thom@garnet.berkeley.edu (Thom Gillespie) (04/05/91)
I finished Paul Heckel's new edition of The Elements of Friendly Software Design. The first edition was excellent, this edition is better. Much of the material is the same but the intro is new, the roses and cabbages chapter on metaphor design is one of the best I've read on common sense use of metaphors to 'transport' or 'familiarize' -- no one I know of has discussed metaphors in quite the same fashion, and 'THE' epilogue where in 25 pages Heckel explains what it's like to tell IBM that they 'are infringing on his patent' and then wittness what these folks in the 'black' hats do or don't do! This book belongs right up there with Laurel's The Art of Human-Computer Interface design, Norman's The Psychology of Everyday Things, and Tufte's Envisioning Information. More excellent information about communicating with computers -- a book for do-ers! Technical Thom says 'Better than Dances with Wolves' is Heckel Dancing with IBM. The Elements of Friendly Software Design/ Paul Heckel. ISBN 0-89588-768-1 --Technical Thom