Amazon.com
Since "opening" in 2003, Second Life has become an explosive worldwide phenomenon, inhabited by over 5 million virtual residents by 2007. Hit the digital ground running with Second Life: The Official Guide, the ultimate travel reference to this exciting new "metaverse." Get all the information you'll need to create your avatar, navigate the landscape, and build your in-World business to produce real-world profits.
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Download Second Life character trading cards (.pdf) |
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More images from Second Life (click for larger image) |
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Book Description
Second Life: The Official Guide is the perfect book for anyone interested in Linden Labs fascinating Second Life metaverse. This book explores in detail every aspect of Second Lifes rich and multilayered virtual world, explains how it works, and offers a wealth of information and practical advice for all Second Life residents.
The first part of the book, Getting a Second Life, acquaints potential and new players with the Second Life world. It describes the metaverses geography as well as its society, explaining the written and unwritten rules.
The second part, Living a Second Life, deals with the practical and economic aspects of Second Life: creating and customizing an avatar, building objects, scripting, and making money.
The third part of the book, Success in Second Life, discusses ways to enjoy Second Life more. This section includes profiles of successful Second Life residents, discusses fascinating in-world events, and examines how some are using Second Life for business, training, and other purposes.
The book closes with a glossary as well as quick-reference and additional-resources appendices.
The accompanying CD-ROM features special animations, character templates, and textures created by Linden Lab exclusively for this book. The disc also guides new users through installation and includes a code that grants a special object their first time entering the metaverse.
Customer Reviews:
A Beginner's Guide to Second Life.......2007-10-09
Book was what it was advertised to be. Full of easy to understand instructions. Excellent buy.
Scatterbrained.......2007-09-22
This MAY be the best introduction to SL, I don't know, but it is not well organized or specific. There is a huge problem with any print material on SL-it is obsolete before it comes off the press. Hey, if you are into Second Life, this is as good a place as any to start. Just don't think its going to be anywhere all that you need. But then, there probably isn't ANYTHING that tells you all you need to know. One thing, read this BEFORE you create your avatar! Although then you won't know what the heck half the stuff means.
Second Life, the Cadillac of VR Sites........2007-09-22
Like Second Life itself, this book gives you the basics and then expects you to find someone willing to explain the rest. Although the book glosses over the details, it is still a very good place to start finding your way around the often bewildering world of SL. I found the chapters on "A Cultural Timeline," and "The Future and Impact of Second Life" to be of particular interest.
All in all? A good, basic introduction.
looking for more locations?.......2007-09-12
this book is great but if you are looking for more locations and things to do check out this book:
Second Life Travel Guide
Not bad and if you play SL this book will help.......2007-08-24
I am new to Second Life and was looking for a book to help me understand and the enjoy the simulation more. This book has very helpful in helping me understand more about Second Life. I recommend it for any one new to the simulation
Average customer rating:
- Superb history of Virtual Worlds development
- The theory behind Virtual Worlds
- Designing Virtual Worlds
- Game theory and design? This is the book you've been looking for!
- Guide to the philosophy and strategy of designing virtual worlds
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Designing Virtual Worlds
Richard Bartle
Manufacturer: New Riders Games
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
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Second Life: The Official Guide
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ASIN: 0131018167 |
Book Description
Designing Virtual Worlds is the most comprehensive treatment of virtual worlddesign to-date from one of the true pioneers and most sought-after design consultants. It's a tour de force of VW design, stunning in intellectual scope, spanning the literary,economic, sociological, psychological, physical, technological, and ethicalunderpinnings of design, while providing the reader with a deep, well-grounded understanding of VW design principles. It covers everything from MUDs to MOOs to MMORPGs, from text-based to graphical VWs.
Designing Virtual Worlds brings a rich, well-developed approach to the designconcepts behind virtual worlds. It is grounded in the earliest approaches to such designs, but the examples discussed in the book run the gamut from the earliest MUDs to the present-day MMORPG games mentioned above. It teaches the reader the actual, underlying design principles that many designers do not understand when they borrow or build from previous games. There is no other design book on the market in the area of online games and virtual worlds that provides the rich detail, historical context, and conceptual depth ofDesigning Virtual Worlds.
Customer Reviews:
Superb history of Virtual Worlds development.......2007-06-27
Mr. Bartle's writing is precise and his facts carefully researched, even the ones he experienced himself. This is a huge, superbly constructed history of the tools and philosophies developed over the years in experimental and commercial development of online virtual worlds. Because of Mr. Bartle's personal knowledge as a long-time designer and his sharp memory for the significance of trends and details, this book will raise anyone's appreciation of whatever virtual worlds one comes across on line or on disk, whether they be famous commercial ones or those developed by enthusiasts for their own pleasure. I would think it would be a must read for gaming students. What a grand, satisfying, fascinating book! And when one considers that this exciting history is only the beginning of VW development... Wow!
The theory behind Virtual Worlds.......2007-03-31
This book taught me the theory behind Virtual worlds and I beleive nearly everything I read in this book.
I didn't simply believe everything because it was a published book, I beleived it because Richard used examples from real games. With all the experiance Richard has you would expect him to have learnt everything the hard way, he has but he's also smart enough to realise that sometimes you can learn from others mistakes instead of making them yourself.
The book is aimed at the 'Dungeons and Dragons' (and most of his examples are) type of game but there is no reason the information cannot be used in other genres.
The most amusing part is how right he can be.
