http://tc.eserver.org/dir/Articles/Usability/Information-Design A listing of the most recently indexed works about Articles and Usability and Information Design in the field of technical communication. en-us Copyright (c) 2005-08 by the EServer. All rights reserved. tclib-editorial@eserver.org (TC Library Editorial Board) webmaster@eserver.org (Geoffrey Sauer) http://tc.eserver.org/images/newlogo.gif http://tc.eserver.org/dir/Articles/Usability/Information-Design http://tc.eserver.org/34904.html http://tc.eserver.org/34904.html タスク成功率は、2004 年のユーザビリティ統計と比べると大きく上昇した。しかしそれにもかかわらず、ユーザがタスクを完遂できないケースがあり、その原因の大半は情報アーキテクチャ(IA)の出来の悪さにある。 http://tc.eserver.org/34908.html http://tc.eserver.org/34908.html 大きな二次元のドロップダウンパネルは、ナビゲーションの選択肢をグループ化することでスクロールの必要性を無くし、タイポグラフィやアイコン、ツールチップを使うことで、ユーザの選択できる内容をわかりやすく提示してくれる。 http://tc.eserver.org/34290.html http://tc.eserver.org/34290.html Task success is up substantially compared with usability statistics from 2004. Bad information architecture causes most of the remaining user failures. http://tc.eserver.org/34293.html http://tc.eserver.org/34293.html Given that regular drop-down menus are rife with usability problems, it takes a lot for me to recommend a new form of drop-down. But, as our testing videos show, mega drop-downs overcome the downsides of regular drop-downs. Thus, I can recommend one while warning against the other. http://tc.eserver.org/33840.html http://tc.eserver.org/33840.html This paper focuses on managing constraints in a way that enables developers to create an accessible and usable user interface (UI). The constraining processes presented in this paper comprise of a language to describe a logical web page in an application, a basic bottom-up repository management system and the processing required for compiling pages. http://tc.eserver.org/33449.html http://tc.eserver.org/33449.html The distinction between information architecture and usability may seem like semantics, but there are significant differences between the two disciplines. Though they are often discussed interchangeably, and practitioners are often well-versed in both, information architecture and usability differ in their scope and areas of focus. http://tc.eserver.org/33417.html http://tc.eserver.org/33417.html This post is part of a series on usability and maintainability. At first, meeting the needs of content consumers through usability can seem at odds with meeting needs of technical communicators through maintainability. My purpose in these posts is to discuss how technical communication best practices can satisfy both needs. I’ll use Gurak and Lannon’s usability criteria of users being able to “find what they need, understand the language, follow the instructions, and read the graphics.” http://tc.eserver.org/33199.html http://tc.eserver.org/33199.html The words 'click here for...' and 'click here to...' serve no purpose within links. Unfortunately, many news sites still use them. According to Google, 'click here' is on about 8,970 pages at sptimes.com alone. http://tc.eserver.org/33200.html http://tc.eserver.org/33200.html These checklists pull together best practice in the disciplines of information design, usability and accessibility, into an easy to apply format. If you are already familiar with those topics, the checklists serve as a handy reminder that is easy to refer to and apply when planning navigation. If unfamiliar it's also a fast-track lesson - providing you with a head-start in getting it right and enables you to make better informed choices / compromises. http://tc.eserver.org/33202.html http://tc.eserver.org/33202.html An average person can deal with only 7-10 choices on a web page, according to Google research. That's why it's so hard to get a link on the Google home page. http://tc.eserver.org/33115.html http://tc.eserver.org/33115.html Readability, browsability, and searchability do not have to be equally represented in every information system. As your collection of information increases, different aspects of these qualities take on greater significance. Thus, the amount of readability, browsability, and searchability your information system exhibits depends on the type and quality of your collected data, as well as the information needs of your clientele. http://tc.eserver.org/30414.html http://tc.eserver.org/30414.html In this progression we will examine ways that technical communicators can improve both information usability and product usability. The presentation will center around two major points. http://tc.eserver.org/30191.html http://tc.eserver.org/30191.html Das kennt man: ein ahnungsloser Klick und plötzlich öffnet sich eine mega-lange PDF-Datei. Seitengestalter sind deshalb angehalten Links auf PDF-Dateien zu kennzeichnen. Selbstverständlich macht das inzwischen auch (fast) jeder. http://tc.eserver.org/30190.html http://tc.eserver.org/30190.html This article examines the claims of those PDF critics and argues that usability complaints about PDF documents are misdirected, and further, highlights some of the key reasons why PDF is the preferred electronic document format. http://tc.eserver.org/29355.html http://tc.eserver.org/29355.html Describes the effect of bookmark naming on bookmark recognition. The purpose is to provide empirically-determined guidelines for web producers on how to title pages in order to optimise the recognition of bookmarks by users, and increase the rate of revisitation to their websites. http://tc.eserver.org/28267.html http://tc.eserver.org/28267.html Learn practical ways to influence members of your company’s product engineering group with usability testing data. Putting the authors’ tips into practice will help you improve the design of your company’s products. http://tc.eserver.org/27286.html http://tc.eserver.org/27286.html Many steps are involved in the process of turning an initial concept for a database into a finished product that meets the needs of its user community. In this paper, we describe those steps in the context of a four-phase process with particular emphasis on the quality-related issues that need to be addressed in each phase to ensure that the final product is a high quality database. The basic requirements for a successful database quality process are presented with specific examples drawn from experience gained in the Standard Reference Data Program at the National Institute of Standards and Technology. http://tc.eserver.org/24206.html http://tc.eserver.org/24206.html Information, once rare and valuable, is now as plentiful as it is meaningless. The constant accessibility rendered by various 'networking' technologies has led to a veritable glut of information. Deluged with data and flooded with facts, we are drowning in a river of communication with no clear direction or purpose. Media-mesmerized and stimuli-saturated, we are caught up in the murky current, making it increasingly more difficult to keep our heads above