Spolsky J. User Interface Design for Programmers

Apress, 2001. — 152 p.This book is a milestone built on a strong foundation of practical experience. He's absolutely right that user testing is easy. You don't need a lab to do it, although many people think you do. You just need a computer and a person who doesn't know your software. It's an iterative process. Do it once, it'll change your whole perspective. Do some engineering. Do it again with a new person. Repeat the process until the first-time user knows what to do and can actually use the software to do what it was designed to do.
This book is about more than software design and user-centricity. Once you learn how to communicate with users through software, it's inevitable that all your communication will improve. The central "aha" is to realize that other people use your software, and they don't know what you know, and they don't think like you think they do.
There are some very simple truths in this book, and sometimes the simplest truths can be most difficult. But Joel makes it so easy! His stories are clear and human and fun. And that may be the biggest lesson, if you haven't been designing for users, you're not having as much fun doing software as you could.
I can tell you from personal experience that there's nothing more satisfying as a professional software developer than to have a product resonate with the market, to have thousands of people tell you that they couldn't work without your software. To get there, you have to learn from them as you teach. Yes, your software is great, I believe you, but if no one uses it, it can't make the world a better place.Controlling Your Environment Makes You Happy
Figuring Out What They Expected
Choices
Affordances and Metaphors
Broken Metaphors
Consistency and Other Hobgoblins
Putting the User in Charge
Design for Extremes
People Can't Read
People Can't Control the Mouse
People Can't Remember
The Process of Designing a Product
Those Pesky Usability Tests
Relativity: Understanding UI Time Warps
"But...How Do It Know?"
Tricks of the Trade
Designing for the Web
Programming for Humans.