Richard states that 'you cannot allow players to carry items over from the Beta testing to the online game, even though your players will try to convince you otherwise'; something I didn't really think and didn't really agree with.
My family and I were all about to join 'Pirates of the Caribbean' when it started; when the announcement was made that players form the Beta test would be allowed to keep items my daughters asked what a Beta test was, I explained and now they don't want to play as they consider that to be cheating. We have all decided not to play.
Learn from others (like Richard) or pay the price.
James
Designing Virtual Worlds.......2007-01-10
Covers all the aspects of virtual worlds from a psycological perspective; the intentions, the types of virtual worlds.
Doesn't include indepth technology and the development issues related to designing virtual worlds
Good primer on virtual worlds.
Game theory and design? This is the book you've been looking for!.......2006-07-17
You're getting it straight from the horse's mouth since this book is written by the grandfather of the modern MMORPG.
Rest assured - if you are a game designer, developer, or just love reading about game theory, this book is worth every penny.
I have read many other books on the subject and not one of them are packed with as much depth, knowledge, and wisdom. Bartle covers every avenue that a designer needs to consider in order to be successful. This book will help you and your team create an active, emergent virtual world.
As a game developer, I learned many valuable lessons on what made other games lose subscribers, or worse -- catastrophically fail.
Richard Bartle's writing style is very creative and detailed, and like his games, it gives you the 'just one more page' syndrome. For example, in this book it mentions how often a player must be rewarded in order to retain interest. He uses this same technique for writing by giving you something insightful to read atleast every 10 pages.
Bartle has covered all the bases. Designing Virtual Worlds is a great book, very entertaining. I give it 5 out of 5 stars - a must read.
More than 700 well-written pages packed with valuable insights, and it still leaves you begging for more.
Guide to the philosophy and strategy of designing virtual worlds.......2006-02-07
To begin with, this book is not a programming book. There is no code, no discussion of VRML, MPEG-4, or X3D. Instead, this book stands back and takes a "big picture" look at the design of a virtual world from the viewpoint of systems engineering, social engineering, philosophy, history, and psychology. Ethical considerations are even tossed in for good measure.
The book starts out with chapters on the history of virtual worlds and the cultural influences that affected their characteristics. Next, there is a fly-over view of the "production line" of building a virtual world. Bartle then turns his attention to the players - who they are, what they want, and how a virtual world can meet their needs. World design is examined from the standpoint of virtual geography, virtual world citizens, and finally the physics required to implement your world. Chapter 5 is about the specific sociology and physiology of the virtual world - skill levels, individual characteristics, how virtual inhabitants divide themselves into groups, combat, and even the meaning of death in the virtual world. The final three chapters are very philisophical in nature. Chapter 6 is basically a liberal arts syllabus through the prism of virtual world design. The last chapter, on ethical considerations, talks about censorship, and also looks at the player as a person and how game playing in virtual worlds can hurt more than help some kinds of people, particularly those prone to addiction.
Bartle's social commentaries may be a bit long-winded for some people, although I found them interesting. Some readers may also be somewhat frustrated by the fact that the book talks more about what can go wrong in the design of a virtual world - overly complex and static story arcs, characters that players do not get invested in, characters in which players get too invested, etc - than what can go right. I really enjoyed the book, mainly because it moves the focus of the potential virtual world designer from the artistic and technical viewpoint to the player's viewpoint - why they plays games, and why a player would pick your game versus someone else's game.
Amazon.com
The recurring metaphor in The Inmates are Running the Asylum is that of the dancing bear--the circus bear that shuffles clumsily for the amusement of the audience. Such bears, says author Alan Cooper, don't dance well, as everyone at the circus can see. What amazes the crowd is that the bear dances at all. Cooper argues that technology (videocassette recorders, car alarms, most software applications for personal computers) consists largely of dancing bears--pieces that work, but not at all well. He goes on to say that this is more often than not the fault of poorly designed user interfaces, and he makes a good argument that way too many devices (perhaps as a result of the designers' subconscious wish to bully the people who tormented them as children) ask too much of their users. Too many systems (like the famous unprogrammable VCR) make their users feel stupid when they can't get the job done.
Cooper, who designed Visual Basic (the programming environment Microsoft promotes for the purpose of creating good user interfaces), indulges in too much name-dropping and self-congratulation (Cooper attributes the quote, "How did you do that?" to Microsoft chairman Bill Gates, upon looking at one of Cooper's creations)--but this appears to be de rigueur in books about the software industry. But those asides are minor. More valuable is the discourse about software design and implementation ("[O]bject orientation divides the 1000-brick tower into 10 100-brick towers."). Read this book for an idea of what's wrong with UI design. --David Wall
Topics covered: User interfaces--good ones and bad ones--and where they come from. Also, how to improve the ones you create.
Book Description
Imagine, at a terrifyingly aggressive rate, everything you regularly use is being equipped with computer technology. Think about your phone, cameras, cars-everything-being automated and programmed by people who in their rush to accept the many benefits of the silicon chip, have abdicated their responsibility to make these products easy to use.
The Inmates Are Running the Asylum argues that the business executives who make the decisions to develop these products are not the ones in control of the technology used to create them. Insightful and entertaining,
The Inmates Are Running the Asylum uses the author's experiences in corporate America to illustrate how talented people continuously design bad software-based products and why we need technology to work the way average people think. Somewhere out there is a happy medium that makes these types of products both user and bottom-line friendly; this book discusses why we need to quickly find that medium.