water. Whether we sink or swim will depend on how effective we are at controlling and managing the flow, how efficient we are at fishing for essence and meaning, and how adept we are at preserving the ecology between man and this digital morass. http://tc.eserver.org/23053.html http://tc.eserver.org/23053.html What is the relationship between information architecture design and usability engineering? This is a loaded question, and I wade into dangerous waters by addressing it, but the answer has significant implications for a variety of audiences. http://tc.eserver.org/22672.html http://tc.eserver.org/22672.html Discusses the intersection of information architecture (IA) and usability. http://tc.eserver.org/21362.html http://tc.eserver.org/21362.html There are several important factors to consider when you are planning to do prototyping for user testing. You will want to make careful choices about fidelity, level of interactivity and the medium of your prototype. Chris Farnum offers descriptions and best use scenarios to help you make the best prototype decision for your tests. http://tc.eserver.org/20927.html http://tc.eserver.org/20927.html In defining a field, each person seems to look at the world and place themselves in the center of the circle, giving their specialty top billing as the summation of all the others. What exactly is gained by this political one-upmanship? In the face of this inflation, I find myself pulling back to the simplest craft title I can find. Or avoiding titles altogether. http://tc.eserver.org/20543.html http://tc.eserver.org/20543.html Bowie urges technical communicators to spend less time creating documentation and more time designing products that people can use intuitively. http://tc.eserver.org/14210.html http://tc.eserver.org/14210.html We hear all the time from designers that they're faced with the huge challenge of designing products and web sites for a large number of different users. Many designers tackle this problem by making the functionality of the web site or product as extensive as possible. To do this, they outline all of the goals of each user, identify any commonalities between these goals, and add all of the functionality needed to satisfy these common goals. http://tc.eserver.org/13658.html http://tc.eserver.org/13658.html For the most part, information architects are communicators and strategists. While others merely tolerated the mishmash of responsibilities, they relished it. Designers often put up with having to write HTML but jumped at the chance to 'just do design.' Programmers were forced to meet with clients and work on strategy, but all along probably wanted to just write code. When these two ends of the spectrum split off, the empty middle was a perfect place to be. At the same time, there was an increased (but still hidden) need for information architecture. As the average web project process matured, more problems arose. Formal documentation was needed, business objectives were taking on increased importance, and, as the size increased exponentially, information organization became a much more important role. (The fact that this evolution took place during the 'dot.com fallout' is not insignificant, as this led to the placement of web projects under the same microscope as other business endeavors.) Some of these positions could be filled by existing disciplines; project managers, business analysts, and usability specialists transitioned from 'traditional' work and were added to web teams. Still, there was something missing. The connection between 'the big picture' (business strategy, high-level user tasks, basic structural architecture) and the nitty-gritty (categorization, labeling, bottom-up information hierarchies) often wasn't being made. This is where information architects fit in. http://tc.eserver.org/10429.html http://tc.eserver.org/10429.html It is well accepted that understanding the users and a thorough analysis of their goals and tasks is a prerequisite for usability. To produce a document, online information, or knowledge base that is truly usable, the designer and writer must also consider different user approaches to the information to create it in a form that meets those needs. The underlying technology must also be considered, as it affects the presentation of the information as well as the functionality available to users. To meet user needs for useful online information, all these elements must be factored into the design—and technical communicators must master the skills necessary to make the right choices. http://tc.eserver.org/10399.html http://tc.eserver.org/10399.html This study investigates the effectiveness of information design principles and feedback-based usability testing in the development of clinical questionnaires, with the goal of increasing the amount of data collected in the Breast Cancer Lymphatic Mapping Database at the H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center and Research Institute. It finds that although both the Control and Study forms were generated using the same form design software, the Study form developed using information design principles collected significantly more data than the Control form developed by a systems analyst. The article observes that information designers face conflicts between the needs of users, general information design guidelines, constraints of the software, and misunderstandings by medical researchers and health professionals over the role of information designers. http://tc.eserver.org/10352.html http://tc.eserver.org/10352.html Why do players of computer games seem to approach those applications without fear, eagerly exploring and learning as they go, while users of business applications will go out of their way to keep from using the tools? Why do business applications require volumes of documentation when the most complex games come with a brief tutorial and a strategy guide for exploration? Why can games teach pilots to fly multi-million-dollar jets better than books and classroom training? These questions have led us to ask another question: Why can’t business applications be more like games? In this article, we attempt to lay the ground work for future research by defining seven design principles found in games that we believe contribute to the creation of more usable applications. http://tc.eserver.org/10257.html http://tc.eserver.org/10257.html If everything is equally prominent, then nothing is prominent. It is the job of the designer to advise the user and guide them to the most important or most promising choices (while ensuring their freedom to go anywhere they please). On today's Web, the most common mistake is to make everything too prominent: over-use of colors, animation, blinking, and graphics. Every element of the page screams 'look at me' (while all the other design elements scream 'no, look at me'). When everything is emphasized, nothing is emphasized.