Audience Profile Sheet  

A form for coding users' interaction with a written document.

Markel, Mike. Bedford-St. Martin's (2001). Design>Usability>Workflow

An Audience With Alan Cooper: Defining Interaction Design

What was intended to be an Interview immediately became an audience with the master. It became difficult to slide in the questions as Cooper began to tear up the rulebook for the technology industry and throw it out. He discusses why Interaction Design is about complete systems architecture and he hits on what's wrong with relational databases; what's wrong with file systems; why Interaction Design is a lot more than Interface Design; and why he really doesn't like Usability much either.

Cooper, Alan. UIdesign (2001). Design>Information Design>Interaction Design>Usability

Audience-Driven Web Design: An Application to Medical Web Sites    

We begin by identifying the problem of defining medical Web site credibility and then identify the gap in Web design research, a gap that fails to identify or address specific audience needs in Web site design. We then present our process for identifying and fulfilling specific audience needs, describe a framework, and present a case study in audience-driven Web design using the framework to guide the discussion.

Swenson, Jenni, Helen Constantinides and Laura J. Gurak. Technical Communication Online (2002). Design>Web Design>User Centered Design>Biomedical

Audio and the User Experience

Audio signals also help us interact with our environment. Some of these signals are designed: We wake to the buzz of the alarm clock, answer the ringing telephone, and race to the kitchen when the shrill beep of the smoke alarm warns us that dinner is burning on the stove. Other audio signals are not deliberately designed, but help us nonetheless. For instance, we may know the proper sound of the central air conditioning starting, the gentle hum of the PC fan, or the noise of the refrigerator. So, when these systems go awry, we notice it immediately--something doesn't sound right. Likewise, an excellent mechanic might be able to tell what is wrong with a car engine just by listening to it run.

Follett, Jonathan. UXmatters (2007). Design>User Centered Design>User Experience>Audio

Auditing Software Tools for SENDA Compliance

This project has identified a number of tools that may be of use to the academic community. The starting point of this investigation was the W3C WAI web page that lists existing evaluation, repair, and transformation tools for Web Content Accessibility.

WARP. Design>Web Design>Accessibility>Software

Authenticate and Track Users with PHP

Learn how authentication, cookies, and sessions can add security and a personal touch to your site.

Meloni, Julie. Webmonkey (2000). Design>Web Design>Server Side Includes>PHP

Authoring and Viewing Hybrid CD-ROMs  

Hybrid CD technology, which allows publishing documents on CD-ROM and placing updates on a Web/FTP server, is the solution of choice for the delivery of time-critical, large technical documents requiring frequent updates.

Lanyi, Gabriel. STC Proceedings (1999). Design>Multimedia>CD ROM

Authoring and Viewing Hybrid CD-ROMs  

Lanyi discusses technologies for authoring and viewing hybrid CD-ROMs. He defines hybrid CD-ROMs as standard CD-ROMs that integrate updates users periodically download from the Web. This combination of storage space and timeliness, Lanyi argues, makes hybrid CD-ROMs an effective means of delivering documentation to users.

Lanyi, Gabriel. Intercom (2000). Design>Multimedia>CD ROM

Automated Current Awareness Service Using RSS Web Feed    

Web feed is an automated web content syndication and surfing technique. It is a new eXtensible Markup Language (XML)-based mechanism that influences and enhances library functions and services. This paper briefly discusses web feed creation using RDF (Resource Description Framework) Site Summary (RSS) format, content syndication, and client software used to track and read the web feed contents. It also describes how libraries can use this technique to offer different Current Awareness Services (CAS)/Information Services libraries' to its subscribers.

Bhushan, Indu and P. Rajendiran. International Journal for Technical Communication (2007). Articles>Information Design>Standards>RSS

Automatic Magazine Layout

You can't always count on having a professional designer around to resize and position your images for you, but you'd rather your page layout didn't look like it was created by orangutans. Harvey Kane builds a script that makes your life easier.

Kane, Harvey. List Apart, A (2006). Design>Web Design>Document Design>CSS

Automating Development Tasks for a Large-Scale Help System

Although tools like eHelp's® RoboHELP® Classic can speed up and streamline the process of creating help topics, there are still many repetitive tasks needed to build a WinHelp system that supports a large, integrated application. This article summarizes one of the techniques that Fredrickson Communications used to automate the process of developing online help topics. Once the underlying structure and macros were in place, we were able to generate hundreds of help topics at the rate 15-20 per minute.

Lindsay, Bill. Frederickson Communications (2002). Design>Documentation>Single Sourcing

Automating Diagrams with Visio

By doing the demanding intellectual work first and then forcing the tools to succumb to need to produce seemingly speedy deliverables, you can get around the difficulty of choosing between 'Good, Fast and Cheap.' Here's one approach using Excel and Visio.