Download Description
Imagine, at a terrifyingly aggressive rate, everything you regularly use is being equipped with computer technology. Think about your phone, cameras, cars - everything - being automated and programmed by people who in their rush to accept the many benefits of the silicon chip, have abdicated their responsibility to make these products easy to use. The Inmates are Running the Asylum argues that, despite appearances, business executives are simply not the ones in control of the high-tech industry. They have inadvertently put programmers and engineers in charge, leading to products and processes that waste money, squander customer loyalty, and erode competitive advantage. Business executives have let the inmates run the asylum! In his book The Inmates Are Running the Asylum Alan Cooper calls for revolution - we need technology to work in the same way average people think - we need to restore the sanity. He offers a provocative, insightful and entertaining explanation of how talented people continuously design bad software-based products. More importantly, he uses his own work with companies big and small to show how to harness those talents to create products that will both thrill their users and grow the bottom line.
Customer Reviews:
No Cognitive Friction Here.. .......2007-06-12
Alan Cooper gives the reader insight into why so many of today's technological products frustrate and confuse users. Yet he goes past this to discuss a methodology for keeping it simple and designing for the user i.e. avoiding cognitive friction. This book has changed the way I will develop products and should be a must read for product managers of application developers. Just learning Mr. Cooper's vocabulary is worth the read. The ideas such as personas, keywords, and designing for an individual push the book way above average. This is an easy read that should be done in your spare time if you want to avoid cognitive friction with your users. It has changed the way I view technology and brought a new awareness to thoughtless technology implementation which often cause failure or misuse. The only reason I gave this book a 4 out of 5 as I feel it could have been reduced a little bit more, certain points I felt like the author was rambling about personal fustrations.
an essential handbook for designing software.......2007-06-11
Cooper's argument in this book is simple: you have to know your users, and you have to understand what they're trying to accomplish with your software. The method that he puts forth for achieving this understanding is personas, richly-described archetypical users.
The book is easy to read and understand. He begins with a detailed description of the problem with software design as carried about by programmers who can only imagine themselves as the users of their software, resulting in software that makes really difficult things possible but doesn't bother to make easy or common things quick and easy.
After making the argument that programmers shouldn't design interfaces and making the case both for usability and interaction design, he lays out the personas concept. Cooper's guidelines for creating personas and using them are well-written and well-thought-out. However, his examples of applying them to some of his own customers are rather repetitive, and sometimes come across as somewhat whiny.
Now that it's time for my group at Microsoft to revisit our personas and determine what needs to be tweaked for our next version, I decided that I should revisit the book that first advanced the idea. It has stood up well to the test of time (something that not many computer books can do). I highly recommend it, both to usability and design professionals, as well as programmers.
Great writing, very illustrative examples, definitely not a detailed how-to.......2007-05-13
The strength of this book its clear and easy-to-read writing. Cooper's examples are instructive and the theory of why design-centric business approaches are the most powerful. It's supposed to be a business-case book but I'm quite sure all programmers and even designers would find the read very worthwhile.
My only wish for the book would be that Chapter 10 onwards seemed to be the really exciting stuff, detailing the how more than the why of design-centric approaches. This part feels like a rushed summary in comparison the the attention paid to the why aspect in the rest of the book. You may want to consider Cooper's newly revised "how" book although it is mainly a designer's handbook: About Face 3: The Essentials of Interaction Design
I'm not done with that About Face 3: The Essentials of Interaction Design but I'm starting to worry it's going to leave me wishing it had more specific methodologies as opposed to theories. Of course, it has much more methodological attention than The Inmates Are Running the Asylum: Why High Tech Products Drive Us Crazy and How to Restore the Sanity (2nd Edition) and there's no fault in what is written, only in what is omitted.
If you're really looking for the ultimate how-to, you might want to consider attending the four-day "Cooper U". Case in point: I had the chance to ask Alan Cooper where I could learn more about how to create the design documents he writes about in the last part of The Inmates Are Running the Asylum: Why High Tech Products Drive Us Crazy and How to Restore the Sanity (2nd Edition) and he really couldn't say what books would be able to instruct that (including his own) and that it would be covered in his course.
this book changed my life.......2007-02-22
I was a well-paid systems administrator/help desk guy until I read this book. This book really did inspire me to change careers!
The book basically outlines why engineers (and people who think like engineers) are INCAPABLE of designing effective interfaces. It delves into specifics and supplies some great examples.
I am amused by some of the reviewers here who display the same sort of arrogant contempt that the book outlines. OF COURSE programming a VCR is easy for YOU--you're a person with an "engineer mind". My mom can't program a VCR at all, and that's not because she didn't try hard enough or read the instructions. She can't use it because everything about it's interface is counter-intuitive to someone who does not understand machine/code logic.
Just because it's easy for you doesn't mean it doesn't stink. Just because it makes sense to you doesn't mean it can't be made better--to work intuitively for "regular" people. Buy this book. Read it. Demand more from your products. It's time to end the insanity.
Blown out of proportion.......2007-01-18
It's true that some products have poor interfaces, but in my experience this "problem" is blown way out of proportion with reality. The only people I know who couldn't figure out how to program their VCRs were people who did not try for more than 5 minutes. Read the instructions, both in the book and onscreen, and VCR programming is a snap, from the earliest models to today.
I think the real question should be: Why are so many users so lazy? This is more of a social problem than a technological one. Some think that if any effort is required to learn how to use a new device then it's poorly designed. Poppycock!
