Robby on Rails: Request: Web UI and QA type books

Request: Web UI and QA type books

Robby Russell — Mon, 06 Mar 2006 17:02:00 -0600

I’m on the lookout for a book that describes entry-level QA, and usability testing for web applications. Basically, something that would help an individual who is a) not super technical (like an average end-user) , b) education, and c) fun.

I was asked if I was aware of any such books and my searches on powells.com and amazon haven’t resulted in a confident purchase yet.

Any tips?

"Request: Web UI and QA type books" by Robby Russell

Thu, 09 Mar 2006 11:16:21 -0600

Thanks for the tips. I’ll pass this information along.

"Request: Web UI and QA type books" by Michael Savedge

Wed, 08 Mar 2006 11:11:21 -0600

Chalk up another vote for “Don’t Make Me Think” and “The Design of Everyday Things”. Also worth a look is “Defensive Design for the Web” by the 37Signals guys. I just picked up a copy of “Web ReDesign 2.0 – Workflow That Works” and it appears to have a lot of information on those topics as well.

"Request: Web UI and QA type books" by Magnus

Tue, 07 Mar 2006 04:04:51 -0600

Yes, Don’t Make Me Think is the book you (and everybody else working with web UI) should read!

"Request: Web UI and QA type books" by Stephen Waits

Tue, 07 Mar 2006 01:24:01 -0600

Q&A is “question and answer” or else an old database software package – which was really popular in its day.

Surely you mean QA. :) But that’s not helpful.

Anyway, I can talk to you about QA as it relates to game development, but maybe some of it will transfer. The key in my work is good testers. These guys can break anything, and they’re decent at providing good reproduction instructions. If we have that much, fixing a bug is easy. The bad news is that these guys are the rare few.

Also, it helps to have a solid testing plan lined out for your testers. Of course they should have direct access to the bugs, and communication with the programmers should be wide open. FogBugz (or similar) simple systems work well enough.

Bugs should be prioritized, and know that you will release with bugs. Just figure our which ones. At least on a console game anyway.

Like I said – don’t know if it helps, but there ya go.

"Request: Web UI and QA type books" by brasten

Tue, 07 Mar 2006 00:31:27 -0600

I second the Don’t Make Me Think suggestion.

"Request: Web UI and QA type books" by topfunky

Mon, 06 Mar 2006 18:10:36 -0600

Steve Krug, Don’t Make Me Think

"Request: Web UI and QA type books" by Jeremy Voorhis

Mon, 06 Mar 2006 17:34:55 -0600

Not explicitly for the web, but one of the classic texts in usability is The Design of Everyday Things. Powells will most certainly have it in stock, and it is an enjoyable and eductional read before you dive headlong into the moutains of articles written by people who learned Fitts’ Law and became an expert :)