I also had a look at Bruce “Tog” Togazzini. I looked on his website as well as the book “Tog on Interface”
First a small synopsis of Togazzini:
Bruce “Tog” Tognazzini is a principal with the Nielsen Norman Group, the “dream team” firm specializing in human-computer interaction. Tog was lead designer at WebMD, the super-vertical start-up founded in February, 1996 by Jim Clark, founder of Silicon Graphics and Netscape. Before that, Tog was Distinguished Engineer for Strategic Technology at Sun Microsystems. During his 14 years at Apple Computer, he founded the Apple Human Interface Group and acted as Apple’s Human Interface Evangelist. Tog has published two books, Tog on Interface and Tog on Software Design,both from Addison Wesley, and is currently publishing the free webzine, “AskTog.”
Taken from AskTog (http://www.asktog.com/tog.html)
I found his book quite interesting but also similar to Woodtke’s book. However I would like to put down some basic points both Tognazzini and Woodtke both pointed out.
Eliminate user’s need to perform housekeeping operations – User’s shouldn’t be made to act as the software designer. They shouldn’t have to remember things the computer already knows.
Towards the end of the design period, test the new software to out where the current users become tripped up – Even though I could not do this, there are ways around it. i could use someone in my class to test the application to find small errors in my design.
Redesign and test again – Something I should keep in mind. (refer to UPD iterations which is essential to designers)
Surround the user with things they will need, don’t make them guess – There have been a lot of website where I had to guess where things were or are. As a designer I should make the layout easier to understand.
The user should be in control – I should not be guiding users like they were in a maze. They should be able to control the interface.
I believe what Woodtke and Tognazzini are implying is designer for the end user, not for yourself. The end user is your market and the must have control over the interface.
Next I should find my target group.
For further reading:
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