A Good Style Guide Under the Creative Commons? 131
eldavojohn writes "I've been charged with making a specific user interface style guide for a suite of software by my employer. I'm not quite sure where to start. So I turned to my favorite search engine only to be brutally disappointed with what is out there to help me. I'm a software developer but have not had any formal training in UI design or look and feel. I'm looking for something more than just "keep it simple, stupid." I'm looking more for something that is specific but not technologically dependent. This doesn't have to be a global standard, merely a document that illustrates how one would effectively describe look and feel. Does anyone know of such a guide either created by an organization, government or company for their own uses — possibly one even released under the creative common license?" In addition to just documentation, what other UI advice can Slashdot readers offer in order to ensure quality development?
Apple Human Interface Guidelines (Score:5, Informative)
Not really sure what you're looking for, but... (Score:5, Informative)
GNOME HIG
http://library.gnome.org/devel/hig-book/stable/
Apple's HIG
http://developer.apple.com/documentation/UserExperience/Conceptual/OSXHIGuidelines/XHIGIntro/chapter_1_section_1.html
Some suggestions (Score:5, Informative)
Know the author Ed Tufte [edwardtufte.com].
Know what HCI [wikipedia.org] stands for.
Know your audience and let them evaluate Throwaway Prototypes [wikipedia.org].
If you are looking for a book to teach you UI design, you are misguided. If you are looking for a Creative Commons and/or Open approach to UI design, register a domain called "Principles of UI Design" and launch a Wiki on it, then license it with the license you desire (but I would recommend CC0).
If all goes well, this thread will serve as a good starting point for getting ideas/content to populate your new Wiki with.
Just Get An Interaction Design Textbook (Score:2, Informative)
Edward R. Tufte (Score:-1, Informative)
Re:Apple Human Interface Guidelines (Score:5, Informative)
The KDE Usability Guide [openusability.org] also has some good material, although at this time it looks much less mature than the GNOME docs.
A Pattern Library for Interaction Design (Score:2, Informative)
This is a collection of design patterns for creating UI.
I was extremely impressed by this work already 8 years ago when it was presented in PLoP2K http://jerry.cs.uiuc.edu/~plop/plop2k/proceedings/proceedings.html [uiuc.edu] but since then it became much much bigger.
Usability Guide (Score:4, Informative)
Hopefully this helps.
Re:Not really sure what you're looking for, but... (Score:3, Informative)
Only with itself ... the order of buttons on dialog boxes is f*cked up. For example, in the GIMP : Create a New Image, the order is [Help] [Reset] [Cancel] [Okay]. Last I looked, this was an LTR (left-to-right) locale. The default action in EVERY other environment is on the left in LTR locales.
Their rationale for doing it different was 90% ego bloat, 90% stupid (with an 80% overlap).
Sun web spec (Score:2, Informative)
I'm not a UI Designer but I play one on TV (Score:3, Informative)
Then your proper response is, "Are you sure you want me to do this? I have no training in this area."
And put it in writing as a CYA.
Web Design from Scratch (Score:2, Informative)
For searches like this, don't use Google or other search engines like it. Search people's bookmarks. http://del.icio.us/search/?fr=del_icio_us&p=design&type=all [del.icio.us]
Re:Not really sure what you're looking for, but... (Score:5, Informative)
Except Windows, where the default action is in the middle (i.e. the hardest to find possible choice):
Windows Dialog [georgetowncollege.edu]
Or Mac OS Classic, where it works just like in Gnome:
Mac Classic Dialog [georgetowncollege.edu]
Or In Mac OS X, where it works just like in Gnome:
OS X Dialog [primarysou...arning.org]
I can't find a screenshot, but KDE seems to work like Windows.
I still don't see what the problem is here. There are two common ways of doing it. Mac and Gnome do it one way, Windows and KDE do it the other. *shrug*
Re:Apple Human Interface Guidelines (Score:5, Informative)
For an introduction to UI design, here are some good resources: