make Me Think, by Steve Krug
• Homepage Useability: 50 Websites Deconstructed, by Jakob Nielsen, Marie Tahir
• Art of Human-Computer Interface Design, edited by Brenda Laurel.

What's with all the HCI/UI/fluffy stuff, Sid? Well, it was brought home to me again and again when I was still working for OpenSales/Zelerate on OpenMerchant and AllCommerce, that our biggest problems weren't, though some might disagree, the usefulness of our product, but the usability. Oddly enough, I've had this realization on every project I've worked on, for every company, since then. That includes the bookstore gig.

It doesn't matter if you write the coolest piece of software on earth, the alpha and omega, the remote control toaster-GPS locator-Ecommerce website frills, whistles, and bells, if no one is going to USE IT because it doesn't make sense.

And since I, like so many other software developers, particularly dislike my time and effort going to waste, I must remember not just the requirements document (if I'm lucky enough to have one), and all the irritating things the client said in our meetings, but that I am not the user of the product, and I never will be. And, horrifyingly, that I'm working on a product, for users.