Tools Books

This is a fun and exciting piece that exhilerates me in that funny name.

There are 100s of books aimed at people who design web sites. Books that tell you how to write HTML. Books that show you how to design 3D buttons. Books on programming in Perl, Java, etc.

This book takes a completely different approach: it assumes that the people who use web sites just want an easy life. This requires simplicity - not complexity. So, this book on web site development hardly mentions technology. Instead, it focuses on the customers of the technology: it explains how to design e-commerce sites that ordinary people can use (not just yourself, your boss or client!).

The book has now been on the market for three years, but never received the same attention as for instance the usability books from Jakob Nielsen or Steve Krug.

But if you would like a more structured approach then this book is a good pick. His approach is to design a clear roadmap for the web site design or re-design process with lots and lots of forms and checklists that we can put into use Monday morning.

CUSTOMER-CENTRED DESIGN PROCESS
David Travis is a British usability expert with a background from designing Industry Standards. He has designed a customer-centred design process that has four steps. I will outline these steps below:

Step 1: ANALYZE THE OPPORTUNITY
- Identify the stakeholders (who are they? what are their motivations? prioritise the list!)
- Write the site mandate (why it exists? which objectives?)
- Segment the market (e.g. by using Moore's technology adoption lifecyle)

Step 2: BUILD THE CONTEXT OF USE
- Build customer profiles (demographics, web site behavior, needs, and then you design personas)
- Build environment profiles (physical, socio-cultural, and technical)
- Build task profiles (prioritise task portfolio: value to customers vs. ease of implementation)

Step 3: CREATE THE USER EXPERIENCE (an iterative process)
- Develop key performance indicators for the site
- Develop information architecture (the high-level, conceptual model)
- Lay out the screens (the detailed design)
- Evaluate usability (using experts and representative customers)

Step 4: TRACK REAL-WORLD USAGE AND CONTINUOUSLY IMPROVE THE SITE.
The job is done - isn't it? To paraphrase Chuchill: this is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end. This is the end of the beginning. You will need to change and update the web site as your customers change, if you want a successful web site. These key measures will keep your finger on the pulse of your site: Conversion rate, usage rate by registered customers, fulfilment performance and customer retention. Note that the two last ones are "beyond-the-interface" metrics.
So regularly you need to go back to step 2 or even step 1 again and improve wherever you can. As Einstein said: "The questions remain the same, but the answers differ" as we evolve.

Each of these bullets is devoted a chapter with tools and techniques, so the process is well documented. The author has refined his customer-centred design process through a lot of work with customers, such as HP, Motorola, Financial Times, and Thomas Cook).

Based on his experience, the author suggests three components of a web site's usability.

SCREEN DESIGN:
Although, most web site professionals nowadays accept usability as key to success, then many have a very narrow view of it. According to the author, many think it's only about screen design: choosing the correct fonts, colours, and icons. But in reality, usability is a process. It is not something that can be stapled on at the end of development. It's like putting lipstick on a bulldog ... Optimising screen design is perhaps only 15% of a web site's usability performance.

CONSISTENCY:
Screen design is just one of 3 important components. Consistency is the second key feature and it may account for about 25% of a web site's usability, says David Travis. We can all point to annoying inconsistencies in (or between) much of the software we use. The same goes for web sites.

TASK FOCUS:
The third component of usability, the remaining 60 %, is accounted for by task focus. You know a web site has task focus when you get a feeling that the person who designed the site knew exactly what you wanted to do. The site works the way you expect. There is no need to go searching through menus or dialogue boxes. The main things you want to do are there in front of you - easy to find and simple to carry out. It's intuitive, just like the best computer games, where very quickly the "interface" disappears and you are instead absorbed by the universe of the game - the task.

Of the three components of usability, task focus is the most complicated. Rules for good visual screen design are plentiful. Consistency is a matter of discipline and testing against relevant guides. But achieving task focus is much more complicated - it requires a process, and it is what this book attempts to do (cf. the four step process above).

If you are a structured person, you will love this book. Most usability books consist of many valuable guidelines and hints but are often rather unstructured in their process. This book offers a roadmap to success with the step-by-step approach.

If you are interested in e-commerce usability, then I also recommend you take a look at these books (less structured, but with a lot of useful guidelines):
- Jakob Nielsen: Prioritizing Web Usability (2006)
- Eisenberg: Call to Action: Secret Formulas to Improve Online Results (2005)
- Steve Krug: Don't make me think - A Common Sense Approach to Web Usability (2005)

PS. The book contains about 200 pages.

Peter Leerskov,
MSc in International Business (Marketing & Management) and Graduate Diploma in E-business

Imagine yourself that you can solve a non-linear algebric and differential equation easily. No more fear from programing, no more worry. Solution almost available. It combines both friendly interface, easy learning and using. With E-Z solver you can save both time and effort. You can touch the effect in changing one parameter on other variables. Also, you can see the effect when you change two parameters instead of one.

It is very good for normal application, But not complicated (do not expect yourself you will be able to solve partial differential equation).

Each chapter talks about a different subject in a clear, logical manner. I had this book for a class on History of American Technology, among others, and it trully was a favorite, one that I'll keep for my own personal use in the classroom.

