Rating: 
Summary: Excellent for the programmer-cum-designer
Review: Although the responsibility for user interface design should be delegated to experts, unfortunately as a programmer I have found myself on the "front line" doing user interface design. About Face is an excellent discussion of interface design issues for programmers. Cooper introduces a vocabulary for interface design that is beyond the specifics of precise button and label placement, etc.For that reason, About Face is useful for any WIMP (Windows, Icons, Menus and Pointers) GUI system. The book's examples have a heavy Microsoft Windows and Office bias, however these are based on Windows 3.1 and Windows 95, so the Windows Forms designer should also be concentrating on the broader lessons of user interface design. You may even be able to successfully reinterpret these for designing Web forms.
Rating: 
Summary: The Quest for User Interface Design Expertise Begins Here
Review: Cooper was bold enough to say "the program must inform the User when it (the software) gets stupid"...[and not the other way around]. Cooper exposes User Bashing error messages such as "invalid entry" and bogus warnings like "save changes before closing." Cooper blows the lid on a dirth of best practices in the doldrums of corporate america (like a good Dilbert episode, only it's for real) : the ways software products (and their creators) make Users feel stupid, and in doing so how typical Micrsoft products fail to win friends and influence people (although they do sell boatloads of product). He picks on Microsoft and developers in general, not beause thery're evil, but because their "hurried to market" products cover thier own shortcomings and idiosyncrasies by blaming the User for their inability to perform. While your waiting for this book to ship, just repeat the mantra "don't make Users feel stupid". This book pioneered the solution as a User Centered Design process, and the follow-on "Inmates Are Running the Asylum" is like a prequel establishing the need for this design methodology.
Rating:
Summary: One of the best UI design books.
Review: Cooper's book is a must read for anyone serious about user interface design, especially for Windows. It explores a wide range of subjects, from understanding users and the goals of UI design to an analysis of the major Windows user interface components. He has many interesting things to say and a great deal of insight. The presentation (which could be significantly improved with better editing) is enjoyable reading and thought provoking. One oddity - Cooper has a penchant for naming things, but unfortunately he isn't very good at it. The book is filled with original, often bizarre names for user interface concepts and components, but you could never use them in public without embarrassment. If you are doing Windows user interface development, you should also check out McKay's Developing User Interfaces for MS Windows, which gives a very practical treatment of much of this material and more.
Rating: 
Summary: So so...
Review: First part has good touchs, second one is outdate!
Rating: 
Summary: Not worth its reputation
Review: I'd heard about this book for years. Alan Cooper is widely regarded as the guru of interface design. After reading this book, I wonder why. For one thing, he contradicts himself--a lot. On the one hand he complains that software tends to mimic the physical artifacts--for example, calendars are laid out on one-month grids. According to Cooper, this is a serious problem-- we are restricting a computerized calendar based on the limitations of the printed page. We should exploit the power of the PC. Then, not more than thirty pages later, he complains that computer file systems are deficient because they aren't centered around 'documents', which users know and love. We should restrict our file systems based on the limitations of the printed page. Be either fish or fowl; don't try to have it both ways. I was very disappointed by this book. I expected insight, but what I got was Alan Cooper bitching about Windows. I knew what was wrong with Windows before I read the book. What I wanted was guidance on how to best interact with the user. I got Cooper's pet theories, most of which strike me as just plain silly. Another reader described the book as "incredibly arrogant". I'd have to agree. Save your money; I doubt this book would help you create better user interfaces.
Rating:
Summary: Still a landmark, but we've moved on since then
Review: I've long been curious about this book because it is so often cited and hailed by current usability experts as the "starting point of software usability." And maybe it was a groundbreaking work in 1995, when hardcore coders and "power users" still made up the majority of the user base. But now, many of Cooper's claims and proposals seem awkward or downright unusuable... the antithesis of what usability now stands for. To be fair, this is an old book (in the IT sense of the word), and a new "About Face 2.0" is apparently hitting the shelves soon. Thank goodness! A lot of the ideas presented in the original are timeless and important, but others have hopefully been relegated to the dumpster. Goal-directed design, for example, is something that interface designers should never lose sight of. Cooper does an excellent job of digging up the real goals of users (as distinct from their job descriptions) and maintaining focus on how to satisfy those goals while balancing them with other realistic business concerns-profit, professionalism, efficiency, and so forth. He decries the "real world analogy" trap that so many developers fall into and stresses the limits of "metaphors" in promoting user understanding. He stresses the importance of visual feedback for all actions and the need to protect users from "modes." This is all good material that developers and project teams should always keep handy for the inevitable design arguments. (Although note that the tone of this book is relentlessly programmer-focused, hailing from a time when all "design" was done by coders, and interface or usability specialists simply didn't have a place in IT.) But when Cooper gets into suggestions for "breaking the mold" and coming up with new and different types of interfaces, he loses me. He seems to vastly overestimate the readiness of users to learn new interface features and new designs. More