The Elements of User Experience: User-Centered Design for the Web (VOICES)

Garrett clearly states that his aim is to articulate his vision that was captured in his sketch of the elements of user centered design for the web ([...]). He certainly accomplished this, but he did not go any further than that. For this reason I would only recommend this book to someone who is looking for a cursory reference on how to break down the layers of web development incorporating user centered design principles.

This book might compliment Call to Action since Call to Action is less structured, but driven more by tangible examples.

I hesitate to recommend Usability for the Web only because I haven't finished reading it. But so far it is extremely well written, detailed, and well structured. I suspect for someone looking for a thorough 432 page book rather than a cursory 174 page book, Usability for the Web will be the preferred alternative.

Anyone is the field could see that this book is rather "blah"
There is better literature on the subject out there... but this might be good for a student, or anyone who wants to get their wet in the field.

Not great, but not all bad either -- its good reference tool.

It is for my Information Design class. I haven't used it yet, but it arrived on time and in good condition.

Published in 2002, Jesse James Garrett's The Elements of User Experience is a useful introduction on how to keep the user experience in mind when designing web applications. As someone who has no formal training in information or interaction architecture, I was hoping this book would contain detailed descriptions of best (or better) practices in the field. What I discovered was a book focused entirely on the conceptual forest of site objectives, functional specifications, interactions and interfaces, not the how-to trees; this was not what I was looking for, but perhaps this type of conceptual groundwork was more groundbreaking when this book was originally published.

One of the most useful aspects of the book for me was the diagram on page 162, showing Garrett's idea of the five planes of development: strategy, scope, structure, skeleton, and surface. This diagram also illustrated the different roles of interaction designers, interface designers, information architects and so on, according to their place in the development workflow (something I never clearly understood before).

A couple of things, however, are starting to show their age (understandable in this field, where six years is a lifetime). For example, in the same illustration and throughout the book, Garrett distinguishes sites according to whether they're more like "software" or a "hypertext system". All but the most rudimentary small sites now employ some software-like attributes, and I'm not sure anyone who's just interested in building a simple "hypertext system" site would be best served by reading this particular book (something like Steve Krug's _Don't Make Me Think_ might be more appropriate). Some illustrations, like the one showing error handling that takes up the entirety of page 93, feel superfluous at best, curious in a book that argues against including content unless it helps drive user experience goals. Other illustrations and descriptions are too simplistic to be of use to anyone except those who have never or rarely surfed the web, such as the illustration comparing checkboxes to radio buttons and other form elements, or the one page discussion of color and typography.

In conclusion, this is a fine primer for anyone who has used the web, but hasn't thought about it very much and who intends to get into semi-serious web site production. Or, someone who's doing career research and is trying to figure out in what areas s/he has the most interest. As Garrett points out on page 87, "Interaction design and information architecture sound like esoteric, highly technical areas, but these disciplines aren't really about technology at all. They're about understanding people,the way they work and the way they think." (emphasis in original). For non-programmers, this book is a good way to begin the process of learning the elements at play in a successful user experiences on the web.

While this book is designed specifically for Web Design, the principles can be used with any product. The information is fairly condensed, and straight forward.
This book takes the quote 'the customer is always right' and shows you how to find out what the customer wants, need and doesn't know they want. And then the book explains how to best use that inofrmation to redesign, or improve your product (web site).