“Welcome to guidebook, a website dedicated to preserving and showcasing as many Graphical User Interfaces as possible.”

“Why can’t my computer automatically show me things that will help me with what I’m doing, instead of making me search around for them? The goal of the dashboard is to automatically show a user useful files and other objects as he goes about his day. While you read email, browse the web, write a document, or talk to your friends on IM, the dashboard does its best to proactively find objects that are relevant to your current activity, and to display them in a friendly way, saving you from digging around through your stuff like a disorganized filing clerk.”

“The first thing to notice is how inelegant the whole thing looks, to the point of menacing. It’s a hodge-podge set of equipment, with little to no aesthetic sensibilities whatsoever. So much for creating a comforting checkout experience. I often see people avoid them like the plague, opting for the traditional checkout line.”

“Thereís something going on in the web-GUI world. Itís not exactly new, but XML-based UI description schemes have suddenly become a lot more visible… The idea here is this: Many application user interfaces are (or should be) essentially modular groups of widgets or components and containers for grouping components. Given that strict structure, a UI designer can write an XML document that refers to a library of predefined interaction components, style it with a CSS-like stylesheet, and describe its behavior with some code written in a scripting language (like Javascript or Actionscript).”

“Collection of Widgets and UI elements from various websites, with notation of their sterling or plate metal qualities.” Curated by Christina Wodke.

“Discoverability is often defined as the ability for a user of a design to locate something that they need, in order to complete a certain task. It’s common to hear programmers and designers utter the phrase ‘that won’t be discoverable,’ while pointing to a specific command or link they believe users will fail to find. The trap, and the myth, of discoverability is that in any design, not everything can be discoverable. There are two flavors of the myth: the core myth, and it’s corollary.”

“After years of creating paper prototypes and user interface schematics, Gabe began to assemble a library of commonly-used interface elements. This eliminates the need to re-create buttons, menus, windows, or fields from scratch. These interface elements mimic real, platform-specific interface standards in order to communicate a level of detail that most schematics lack. This, he found, made it easier for clients and test subjects alike to feel comfortable with designs in progress. Gabe has now made this library available here and encourages those who are software or web designers to download, use, and expand this set of interface controls and windows.”

“The Iconfactory is pleased to announce a new service that brings you professional-quality, royalty-free icons at affordable prices. Our icon collections are specially designed to be used in a variety of commercial works, development projects, and websites.”

“…the first day of class I arrived at the studio room, and found a young man at a drawing table, sketching out different variations of the Walkman® he was designing. I got close enough to see the large sketchpad and saw 30 or 40 different variations that he had considered and put down on paper. I introduced myself, pleaded ignorance about design, and asked him why he needed to make so many sketches. He thought for a second, and then said, ‘I don’t know what a good idea looks like until I’ve seen the bad ones.’”

“This OmniGraffle palette can be used for general GUI design. I’ve tried to make it vanilla enough for platform independance although you can see some Mac OS X and Swing peeking out.”

“I designed the user interface myself. How do you like the colors?” Read the next one too.

“Lack of time, resources and knowledge are often cited as reasons for not involving users in site design and development. But hour for hour, dollar for dollar, research and testing with users are the single best tools for creating successful interactive services. This article, and the accompanying resources, provide you with a starting point for including your users in all phases of site development, including strategy and design. The time to design with users is now.”

“In this paper, I will discuss the relationship between aesthetics and usability with respect to user interface design as well as specific techniques to insure an aesthetically pleasing design. First I will discuss the concept of aesthetics in general and the role it should play in the human-computer interaction (HCI) discipline. Next I will discuss, at length, various components that make up an aesthetic design and the guidelines for using them…”

“The way we handle information on our computers is called the ‘desktop metaphor.’ But there is nothing metaphorical about the way we point-and-click our way through icons, folders and files. A number of companies are experimenting with software and services that allow users to better navigate around, through and over the mountain of data that comes pouring through our home and work computers every day, in the shape of e-mail, faxes, Web pages and spreadsheets. If the new systems ever catch on — and some skeptics say our old system is too ingrained to make way for the new — it could change the whole concept of how we relate to our machines.”

“As more and more gadgets and programs combine more and more functions, interface design is becoming a burning issue. The interface — the layout of the controls — determines how easily and effectively you can use the product: which buttons go where, how many layers down you have to burrow to find an important function, and so on.”