Angeles, Michael. Boxes and Arrows (2002). Design>Project Management>Information Design

Automating Photoshop CS2  

Automating repetitive tasks in Photoshop can increase productivity as well as save time and money. Almost any command (or set of commands) in Photoshop can be recorded into an action to be applied repetitively to a single file or across multiple file. The most basic action will execute one command such as resizing an image or displaying a dialog box. More complex actions can execute multiple commands automating more elaborate tasks. When used with the Batch command and/or Droplets, these actions can be applied to multiple files at once, enabling Photoshop to do repetitive tasks more quickly than even the best-trained Photoshop user! When repetitive tasks in a more involved workflow need to be carried out between applications, then AppleScript, Visual Basic, or JavaScript can be used to create scripts which work with Photoshop. In the case of conditional logic (a fancy way of saying 'Make a decision!') when an action needs to be applied to some files but not others, JavaScript files can be written to fulfill this need. One word of caution when first trying to conquer actions - run them on duplicate files, leaving your pre- cious originals unaltered. As you become more Action savvy, you can kick off those training wheels, and batch away!

Kost, Julieanne and Daniel Brown. Adobe Evangelists (2006). Design>Graphic Design>Software>Adobe Photoshop

Auxiliary Benefits of Accessible Web Design

This document is one of several resources created to assist the preparation of a business case for the implementation of Web accessibility. It describes the many business, technical and other benefits to the organization above and beyond the straightforward benefits to people with disabilities that can be realized by applying the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG 1.0) to Web sites.

Arch, Andrew and Chuck Letourneau. W3C (2002). Design>Web Design>Accessibility

Avi Parush

Few usability professionals are as well-rounded as Avi Parush. Avi has worked in industry and academia, testing and design, the Old World and the New, with web applications and airplane cockpits, in operating rooms and on the bridges of ships.

Anderson, Clifford. Usability Professionals Association (2008). Articles>Interviews>Web Design>Usability

Avoid Edge Cases by Designing Up Front

Better planning and a beefed-up style guide may be exactly what you need to avoid markup derangement or, worse, a dysfunctional product.

Henick, Ben. List Apart, A (2006). Design>Web Design>Project Management>CSS

Avoid Unnecessary Ajax Traffic with Session State

Where possible, creating Web applications -- including Ajax-based applications -- in a RESTful way avoids a large class of bugs. However, a pitfall of REST (REpresentational State Transfer) is sending duplicate data across similar XMLHttpRequests. This tip shows how the moderate use of session cookies can maintain just enough server-side state to significantly reduce client-server traffic, while still allowing fallback to cookie-free operation.

Mertz, David. IBM (2007). Articles>Web Design>Programming>Ajax

Avoid Within-Page Links

On the Web, users have a clear mental model for a hypertext link: it should bring up a new page. Within-page links violate this model and thus cause confusion.

Nielsen, Jakob. Alertbox (2006). Design>Web Design>Hypertext

Avoiding Automatic Refresh

Describes an alternative to automatic page refresh in HTML. Automatic page refresh can confuse users with cognitive disabilities when a page reloads without the user's request. This article provides you with instructions on how to apply explicit manual control of page refreshing.

Microsoft (2003). Design>Accessibility>Web Design

Avoiding Automatic Refresh

Describes an alternative to automatic page refresh in HTML. Automatic page refresh can confuse users with cognitive disabilities when a page reloads without the user's request. This article provides you with instructions on how to apply explicit manual control of page refreshing.

Microsoft (2003). Design>Web Design>Accessibility>DHTML

Avoiding Bias from the Survivor Effect

Only a few of the survey sites we analyzed in 2000 are still around. We can safely assume that the surviving sites are not a random sample of the original group, but rather that significant differences exist between the sites that made it and those that died. Survival might be due partly to luck, but it is mainly a result of good management and an understanding of Internet fundamentals. Thus, the surviving sites are likely to be disproportionately clued-in about what it takes to run an online business.

Nielsen, Jakob. Alertbox (2002). Articles>Usability>Methods>Web Design

Avoiding Commodity Status

Software innovations are the main way to differentiate both high-tech products and websites.

Nielsen, Jakob. Alertbox (2002). Design>Usability

Avoiding the Content Silo Trap™, Enterprise Content Management  

Organizations frequently fall into the content silo trap, multiple authors creating similar information, in many areas of the organization. Authors rarely share their information (they work in silos) or are even aware that this information already exists elsewhere in the organization. Technical communicators have been single sourcing for years, this session looks at how to move beyond technical publications to assist your organization with enterprise content management. This session includes a case study from Eli Lilly.

Rockley, Ann and Jodee Clore. STC Proceedings (2002). Design>Content Management>Information Design

Avoiding Typeface Terrors  

Appropriately using typefaces is critical to your document’s success. The opposite is conversely true. A poorly selected or implemented typeface can equal a document disaster. When selecting a typeface, technical communicators must consider a typeface’s legibility (how distinct, clear, and recognizable its letters are), readability (how easy it is to read in a text line), and personality (what feeling it conveys). Once selected, typefaces must be carefully used to enhance the document’s message. Typefaces must enhance—not distract from—your document.

Yoshida, Kathleen Burke. STC Proceedings (2000). Design>Typography

AWARE: Accessible Web Authoring Resources and Education Center

AWARE stands for Accessible Web Authoring Resources and Education, and its mission is to serve as a central resource for web authors for learning about web accessibility.

AWARE. Organizations>Web Design>Accessibility