Acknowledgements

Robert Hoekman Jr. would like to thank the following people:

Wendy Sharp, once again, for being a great editor and friend; Jacqueline Aaron, for another superb copyediting job; Kathleen Cunningham, for a great book design; Nancy Reunzel, our esteemed publisher, for, well, being our esteemed publisher; and a whole list of other people, including but not limited to Glenn Bisignani, Nancy Davis, Gary Paul Prince, and all the other cool cats at New Riders without whom—and you knew this phrase was coming, I’m sure—this would not be possible.

I’d also, of course, like to thank my wife, Christine, who simply nodded her head and smiled as I said, for the fourth time, “God, I can’t wait till I’m done with this damn book.” (Writing, as it turns out, is not all glamour and roses.)

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Jared Spool would like to thank the following people:

The amazing team at User Interface Engineering, past and present. Of particular note are the people who made all the research behind this book happen. The motto at UIE is “Advancing Our Knowledge Through Mind-Numbing Manual Labor.” Collecting data on how people use technology takes a lot of work. Will Schroeder, Lori Landesman, Carolyn Snyder, Tara Scanlon, Nina Gilmore, Matthew Klee, Joshua Porter, and Christine Perfetti are just some of the folks who made the research come to life. Everything we reported here started with their dedication and efforts.

I’d also like to thank Wendy Sharp and the team at New Riders for putting up with my crap and their dedication to making this book into what you see. I’d also like to give a hearty thanks to my partner on this project. Robert did all the heavy lifting and deserves great credit. He’s a blast to work with and (except when I was pissing him off) we had great fun!

And a special thanks go to my kids, Ari and Reed, who have been great support and inspiration, as I try to make a better world for them. Finally, Dana Chisnell should get a statue built in her honor for her support and dedication throughout this process.

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We would together like to thank all those who came before us, doing the diligent and noble work of advocating for standards and best practices with regard to design patterns and components, including Christian Crumlish, Luke Wroblewski, Teresa Neil, Bill Scott, Martijn van Welie, Dan Brown, and Nathan Curtis of Eight Shapes, Jenifer Tidwell, and others. Without your work, the web would be a giant, disorganized mess. Well, a worse giant, disorganized mess.