Software for Use: A Practical Guide to the Models and Methods of Usage-Centered Design

2 Built-In Usability: A Usage-Centered Design Approach

Interfacing with Users

Computer programming and software development did not always have a concern for users or a focus on the usability of systems. In the 1950s and 1960s, when modern business and scientific computing began to come into its own as an industry and a profession, users—that is, the ultimate end users of the results of computations—did not typically get anywhere near computers. The machines—large, expensive, and often more than a little bit temperamental—were attended like electronic idols by duly anointed operators and fed their programs and data by properly initiated programmers. Only the operators, the service technicians, and a few select others actually flipped switches ...