Book Description
Accomplished authors, Preece, Rogers and Sharp, have written a key new textbook on this core subject area. Interaction Design deals with a broad scope of issues, topics and paradigms that has traditionally been the scope of Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) and Interaction Design (ID). The book covers psychological and social aspects of users, interaction styles, user requirements, design approaches, usability and evaluation, traditional and future interface paradigms and the role of theory in informing design. The topics will be grounded in the design process and the aim is to present relevant issues in an integrated and coherent way, rather than assembling a collection of chapters on individual HCI topics.
KEY FEATURES:
* This truly integrated approach to HCI provides students with background information from psychology, sociology, anthropology, information systems and computer science
* Provides principles and skills for designing any technology through the use of many interesting and state of the art examples
* The author supported, highly interactive Web Site provides resources that allow students to collaborate on experiments, participate in design competitions, collaborate on design, find resources and communicate with others
* The accompanying Web Site also features examples, step-by-step exercises and templates for questionnaires
CONTENTS:
Preface
1. What is interaction design?
Interview with Gitta Saloman
2. Understanding and conceptualizing interaction
Interview with Terry Winograd
3. Understanding users
4. Understanding and designing for collaboration and communication
Interview with Abigail Sellen
5. Understanding how interfaces affect users
6. The process of interaction design
Interview with Gillian Crampton Smith
7. Identifying needs and establishing requirements
Interview with Suzanne Robertson
8. Design, prototyping and construction
9. User-centered approaches to interaction design
Interview with Karen Holtzblatt
10. Introducing evaluation
11. A framework for evaluation
12. Observing users
Interview with Sara Bly
13. Asking users and experts
Interview with Jakob Nielsen
14. Testing and modeling users
Interview with Ben Shneiderman
15. Doing design and evaluation in the real world: communicators and advisory systems
Epilogue
Glossary
Customer Reviews:
Desining Interaction Design.......2007-09-23
So, I bought this book "Interaction Design, 2nd Edition" by Sharp, Rogers and Preece, and I thought maybe the world is interested in my two cents. So here it goes ;-)
Despite the fact that the authors use a lot of words in order to explain even the simplest facts, the book is written concisely and presents a clearly understandable train of thought that leads from the very first introductory page to the very last reference page. The authors start out by giving small introductions to every chapter, explaining what is covered on the following pages. A large amount of boxes with extra information and "comments" help to deepen the insight of the covered material. Many pictures, drawings and graphs visualize very abstract sections and a (very) short summary after each chapter is of great value when you would like to freshen up what you have read earlier. The book's layout clearly is geared towards students, as it incorporates many colored boxes and pictures, without, however, being inconsistent. This makes it possible to skim through the book and look up some information without reading through entire sections. Experts in Human-Computer Interaction might wish for a lower amount of examples to bring a point across and would like the authors to have focused on the details a little more. Also, the fact that the authors make a lot of inline citations gives rise to the impression that they only repeat other's ideas. Yet, in fact, the book incorporates a fair amount of the authors' research (as one can easily see in the references), which is presented most modestly.
The book is literally on interaction design, NOT usability testing and NOT on other HCI methodology. If one is interested in that, I would strongly recommend Kuniavsky (2003) and Rubin (1994). If you are interested in interaction design and the principles that lead to a good user experience, this book is for you. Especially novices in ID will appreciate the level of detail, the amount of examples and extra information and the thorough explanations. Experts will find this book helpful and invaluable, yet sometimes a little wordy.
An essential introduction to HCI.......2007-05-16
I think this book is a must-read, essential of the introduction to HCI.
It covers all the important aspects of interaction design with an important and coherent message--user-centeredness for design. It is not a mere collection of the elements that need to be learned in HCI. The authors emphasize the importance of user-centeredness in interaction design, and exhaustively and thoughtfully integrate all the knowledge that is essential to this approach in the field of HCI.
I would strongly recommend this book to any serious instructors for HCI who like to teach the state-of-art directions and approaches in user-centered interaction design in HCI with covering all the important concepts founded in cognitive psychology, software development and design methods, and various user study techniques to be used in interaction design.
I barely spent time on this textbook........2006-12-23
It was somehow helpful to understand on some topics.
However, Interaction Design is kind of subjective topic.
Hence, I think this book is quite good on giving some examples to make a clear point.
Disappointed.......2006-11-11
there were almost 20 pages missing
on both chapters 8 and 9
this is very disappointing...
One of the Groundbreaking Books on HCI..........2006-11-06
If you work in application design or development, software, or web design... READ THIS BOOK! It will take your work to the next level.
Be warned, though... it is terribly boring! You'll think you're in college again. Don't put it down though, it's important knowledge.
Book Description
From the writer acclaimed as "our hot link to the intricacies of cyberspace"--a wild ride to the outer limits of the virtual world, where real money meets fantasy gaming (Kit Reed, author of Weird Women, Wired Women)
Play Money explores a remarkable new phenomenon that's just beginning to enter public consciousness: MMORPGs, or Massively MultiPlayer Online Role-Playing Games, in which hundreds of thousands of players operate fantasy characters in virtual environments the size of continents. With city-sized populations of nearly full-time players, these games generate their own cultures, governments, and social systems and, inevitably, their own economies, which spill over into the real world.
The desire for virtual goods--magic swords, enchanted breastplates, and special, hard-to-get elixirs--has spawned a cottage industry of "virtual loot farmers": People who play the games just to obtain fantasy goods that they can sell in the real world. The best loot farmers can make between six figures a year and six figures a month.
