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USER AND TASK ANALYSIS FOR INTERFACE DESIGN
JoAnn T. Hackos and Janice C. Redish. 1998. New York, NY: John Wiley & Sons. [ISBN 0-471-17831-4. 488 pages, including index. $49.99.]
Don't you get just a little tired of people preaching the importance of user-centered design at you? As if you do not understand that putting users first is important? Rejoice! Here is a book that doesn't preach but rather guides you through the entire process of gathering information about the user of your software product or your documentation of a product, even to the point of giving you effective arguments for a user analysis budget!
JoAnn Hackos and Ginny Redish are living examples of how technical communicators' skills in defining an audience can be put to good use in designing the interface of a piece of software, an online document, or even a book. Although the primary focus of this book is getting the information you need to lead you to the design of a good product interface, they continually point out how this same kind of analysis can be used for designing documents.
Following an excellent introduction to user and task analysis in Chapter 1, the book is structured in four parts:
Understanding the context of user and task analysis
Getting ready for site visits
Conducting the site visit
Making the transition from analysis to design