HN Books @HNBooksMonth

We'll see if the touchscreen gets any traction. I'd like to point out that this is perhaps the only non Mac laptop that has a 15" screen and doesn't have a number pad. The keyboard is aligned with the center of the screen and the space bar is almost there too. Joy!

I could buy this laptop only for that, even if with Linux I'll probably have to wait the next laptop before the touchscreen is of any use. But no, the RAM is capped at 16 GB and I'm using 32 GB on my HP laptop (several projects for several customers, each one with a different language and environment.)

However my 15" laptop has a useless (for me) number pad with the result that I have to shift it half to the right to be able to keep my hands in front of me and not skewed to the left, which would probably do nasty things to all my upper body. This is the norm for all 15" laptops and I wonder if their designers stopped at the cover page of Norman's "The Design of Everyday Things", with the famous teapot for masochists, and deluded themselves into believing that this is the right way to build stuff.

[1] https://www.amazon.com/Design-Everyday-Things-Donald-Norman/...

⬐ monort

XPS 15 has the keyboard without numpad.

⬐ mmyyyy

surface book 15" doesn't have a number pad too!

⬐ lloeki

> The keyboard is aligned with the center of the screen and the space bar is almost there too. Joy!

Oh the keypad hell, it's been such a RSI inducer on my back for years. What nonsense is this to put a keypad on the right side of keyboards which results, being right handed, in either the mouse being too far right or the keyboard being off center.

⬐ jeswin

I keep the mouse below the external keyboard (instead of to the right), and it has worked out really well for me. It may not work well with laptops though, since the trackpad adds to the distance the hand must travel.

But I still wanna put it out there for all the external keyboard users.

Illustration: https://twitter.com/jeswin/status/680343382783213568

⬐ Tijdreiziger

A good design centers the touchpad on the alphanumeric part of the keyboard, example: http://xahlee.info/kbd/i/Dell_Inspiron_laptop_keyboard_2014-...

⬐ pmontra

This is all laptops do, included mine, so we can shift the laptop to the right. IMHO a better design would ditch the number pad and sell a USB/Bluetooth one to who wants it.

A classic that hasn't been mentioned yet is Doug Norman's "The Design of Everyday Things". My main takeaway 10 years after reading it is that a bad user experience, even one so subtle that the user doesn't notice, can usually be prevented by careful design.

https://www.amazon.com/Design-Everyday-Things-Donald-Norman/...

⬐ EdwardCoffin

This and The Inmates are Running the Asylum by Alan Cooper could go a long way to improving UI abilities, I think.

⬐ rimliu

Inmates Running the Asylum was the book that changed my view on interfaces. Sadly, for some reason is not liked by many developers.

The two resources I recommend are The Designer of Everyday Things (https://www.amazon.com/Design-Everyday-Things-Donald-Norman/...) and Designing Interactions (https://www.amazon.com/Designing-Interactions-Press-Bill-Mog...)

Both focus on more than website design, but they helped me understand how users interact with my user interfaces. I'm sure there are also a ton of great blog posts out there too, but I found these books the most helpful.

I agree - I'm not a fan of hamburgers. But against Nomran's [0] advice I blame myself. It's taken many times to realize what they are, but I assume that I'm just a fogey who is slow in understanding the new standard. :-) I assume that the game is over and eventually we'll all catch up.

[0] http://www.amazon.com/Design-Everyday-Things-Donald-Norman/d...

I'm not an entrepreneur, but I have worked at 2 startups (less than 20 employees) since 2011.

This is going to sound cliched, but the best way is to start your own company or project from scratch and apply the concepts you learn from these resources.

Here are some "bestsellers", apart from http://startupclass.samaltman.com and PG's essays are

Building Product/Design

-----------------

* Design Sprints by Google Ventures: https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=design+sprints

* Startup School Office Hours: https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=startup+school+...

* Interface Design for Startups https://courses.platzi.com/classes/interface-design-startups...

* The Design of Everyday Things: http://www.amazon.com/Design-Everyday-Things-Donald-Norman/d...

* Don't make me Think: http://www.amazon.in/Dont-Make-Me-Think-Usability/dp/0321344...

* Objectified: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1241325/

* https://www.useronboard.com

* Either Rework or Getting Real by 37 Signals

Execution/Business Models:

---------------------------

1. The Lean Startup: http://theleanstartup.com/book

2. Lean Analytics: http://leananalyticsbook.com/

3. Business Model Generation: http://www.businessmodelgeneration.com/

People:

-----------

* How to Win Friends and Influence People

* The Hard Thing about Hard Things: http://www.amazon.com/The-Hard-Thing-About-Things/dp/0062273...

* The Startup of You: http://www.thestartupofyou.com/

Marketing:

----------

* Build an audience before you launch the product - like 37Signals, Jeff Atwood and Joel Spolsky, Hubspot

* Traction Book: http://tractionbook.com/

* Be Creative - Each startup is different. There's no silver bullet

Sales:

------

The sales course by Steli Efti: http://close.io/free-sales-course/

Pitching:

-------

Dave McClure: https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=dave+mcclure+st...

Founder Interviews, stories:

----------

* PandoMonthly: https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=pandomonthly

* Stanford ECorner: ecorner.stanford.edu

"Read a book."

http://www.amazon.com/Design-Everyday-Things-Donald-Norman/d...

Consistency is an important tool. In the absence of obvious visual affordances, it's even more important.

⬐ mhomde

Agreed, but its as important to know when to break consistency as to follow it, but the former requires more experience.

Please, read "The Design of Everyday Things": http://www.amazon.com/Design-Everyday-Things-Donald-Norman/d...