Play Money is an extended walk on the weird side: a vivid snapshot of a subculture whose denizens were once the stuff of mere sociological spectacle but now--with computer gaming poised to eclipse all other entertainments in dollar volume, and with the lines between play and work, virtual and real increasingly blurred--look more and more like the future.
Customer Reviews:
Playing Video Games for MONEY -- REEL FUN!.......2007-04-24
What if you could spend your day playing video games and still make a fortune? Wll, now it's possible for the best of what is called the 'gold farmers' to play games and buy and sell fantasy goods in the virtual world and make between 6 and 7 figures a year! Yes, and this author Julian Dibbell did just that -- quit his day job as a writer and became a virtual mogul. Along the way in 12 chapters he looks at the virtual marketplace for virtual loot and the growing economy online in multiplayer online role playing gams MORPGS and Virtual worlds like SecondLife.com to buy and sell virtual real estate, avatars, islands, services and even real life objects in virtual stores. From Ultima Online to paying the IRS -- it's an amazing new world online and whether it's reel or real is still to be determined by the players in the newest game in town.
Serious Play.......2007-03-05
I read this book because I had begun to hear about the world it describes and wanted to learn more. I was REALLY happy with my purchase! Dibbell combines personal experience, interesting interviews, and a broad intellectual reach to make comprehensible the "brave" "new" world of massive multi-user gaming and the way it is making us rethink a variety of taken for granted forms of common sense.
The result is a lot of fun to read and highly educational at the same time.
Pseudo-intellectual stuff ruins this book.......2007-03-04
I had high hopes for this book to be informative and fun but it turned out to be a disappointment. I am not sure if the author had to justify the scholastic grant he received for writing about the topic so he felt he had to interject the fun topic with a lot of pseudo-intellectual analogies/comparisons or personal reflections. Who cares if this game reminds anyone of the Turing Test, or if this is work or play? Everything is work to someone but play to another. His relentless (but failed) attempt to attach significance to this work just makes the book boring and haphazard. Whenever he writes about the intellectual meanings of this "phenomenon", his writing style changes -- a bunch of words that don't really mean anything...just string them together so they sound smart.
Dibble Gets it Right - Both Play AND Money.......2007-01-25
My career is computing, and much of my free time and hobbies are taken up by the subject. So, perhaps predictably, I tend to enjoy reading literature about the topic. Computer gaming is a particular favorite of mine, and Julian Dibble's "Play Money" is a great exploration of how gaming is integrating into our society, and the impact they have on each other.
As other reviews have noted, Dibble tends to get a bit scholastic and philosophical in his treatment of the subject. And while I'm not opposed to adding a little intellectual depth to the coverage of the subject, I think he perhaps goes further than absolutely necessary - sometimes to the detriment of the readability of the text. However, readers who are able to slog through some of the slower bits towards the beginning of the book will find a thoughtful and personal (intimate, even) narrative. I found myself cheering Julian on, and empathizing with him - even identifying with him.
While not the best book of this genre (can this be called a genre?) that I've ever read, it was a competent discussion of the subject, and a quick, enjoyable read. It takes some real effort, and a labor of love to treat the topic of computer gaming with the seriousness it deserves, but not losing track of the joy that makes it what it is. Julian Dibble succeeds at it, and so I can easily recommend this book.
A Great Economic Study for Gamers.......2007-01-10
I don't play video games but I do work in finance and I couldn't put the book down. For young people into gaming, it effectively explains supply and demand. For those of us outside of the gaming world, it's a fascinating glimpse into it. Dibbell also illustrates and discloses the affects on his personal life.
Customer Reviews:
many useful tips.......2007-07-05
McCracken suggests a somewhat back to basics approach to website design. He offers 4 ideas - proximity, alignment, consistency and contrast. Claiming that by adhering to these, you can develop a very professional website. Even if it is just your personal website.
The ideas are useful and uncontroversial. Consistency across the pages on a website is probably the most common idea shared with other books on this topic. Alignment is also a good thing. Like avoiding centred alignment as much as possible. Left alignment is usually the best and safest choice, for the greatest ease of reading.
There is a chapter on colour which is also well worth reading. Explaining the biophysics of colour, and how to use colour effectively on a webpage.
Not worth the price.......2004-05-19
When I first bought this book, I expected to get more out of it in terms of designing web pages with users in mind. It focused a lot on setting up testing centers with a paper system and getting feedback from users. It was very brief on good web design techniques (doesn't cover navigation enough). The hands on exercises leaves something to be desired. Although there were some good ideas in this book, I found myself "hanging" at the end as if there should have been much more.
Best HCI /Usability Textbook for Web Design.......2003-11-25
I use this book in the classroom to teach the web usability
component of a combo HCI/web design course. It has many
examples, contains review questions that are reasonable for
students to use, and is very clear and precise. The color
plates are the best I've seen in a book of this type. I
highly recommend this. Because it is so clear and concrete,
undergraduate students can quickly grasp the material. Further,
the authors responded quickly to a question I had. Everything
you need is here, from foundational concepts rooted in
cognitive psychology, to complex social/technology issues
like privacy and globalization. And of course, guidelines
for working with colors, and fonts. The book draws on Gestalt
psychology and Constructivism to discuss layout, placement
and visual hierarchy. If you teach HCI, consider this.
Only instructors will get the full value of this book.......2003-11-23
Until it was finally in my hands, I wondered why this book had not received much reviewer attention, given its solid content and authorship. Keys to understanding that at once became obvious:
1) The book is much more expensive than books with similar content.