recent comments from other usability sources acknowledge this basic truth. Joel Spolsky, for example, states that "An interface is well designed when it works exactly the way the user expects it would." Steve Krug states it even more baldly as "Don't make me think!" Don't make me think about the PROGRAM, that is; users are very willing to think about their tasks, they just refuse to waste time learning your cool new interface for what is (to them) just a complicated and badly-designed tool. Cooper makes sweeping suggestions, such as doing away with file structures and directories entirely, or increasing the reliance on "chord clicking" and triple-clicking for key functions (for power users only, of course). He wants more icons and less text because of space considerations, even though he acknowledges that icons are inherently confusing to new users (idioms-something that can be learned only through experience) and are often poorly executed. He also introduces several new concepts to the platform, such as a "milestones" feature in word processing. These new notions may perform valuable functions, but at what cost? Their suggested implmentation is awkward and confusing; the terms themselves are hard for non-coders to understand. Do we really want all dialog boxes to have an additional button: "OK, Cancel, Abandon"? It seems that, in his enthusiasm for trying something new and different, he temporarily forgets his own caveat: "No matter how cool your interface, less would be better." I'm glad that a new version of this book has been developed; hopefully it has retained the core principles and jettisoned the specific examples, particularly the "totally new and different!" ideas. For better or worse, we have a standard for software interfaces now; changes must be approached with caution and delicacy, no matter how much of an improvement they seem to offer. Today's user base won't waste time learning a new interface and doesn't care how "cool" or even valuable it is. Don't forget the focus on user goals-and their goal will never be "learning to use this great new software."
Rating:
Summary: A must-read for all programmers and product managers!
Review: If you are a software engineer or product manager, you simply must read this 580-page paperback! As promised in the subtitle, Cooper lays out "the essentials of user interface design" in a folksy voice, and supports his conclusions with compelling examples and authoritative explanations of why his practical proposals are superior to the accepted status quo. If you've ever been frustrated at a "stupid" program, this is the book you should throw at the programmer.
Rating:
Summary: Incisive, invaluable, heavy on Windows. Buy this...and Tog.
Review: Reading this book really will make you wonder why most computer users don't storm software companies with torches and polearms every day. It will also make Mac users wonder if Alan Cooper ever seriously sat down and worked with a Macintosh. A surprising number of his Windows wish-list items are already integrated into the Mac OS. "About Face" is heavily Windows-centric -- almost entirely so. But not completely. Cooper's intended audience of programmers will find his insights invaluable for development on any and every platform. He's a Windows developer, so he writes in his native terms -- as does Bruce Tognazzini in "Tog on Interface," a Mac-centric volume which should be in a boxed set with "About Face." Neither, fortunately, engages in platform-bashing; each of these authors freely criticizes the shortcomings of his familiar OS. "About Face" goes from sweeping design principles to nuts-and-bolts detail (wherein lies the Windows-centricity), all in pursuit of his (utterly correct) Holy Grail: Make the software convenient for the user, not for the computer. The most heinous "computer crimes" are perpetrated carelessly, even with good intentions, by commercial software programmers who focus on the computer instead of on the human who uses it. The victims of these crimes go almost entirely unheard, hardly even realizing they've been wronged. Alan Cooper is the interface police -- and he comes not a moment too soon.
Rating:
Summary: Metaphors, and Adecdotes, and Poor Writing, oh my...
Review: This book could have been half the size. The author makes a statement, then makes it again, proves it, uses several metaphors repeatedly, anecdotes left and right, makes the initial statement several more times, then proves it once again by insulting someone. I found myself reading the first line of every paragraph just to see if it was worth reading. Through all of this poorly written book, I did find some interesting interface ideas. Most of them were rarified and needed some creative thinking to advance. Sadly the author did not give us a user friendly hyperlink tool to jump to the parts of real interest. So we have to wade through this mush to get to the good stuff just like the evil Microsoft windows forces us to do. Damn, the metaphors have rubbed off on me.
Rating:
Summary: Modern Interface Design
Review: This book is by no doubt a valuable resource for any software developer, nevertheless, more liveliness, humor or variety would have made it less monotonous. Prepare yourself to spend a great deal of time to tackle through more than half a thousand pages of very dense text, which is worth reading. The previous book by Alan Cooper, "The Inmates are Running the Asylum" is much more vivid, concise and amusing. I would recommend reading "The Inmates" first to get acquainted with Goal-Directed Design and the concept of considerate software, and then proceed to "About Face 2.0" to expand the knowledge and make it actionable. This book exposes the distinction between implementation model and mental model, and brings the concept of "perpetual intermediates" as the most common category of the users. The authors show how to classify applications by posture on the web and on desktop and handheld computers, as well as on mobile phones and public kiosks. The aspects of the modern User Interface are well covered in this book: data entry and retrieval, direct manipulation and pointing devices, metaphors, idioms and affordances. Parts of the book are devoted to such interface constituencies as controls, menus, toolbars and tooltips. You will also find chapters about installation process and dialog etiquette in this book.
| 