I am a psychologist who specializes in early childhood. There are very few resources for early childhood educators that provide practical and research-based guidance about how to support children's social-emotional skills and reduce challenging behavior, especially aggression. I highly recommend this book to early childhood educators and to parents.

I teach a basic internet class twice a week at our local library (volunteer) and although the Dummies books have good content I have found that most of my students respond to "picture books" far better. Also the "Why should I do this" seems to anticipate a dirth of questions and answers them before they are asked. I pass the book around in the class and just about everyone copies down the title and other pertenent information. Thanks for making my teaching easier and my students better computer and internet users

Too often management writers ride the waves of fashion. Not so with John Adair. John Adair is an unsung Guru of Leadership and communication in organizations. This book on effective communication avoids buzz words and fads. It concentrates on simply getting the message across. I sure you have all experienced recieving a memo that had more words than a dictionary. Or a report that had been obviously written with the intention of impressing the reader with the writers intelligence rather than to pass on information. This book covers all aspects of communicating in the work place from verbal communication, public speaking and meetings. Recommended highly.

It is refreshing to see that there exists a book on the market which examines the physical remains of Ancient Egyptian tools and not just the by-products of manufacture. Voice is given to the ancient smiths by letting the Ancient Egyptian depictions of their metal-workings speak for themselves, in private tombs stretching from the Old Kingdom to the New Kingdom, as well as the informative accompanying hieroglyphic inscriptions. Every kind of manufacture is considered in this well documented book. A must for all interested laypeople and scholars.

This is a classic manual of practical mechanical engineering originally published in 1867 by Virtue Brothers and Company of London, England. If you've ever worked in old fashion manufacturing then you'll identify with this book. It comes from a time when men with mechanical aptitude could do anything from scratch with a minimum of outside help. Everything in this little book is written with an eye towards specific applications in industry- this isn't empty theory. Indeed, this one book covers just about every practical mechanism needed to run just about any Victorian manufactory.

The first part of the book covers the fundamentals of mechanical design and kinematics. This is done with only simple shop mathematics. Basic definitions and formulas are given. The elements of levers and linkages are covered. Gears and gear trains are covered next. Pulleys and belts are the next subject. This is followed by the windlass and capstan. Variable motion using unusual wheel and gear shapes, sliding linkages, Roemer's wheels, eccentric escapements, etc. is next. Intermittent and reciprocating motion by wheels, geneva mechanisms, mangle wheels and racks, crown wheels, etc. follows. Sliding motion via inclined plane, screw, wedge, and cam is the next area covered (with special emphasis upon the screw press.) Escapements and pendulums of the type used in clockwork mechanisms are next. The following section covers flywheels, centripetal governors, and safety valves. Part One finishes up with mechanisms for modifying or translating motion such as sun and planet wheels, levers of Lagarouse, spiral cams, swash plates, and both Watt's and White's parallel motions.

The second part of this book covers a multitude of machines used in manufacturing, construction, and domestic purposes. First come winches and cranes. Next follows pile engines, hand jacks, the patent excavator (steam shovel), railway uncoupling, and dredging machines. Then a section of machine tools are covered (drilling machines, foot-lathes, punching machines, shears, and sawmills. Next is the smoke jack (a type of hot-air engine.) The common clock is then treated. The following section deals with hydraulic machines from suction pumps to presses. There is a good coverage next of water wheels and waterpower. Screw propellers for ships are then covered, as well as the water turbine. Motion of water in pipes and channels is next. The following section is a detailed examination of machine tools (engine lathes, planers, shapers, slotting machines, and shearing machines.) Textile machines for carding and spinning follow. Riveting machines for boilers and other large vessels are covered. Next we have extensive coverage of steam engines (including slide-valves, boilers, boiler feeders, and pressure gauges.) Then there is an entire chapter on the process and machinery of sugar refining. A full chapter on calculation of work and its hindrance by friction follows. Then comes a full chapter on pottery manufacture. Finally there is a concluding chapter on the theory and practice of metal cutting machinery (mostly lathes, shapers, and gear cutters- the horizontal universal milling machine does not seem to be covered or anticipated.)

All of these topics are illustrated with a multitude of crisp, sharp line drawings. You are not provided with specific dimensions since these are concept drawings- you where expected to be able to think for yourself when it came to implementation. I am convinced that an intelligent practical engineer could reconstruct the entire Industrial Age from this single, comprehensive little manual.

The book comes in two volumes and consists essentially of solicited articles on various topics central to or important in institutional and evolutionary economics. The books therefore have entries on topics such as lock-in effects, Thorstein Veblen, old and new institutional economics, etc generally written by people who are active in research in that area.

The book is terrific for orienting oneself in these growth areas of economic research, and would be an important reference for university libraries. At the price, it would be prohibitive for most students but would be useful for academics specializing or developing an interest in this area.

The entries are followed by a bibliography to assist you in chasing up further levels of detail as required after reading an entry of interest.

Some entries (Eg Macroeconomics) have several entries from several authors, and it is quite interesting to see the different points of views taken.