good theoretical GUI knowledge

[Tim]

I was looking at a job description for a contract and one of the lines
was "Must have good theoretical GUI knowledge".
What does this mean? Are there courses on this or is this just some
mumbo jumbo?
If I've been developing websites for a few years, do I really need
"theoretical" knowledge.

 

[Thomas Weidenfeller]

I was looking at a job description for a contract and one of the lines
was "Must have good theoretical GUI knowledge".
What does this mean? Are there courses on this or is this just some
mumbo jumbo?

No, GUI design is a part of HCI (Human-Computer Interaction), which is
serious science. But even if you leave the science level, there is still
a lot of theory left on the "craftsmanship" level from which one can
benefit.

If I've been developing websites for a few years, do I really need
"theoretical" knowledge.

I don't know your web pages and I am sure they are all perfect, but in
general

(a) web pages are rather limited GUIs, and

(b) if you look at the millions of junk GUIs (web pages and real
applications) out there, there is definitely a shortage in solid
knowledge about even the basics of GUI design.

I applaud the company which is looking for some solid GUI background,
because these days people accept rather bad GUIs because of two reasons:

(1) Windows programs have set a new low on GUI quality. The usual answer
"but it works" is more prove of the flexibility of humans to adapt to an
unfortunate environment than of the quality of a GUI, and

(2) Web-based GUIs, because the available GUI elements are rather
limited, and a lot of abuse happens (e.g. with flash animations).

A sad thing I noticed is that you can't reason with people who build bad
GUIs. They simply don't recognize how bad their stuff is and usually
argue that it is a matter of taste (which most things are not).

If you want to see what difference a good GUI design can make in Java,
have a look at Karsten's web page

http://www.jgoodies.com/

Especially his metamorphosis short course:

http://www.jgoodies.com/freeware/metamorphosis/index.html


/Thomas

 

[Jon A. Cruz]

(2) Web-based GUIs, because the available GUI elements are rather
limited, and a lot of abuse happens (e.g. with flash animations).

Acutally, I'd argue that a lot of the problem isn't the elements.

Rather, it's the case of graphic designers doing the design instead of
UI designers. The former tend to think more in terms of print, hardcopy,
fixed sizes, etc. (Well, and then you get the engineers doing it, and
engineers should *never* do UI design).

That's what my experience has led me to conclude over the past years.

 

[Tim]

Acutally, I'd argue that a lot of the problem isn't the elements.

Rather, it's the case of graphic designers doing the design instead of
UI designers. The former tend to think more in terms of print, hardcopy,
fixed sizes, etc. (Well, and then you get the engineers doing it, and
engineers should *never* do UI design).

That's what my experience has led me to conclude over the past years.

So what are the basic principles they are referring to? Are they talking
about internationalization or ease of use? Are they talking about client
side validation? Resource Bundles instead of hard-coding the titles into
the page?
Any ideas?

 

[Jon A. Cruz]

So what are the basic principles they are referring to? Are they talking
about internationalization or ease of use? Are they talking about client
side validation? Resource Bundles instead of hard-coding the titles into
the page?
Any ideas?

My guess would be not. Those are more implementation details.

They are probably thinking of things in regards to Human Interface. "Tog
on Interface" is one book I see mentioned a lot.