Revolution and fonts

[Alex Rice]

On Tuesday, August 19, 2003, at 02:35  PM, Dar Scott wrote:

>
> Even following the HIG for each platform will involve profiles or 
> scripting or both to adjust to the platform.  Even then, I would think 
> most apps have some part that does not apply.
>
> To my shame, I have ignored HIG.  My Windows book is boxed up and 
> probably only applies to 3.1.  Any good online references to HIG for 
> Windows, OS X, Mac OS?  Is there such a thing for Linux?  (I have no 
> idea whether Linux folks would offended if I suggested there would not 
> be one or offended if I suggested there might be one.)

re: apple HIG, it is on their ADC website; search for "Human Interface 
Guidelines" at
http://developer.apple.com/

Personally, I wouldn't get mired down in HIG guidelines for each 
platform. I recommend the book _Software For Use_ by Constantine and 
Lockwood. It has real-world practical advice, principles and rules for 
software developers that kind of cuts through all the HIG BS and is 
immediately useful.

Judging from your Primer Primer, Dar, you have a good "feel" for 
usability already and would probably enjoy the content in this book. 
There may be better books on this topic, but this one is also covers 
use-case modeling and navigation maps.

Here is what Constantine and Lockwood say about HIG and platform 
standards:
"""
Unfortunately, the field of standards and style guides is riddled with 
potholes and pitfalls. Industry standards are often ignored, even by 
the very software companies that developed them and that call for 
others to adhere to them. In truth it may be all but impossible to 
follow the published standards and guidelines in practice. Advice on 
one page is contradicted by rules on another and there are more pages 
than any ordinary developer can be expected to understand and recall. 
Despite their encyclopedic appearance, published standards and style 
guides may leave the majority of questions unanswered. Jared Spool has 
reported that only about 10% of the user interface design questions 
raised by developers over the course of a typical project can be 
answered by reference to platform-based published guides. Another 10% 
or so may be covered by the corporate standards developed in house by 
particular companies. In other words, even if used well and used 
consistently, user interface standards manuals and style guides will 
leave developers in the dark or on their own most of the time.
"""

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0201924781/
http://foruse.com/publications/index.htm

re: Fonts in _Software For Use_ won't tell you what font & size to use 
on what platform. But gives some usability tips for fonts, like

- Use Sans-serif fonts; they are easer to read on screen. (aside: This 
has always puzzled me. Serif fonts are known to be easier to read in 
print. Will this rule change when displays get better?)
- Use the "over-40" 1 meter squint test to make sure your fonts are not 
too small
- Use a max of 2 or 3 fonts per screen
- Avoid italics and other font styles that don't display on screen too 
well

That's just from memory; there could be more about fonts in there.

Alex Rice, Software Developer
Architectural Research Consultants, Inc.
http://ARCplanning.com