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Articles

Bruce "Tog" Tognazzini

Bruce "Tog" Tognazzini is a principal with the Nielsen Norman Group, the "dream team" firm specializing in human-computer interaction. Tog was lead designer at WebMD, the super-vertical start-up founded in February, 1996 by Jim Clark, founder of Silicon Graphics and Netscape. Before that, Tog was Distinguished Engineer for Strategic Technology at Sun Microsystems. During his 14 years at Apple Computer, he founded the Apple Human Interface Group and acted as Apple's Human Interface Evangelist. Tog has published two books, Tog on Interface and Tog on Software Design, both from Addison Wesley, and is currently publishing the free webzine, "AskTog."

Articles and Videos

  • Skeuomorphic Design: Don' t Apply It Blindly (Bruce Tognazzini)

    When using skeuomorphic design, apply aspects of the real-world counterpart that are useful, and leave out the drawbacks.

  • First Principles of Interaction Design (Revised & Expanded)

    Basic principles are fundamental to the design and implementation of effective interfaces, whether for traditional GUI environments, the web, mobile devices, wearables, or Internet-connected smart devices.

  • Providing Predictable Targets (at asktog.com)

    Predictable Target should appear high on your list of mandatory rules, only to be violated when it can be proven that another consideration, in a particular circumstance, will result in even greater productivity.

  • The Third User or Exactly Why Apple Keeps Doing Foolish Things (at asktog.com)

    Apple keeps doing things in the Mac OS that leave the user-experience (UX) community scratching its collective head, things like hiding the scroll bars and placing invisible controls inside the content region of windows on computers.

  • The Apple iWatch (at asktog.com)

    The iWatch will fill a gaping hole in the Apple ecosystem. It will facilitate and coordinate not only the activities of all the other computers and devices we use, but a wide array of devices to come.

  • Browse vs. Search: Which Deserves to Go? (at asktog.com)

    A reader asks for advice: "Why on earth we seem to want to browse or scroll long lists to find something when typing into a search box is so much more efficient?"

  • Inclusive Design: Part 2 (at asktog.com)

    In Part One, I argued that accessibility should not focus just on the needs of the profoundly disabled, that well-crafted solutions can be of service to all. This new approach is called, “inclusive design” and it starts with organization.

  • Top 10 Reasons the New Google News Sucks (at asktog.com)

    The "New" Google News referred to in this article came out in June, 2010. It was dreadful. They have since, as the altered title of this article suggests, backed off on many of its worse features.

  • Apple & the Dark Cloud of Censorship (at asktog.com)

    Many have suggested that market forces will ultimately force Apple to abandon its hyper-control, and that may well happen. While it took Microsoft more than a decade to copy the Mac, it took Google a matter of months to copy the iPhone and begin to eat away at Apple's potential market share.

  • Mac & the iPad, History Repeats Itself (at asktog.com)

    In bringing that original Mac to market, Steve Jobs hit on a formula that worked for him. It worked for the iPhone, and it worked for the iPad, too. Here are the necessary elements.