Effective eBooks Page 6

Designing a good interface isn't easy. Users demand software that is well-behaved, good-looking, and easy to use. Your clients or managers demand originality and a short time to market. Your UI technology -- web applications, desktop software, even mobile devices -- may give you the tools you need, but little guidance on how to use them well. UI designers over the years have refined the art of interface design, evolving many best practices and reusable ideas. If you learn these, and understand why the best user interfaces work so well, you too can design engaging and usable interfaces with less guesswork and more confidence. Designing Interfaces captures those best practices as design patterns -- solutions to common design problems, tailored to the s...

Effective, instantly available online help is a requirement for today's interactive applications. Until now, Java application developers have been forced to develop their own help system. That's no longer necessary. With the release of JavaHelp, there is a complete and standard online help system for the Java platform.Creating Effective JavaHelp covers the main features and options of JavaHelp. It shows how to create a basic JavaHelp system, prepare help topics, and deploy the help system in an application. Written for all levels of Java developers and technical writers, the book takes a chapter-by-chapter approach to building concepts. It imparts a complete understanding of how to create usable JavaHelp systems and integrate them into Java applicati...

The promise of the Semantic Web to provide a universal medium to exchange data information and knowledge has been well publicized. There are many sources too for basic information on the extensions to the WWW that permit content to be expressed in natural language yet used by software agents to easily find, share and integrate information. Until now individuals engaged in creating ontologies-- formal descriptions of the concepts, terms, and relationships within a given knowledge domain-- have had no sources beyond the technical standards documents. Semantic Web for the Working Ontologist transforms this information into the practical knowledge that programmers and subject domain experts need. Authors Allemang and Hendler begin with solutions to the b...

Although recognized as a key to the design process, prototyping often falls victim to budget cuts, deadlines, or lack of access to sophisticated tools. This can lead to sloppy and ineffective prototypes or the abandonment of them altogether. Rather than lose this important step, people are turning to Microsoft Excel to create effective, simple, and inexpensive prototypes. Conveniently, the software is available to nearly everyone, and most are proficient in its basic functionality. Effective Prototyping with Excel offers how-to guidance on how everyone can use basic Excel skills to create prototypes - ranging from narrative wire frames to hi-fidelity prototypes. A wide array of software design problems and business demands are solved via practical st...

Over the past decade, software engineering has developed into a highly respected field. Though computing and software engineering education continues to emerge as a prominent interest area of study, few books specifically focus on software engineering education itself. Software Engineering: Effective Teaching and Learning Approaches and Practices presents the latest developments in software engineering education, drawing contributions from over 20 software engineering educators from around the globe. Encompassing areas such as student assessment and learning, innovative teaching methods, and educational technology, this much-needed book greatly enhances libraries with its unique research content....