2) The eloquent Jared Spool, listed as an author, provided only a short preface.
3) The book was designed as a college textbook. Who loves or hates a textbook enough to bother to review it?
As a classroom aid, the book is superb. Usability principles are presented from foundations to applications clearly and without padding. Unlike many usability texts, statements are backed with ample references. The color illustrations lighten the book sufficiently to soften any textbooky stigma.
Each chapter ended with review questions and exercises. Some of them were very interesting and creative, but if you are not in a classroom with an instructor who has access to the password-protected answers, you are on your own.
So the Web professional attracted to the material and learning on his own will inevitably feel a bit cheated out of the full value of the book.
Your Website Needs This Book.......2003-10-02
I had to design a website for the department in which I work, at short notice and with limited familiarity with internet technology and NO background in graphics or design. "User-Centered Website Development" came to the rescue. McCracken and Wolfe are not interested in flashy gimmicks; they concentrate on designing sites that the site visitors will find easy, pleasant, and efficient to use. Chapter 3, "Know Thy User," helped me figure out what the audience's top priorities were; Chapters 4 and 6, "Organization" and "Site Navigation," helped me organize the pages; Chapters 5, 9, and 10 taught me some basic design principles in a hurry. The best thing about the book, though, is its philosophy--that a well-designed website is for the users, not an ego-trip for the designer. It's clear that they extended that approach in writing their book, to make it as useful as possible for the people who will be using it.
Amazon.com
"The book that explains why you really hate computers."
I've admired Jef Raskin for years. For those who don't know, he is the "Father of the Macintosh," one of the original geniuses who guided the Mac in the early days. But, more than a computer scientist, Raskin is a cognitive psychologist. He studies how the brain works with special emphasis on how that relates to us using computers. His magnum opus was the Canon Cat, which was an excellent and well-thought-out little computer.
In The Humane Interface, Raskin goes into detail describing how computers can be made easier to understand and use. Ever want to know why you really don't like Windows? The answer is in this book. In fact, there's so much in this book that makes sense, I really want to send a copy to every employee at Microsoft.
I loved reading this book and nodding my head in rabid agreement. Raskin states, "There has never been any technical reason for a computer to take more than a few seconds to begin operation when it is turned on." So why then does Windows (or Linux!) take so darn long to start up? The PalmPilot is on instantly, as is your cell phone. But for some reason, we tolerate the computer taking a few eons to start. (And until consumers complain about it, things won't change.)
Computers can be easy to use, and the people who design them and design software need to read this book. Do you ever get the impression that the person who designed a piece of software must have come from the same company that designed the front panel on your VCR? Why should you have to double-click anything? What does Ctrl+D mean one thing in one program and a completely different thing in another? And what's the point of the Yes/No confirmation if the user is in the habit of clicking Yes without thinking about it? Raskin neatly probes all these areas.
While I admire everything Raskin has to say, the book is pretty heavy on the psychology end. Myself, I enjoy cognitive psychology (especially books by Raskin's cohort Donald Norman), though some may find that part of the book boring. Even so, Raskin builds and backs his argument in a most eloquent and scientific manner. Especially if you design software or need to teach or train people to use computers, this book deserves a spot on your shelf. --Dan Gookin
Book Description
This unique guide to interactive system design reflects the experience and vision of Jef Raskin, the creator of the Apple Macintosh project. Other books may show how to use today's widgets and interface ideas effectively. Raskin, however, demonstrates that many current interface paradigms are dead ends, and that to make computers significantly easier to use requires new approaches. He explains how to effect desperately needed changes, offering a wealth of innovative and specific interface ideas for software designers, developers, and product managers. The Apple Macintosh helped to introduce a previous revolution in computer interface design, drawing on the best available technology to establish many of the interface techniques and methods now universal in the computer industry. With this book, Raskin proves again both his farsightedness and his practicality. He also demonstrates how design ideas must be built on a scientific basis, presenting just enough cognitive psychology to link the interface of the future to the experimental evidence and to show why that interface will work. Raskin observes that our honeymoon with digital technology is over: We are tired of having to learn huge, arcane programs to do even the simplest of tasks; we have had our fill of crashing computers; and we are fatigued by the continual pressure to upgrade. The Humane Interface delivers a way for computers, information appliances, and other technology-driven products to continue to advance in power and expand their range of applicability, while becoming free of the hassles and obscurities that plague present products.
Customer Reviews:
Outdated, but interesting........2006-09-14
An interesting read, although many of his examples seem quite outdated. Most of the examples of bad user interfaces come from either Microsoft Windows, or a very old version of Microsoft Word running on a Mac. Most of his examples of good use interfaces come from the ancient Canon Cat computer, or occasionally from the original Macintosh project.
The book does spend a fair amount of time describing various laws and rules for evaluating the effectiveness and efficiency of user interface designs. This portion of the text is sure to remain valid throughout the years.
Although not exactly a page turner, I would recommend this book for anybody who designs user interfaces on a regular basis - even if you don't use the laws described, at least knowing about them is likely to make you design better interfaces unconsciously.
Excellent book on HCI.......2006-08-30
The level of detail in this book was appropriate and helpful for the field, while not overly boring and technical. Real-world examples given, which are still useful despite the fast development of new systems. Some improvements visible in New Operating Systems, which gives the suggestions validity in the industry.
