Why software sucks and what you can do about it

It's no secret that software applications often suck. Unsafe, unreliable, and hard to use, they leave users feeling frustrated and inadequate. Why do programmers design applications that make people feel dumb, and why do people meekly accept this abuse from their computers? Explore this fundamental (and practically existential) question in this sample chapter from Why Software Sucks...and What You Can Do About It. Amusing, down-to-earth and jargon-free, this chapter explains the phenomenon as a deep-seated but fairly simple breakdown in communication: programmers fail to design an effective user interface because they do not know their audience, an audience that is emphatically unlike themselves. Flowing directly from this basic error, programmers then make two key mistakes: 1) valuing control more than ease of use, i.e. concentrating on making complex things possible instead of making simple things simple; and 2) expecting users to learn and understand the internal working of their program, instead of the other way around. Investigate real-world instances of software non-usability, then go behind the scenes to understand the specific, underlying assumptions that caused these problems, as well as the specific steps (such as usability testing) that can be taken during the software development process to prevent and resolve these issues.

Title: Why Software Sucks...and What You Can Do About It
ISBN: 0321466756
Published: September 2006
Author: David S. Platt
Chapter: Chapter 1: Who're you calling a dummy?
Published by Addison Wesley Professional