Interesting, but probably not what you're looking for.......2006-07-24
The author brings up some interesting issues, and has some very interesting ideas about user interface design. At the very least, it gets you questioning some practices that may have seemed beyond questioning. The author's credibility vanished for me when he suggested that file names and directory structures should be done away with in favour of full text searches because file names are just to hard to remember! That said, there are some good ideas, particularly in chapter 6.
Amazing.......2005-12-19
A wonderful introduction too user interface design based on real science, a model for a sucessful OS interface, and Raskins personal thoughts.
A thought provoking read, only for those with the stomach to change........2005-11-27
Many of the conclusions presented in this book will seem radical to almost anyone that has used a computer before.
Because of his abandonment of convention the resistance to Jefs ideas are profound (even evident in some of the other reviews here on Amazon). He mentions in his book that many times he would create an user interface for a client that was much more efficient than any competitors but the design would be rejected because it was too different from the competition. I felt Jefs core message was not to trust the mistakes of history, think for yourself and define the world you want to live in. If you are scared of been different this book is not for you. If you are willing to hear something new and want an edge in interface design, this is it.
While Jef builds his arguments clearly and cleverly some readers may find the discussion a bit deep and I could not recommend this book as a relaxing night time page turner. The mix of physiology and computer science creates some thought provoking ideas and will require the reader to devote a fair amount of thinking time between chapters to fully appreciate. Not for the closed minded, you will need to suspend your initial doubts until you have had time to digest the evidence presented. In most cases, most of his points bear the weight of close scrutiny very well. Many of the negative reviews here clearly show a misunderstanding of Jefs ideas not just disagreement with them.
A large portion of the book focuses on the science of user interface. If you are involved in any project that requires user testing, which should be every project, this book provides a core set of useful techniques that are present discreetly from Jefs ideas. Jef uses all of these techniques to provide evidence for his ideas else where in the book. Providing an easy to follow yet incredibly powerful set of tools, this book is a must have for these sections alone.
At the end of his life Jef devoted his time to making his dream a reality. The Raskin Center (RCHI) was formed and started development on the Archy Project. After his death the project carries on; using the book as a starting block this, now community driven, project is on the steady march forward. If you want to see some of Jefs ideas in real life or wish to discuss the ideas in the book then check out the website (
http://rchi.raskincenter.org/ ). I have found the forums to be very useful in deepening my understanding of the points raised in the book.
While most people will revert to designing computer interfaces in the standard "industry" fashion because it's easier to think inside the box, I truly hope that this book inspires at least a few to bring us a new world of computers that actually respect the user. Or in other words, computers that use a Humane Interface.
Book Description
* Details how to design and use Second Life content, covering such important skills as building, texturing, scripting, animating, and terraforming
* Follows a logical progression that builds upon a reader's skills so that new and intermediate content creators will quickly become experts
* Discusses how to create scripts to communicate and interact with the world and manage data
* Includes a CD with tutorial files, textures, clothing and character templates, machinima, demo software, and resources and references provided by Linden Lab
Average customer rating:
- Complete Guide to VRML provides insight into Xj3D too
- A great introduction, resource, and reference
- Informative Book
- Great Book!
- vrml 2.0
|
VRML 2.0 Sourcebook, 2nd Edition
Andrea L. Ames ,
David R. Nadeau , and
John L. Moreland
Manufacturer: Wiley
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
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Similar Items:
-
Introduction to Computer Graphics
-
The Annotated VRML 2.0 Reference Manual (OpenGL)
-
The VRML 2.0 Handbook: Building Moving Worlds on the Web
-
Teach Yourself Vrml 2 in 21 Days (Sams Teach Yourself)
-
X3D: Extensible 3D Graphics for Web Authors (The Morgan Kaufmann Series in Interactive 3D Technology)
ASIN: 0471165077 |
Amazon.com
Includes good coverage of behaviors and new introductions to Perl, Java, and JavaScript and their interaction with VRML. Written by experts at the San Diego Supercomputer Center.
Book Description
THE BEST BOOK AVAILABLE ON VRML
FROM THE ONLY PEOPLE WHO COULD HAVE WRITTEN IT
It took a team of experts from SDSC (the San Diego Supercomputer Center) to write the most authoritative and comprehensive guide available for creating 3-D virtual worlds on the Internet with VRML. Focusing on step-by-step guidance and insider tips and tricks, this task-oriented guide contains everything you need to make optimum use of this new technology. Totally rewritten for Version 2.0, this book explains:
* How to design complex objects for your virtual world using VRML
* How to use special lighting, viewpoints, and professional graphics techniques to create extremely realistic worlds
* How to animate objects in and write scripts for your 3-D world with behaviors.
Packed with fascinating and instructive examples, diagrams, and screen captures, VRML 2.0 Sourcebook is an invaluable technical resource for professional developers and hobbyists alike.
CD-ROM includes:
* All the code for the VRML objects and worlds in the book
* Textures and VRML objects that can be used to create more realistic VRML worlds
* VRML Web browsers, authoring tools, and graphic manipulation tools
* Java and JavaScript code to add behaviors to VRML worlds
* Additional VRML worlds not in the book
Customer Reviews:
Complete Guide to VRML provides insight into Xj3D too.......2005-11-08
Even nearly nine years after it was first written, this book continues to be valuable for more reasons than when it was published. If you are still involved in VRML and have some need to learn this language, this book is a complete guide that starts from the beginning with the simplest concepts and shape definitions and then builds to advanced concepts such as textures, lighting, and fog. Throughout the book there are figures of the resulting images and plenty of sample VRML files for all examples. I do agree with the other reviewers that chapter 30, the one on scripting, is really the only chapter that is no longer worthwhile since so many changes have been made to the scripting part of VRML. Other than that, this is truly one of the best written and most instructive tech books I have ever bought. If you are going to study VRML, there is no longer any other book in existence but this one that is worth owning.
The second reason to own this book has only popped up over the last two or three years. Since Xj3D began to come on the scene several years ago as the XML-based open-source replacement for VRML, this book has become invaluable for evaluating that tool's ability to build virtual worlds. In fact, the Web3D consortium's "test files" for Xj3D, which continues to be a work in progress, are VRML files from this book that have been translated into Xj3D. Since the base tags are the same in Xj3D as they are in VRML, if you are able to understand VRML you should be able to understand what's going on in an Xj3D file with just a little investigation into the basic differences. This will allow you to intelligently evaluate Xj3D and determine if you can find any weaknesses or discrepancies in that tool's implementation.
A great introduction, resource, and reference.......2004-07-28
I agree completely with the other reviewers. This book is has an amazing wealth of information about VRML and will have you making some amazing worlds by the time you are finished. Many important subjects are covered, from beginning to advanced topics. I do agree that there isn't NEARLY enough information about scripting with VRML, just a brief talk of how to do it. Some more examples with this would have been a huge help, but otherwise, I'd recommend this book to anyone who uses VRML, no matter your expertise.
Informative Book.......2002-12-08
This book is perfect for beginners and those that already now the basics and want to advance further. It has many examples and is written in a intelligent manor. If you are advanced in VRML you may still benefit from this book however when it comes to scripting and adding Java to your 3d worlds you will need to invest in other books.
Great Book!.......1999-12-15
Doesn't take you through the subject in the conventional manner. After the first couple of intro chapters, you can then easily delve into any other chapter for what you need. Very useful as a reference once you understand the basics. A bit weak on using scripts to control and interact with VRML worlds. Other than this minor gripe, a great book.
vrml 2.0.......1999-08-05
please informacion acerca de como cancelar
Book Description
.¿An Ideal Resource for Improving Programming Knowledge¿. The challenges of problems from international programming competitions are an effective way to improve algorithmic and coding skills and understanding. This book uses international programming competition-type problems to motivate the study of algorithms, programming, and other topics in computer science. It includes more than 100 programming challenges, as well as the theory and key concepts necessary for approaching them. Problems are organized by topic, and supplemented by complete tutorial material. Readers gain a concrete understanding of both algorithmic techniques and advanced coding topics. Unique Features: * Offers a wealth of rich programming problems suitable for self-study -- all with on-line judging at www.programming-challenges.com * Presents practice training for all major programming contests --ACM International Collegiate Programming Contest (ACM ICPC), International Olympiad in Informatics (IOI), and Topcoder Challenge * Serves as a convenient, web-based means of adding a programming component to any algorithms or software engineering course * Contains complete working code for fundamental data structures and graph, string, numerical and geometric algorithms * Provides a brief-yet-thorough treatment of key elements in number theory, geometry, dynamic programming, and graph algorithms * Supports all popular programming languages (C, C++, Pascal, Java) Steven S. Skiena is a member of the faculty of computer science at SUNY Stony Brook and is author of many widely used books, including The Algorithm Design Manual. He received the 2001 IEEE Computer Society Undergraduate Teaching Award. Miguel Revilla is a member of the faculty of computer science at the University of Valladolid, Spain. He is official website archivist of the ACM ICPC and creator/maintainer of the primary robot-judge, contest-hosting website.
Customer Reviews:
disaster.......2007-05-06
the only attractive aspect of this book is its website where you can submit your solutions in order to check them. However their website keeps giving errors. I spent enormous amount of time to be able to only register one of the sites given in the book and I could not register. Hello! What do you want me to do with this book now?
The book is about programming and its website is giving errors. Now, are these authors credible enough? Plus, book is full of typos.
Not useful.......2007-01-05
If you are looking for a book that will :
(1) Teach you how to solve typical problems appearing in the programming contests
(2) Give you tips to write correct code, quickly
(3) Teach you novel algorithms
Look Elsewhere.
This book is a mere compilation of questions appearing at different programming contests.
nice collection.......2006-08-18
Very nice collection of programming challenges and very well presented.
Lots of effort has been done to set up the automated program "judge" (basically an automatic test case generator and regression suite) -- i appreciated.
A little bit confusing is that there are 2 different web sites and different interfaces to this.
Recommended to practical people.......2006-02-10
I must say that I bought this book together with "The Algorithm Design Manual" and I'm very satisfied. The problems presented here are challenging for a large category of people interested in algorithm designs and are really well selected from thousands of possible problems.
I'm also happy with the sites where you can submit your's solutions to check whether they are correct or not :-)).
Take it & enjoy the discovery beauty.
Mostly Helpfull.......2005-09-10
This book provides programming challenges from UVa in a topical manner which is a nice way to study certain topics, it provides some helpfull hints on the challenges. The only shortcommings come in the preparation to the programming challenges, I felt they were rushed and not very complete, true you could easily write a couple thousand pages on the topics covered, but I thought there should at least be a complete algorithm breakdowns to the problems presented, I'm not talking about code, but at least some approaches. Example, in chapter 2 there is a 5 page (plus or minus) introduction to containers (mainly stacks) and then several challenging problems that didn't neccesarily require the review the book just presented. For the most part this is a very helpfull book when I was preparing for the ICPC, but could have been a little better.
--Jay
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