Building a Better Interface

If you build it, they may or may not come. But if they do come and you've built it badly, they almost certainly won't come back. While it's immensely difficult to figure out what makes a user bookmark a site, usability is a critical factor. Despite this, most Web builders spend far too little time thinking about this aspect of site design.

Shafer, Dan. Builder.com (1998). Articles>Usability>Web Design

Building a Better Launchpad: A Case Study in Helping Users to Complete a Complex Task  

A launchpad is a graphical user interface used for tasks that have too many steps or are too complex to fit into a single wizard. The launchpad acts as a central access point for launching a series of related wizards or dialogs, each of which completes one step of the overall task. Our launchpad design further aids novice users by providing a graphical and interactive preview of the steps required to complete the overall task, such as installing or configuring a component. This paper focuses on the process used to create the IBM Launchpad. The paper briefly describes the final design of the launchpad and concludes with process recommendations based on our experiences.

Pupons Wickham, Daina. STC Proceedings (2001). Design>User Centered Design>User Interface

Building a Better ReadMe    

Surveys and focus groups show that most software buyers use ReadMe files. Users primarily look to ReadMe files for information on software bugs. They identify the following ways that software manufacturers can improve their ReadMe files: 1) keep them short, 2) include a table of contents, 3) use hypertext, and 4) eliminate the need for ReadMe files. Along with these four improvements, this article discusses other ways to create quality ReadMe files that meet concrete user needs.

Johnson, Mark A. Technical Communication Online (1997). Design>Documentation

Building a Bridge: DITA, DocBook, and ODF

Some folks here are taking a very strong look at DITA. I'm certainly one of them. But we also have a huge legacy of documents in Solbook format (Sun's subset of DocBook). There are tools for editing such documents, and tools for processing them. and there are many people who are comfortable with those tools. So DITA isn't going to replace the world, just yet. But DITA makes extensive reuse possible. It's a format with a serious future, because "reuse" is a very big deal. It lets you single-source your information content so have one place to make an edit. That sort of thing becomes important when you have multiple revisions of a product, and/or multiple variations. It becomes important when different tools and different products use the same information in different ways. It can drastically improve quality, ensure uniformity of presentation. Finally, structured formats like DITA and DocBook create the kind of consistently-tagged information that allows for useful automation.

Armstrong, Eric. Sun Microsystems (2007). Articles>Information Design>XML>DITA

Building a Bulletproof Contact Form with PHP

The humble contact form: It's the cornerstone of nearly every website, from the humble personal blog right up to the corporate megasite--and a billion small business sites in-between. In the early years of operating a website, we were happy to put our shiny new email address out there for anyone to mailto, but the rise of the spammer has made us justifiably wary of publicizing our contact details--enter the contact form.

Pennell, Matthew. Digital Web Magazine (2007). Design>Web Design>Forms>PHP

Building a Data-Backed Persona

Incorporating the voice of the user into user experience design by using personas in the design process is no longer the latest and greatest new practice. Everyone is doing it these days, and with good reason. Using personas in the design process helps focus the design team's attention and efforts on the needs and challenges of realistic users, which in turn helps the team develop a more usable finished design. While completely imaginary personas will do, it seems only logical that personas based upon real user data will do better. Web analytics can provide a helpful starting point to generate data-backed personas; this article presents an informal 5-step process for building a 'persona of the people.' In practice, outcomes indicate that designing with any persona is better than with no personas, even if the personas used are entirely fictitious. Better yet, however, are personas that are based on real user data. Reports and case studies that support this approach typically offer examples incorporating data into personas from customer service call centers, user surveys and interviews. It's nice work if you can get it, but not all design projects have all (or even any!) of these rich and varied user data sources available. However, more and more sites are now collecting web analytic data using vendor solutions or free options such as Google Analytics. Web analytics provides a rich source of user data, unique among the forms of user data that are used to evaluate websites, in that it represents the users in their native habitat of use. Despite some drawbacks to using web analytics that are inherent to the technology and data collection methods, the information it provides can be very useful for informing design.

Wiggins, Andrea. Boxes and Arrows (2007). Articles>User Centered Design>Personas>Log Analysis

Building a Database of Graphic Files Using Microsoft Access  

Many technical communicators manage large collections of graphic files and must keep track of which graphics are used in which deliverables. An effective tool for managing a collection of graphic files is a relational database management system (RDMS) such as Microsoft Access. Before the database can be built in Access, it is necessary to 1) create detailed functional requirements and 2) build a high-level conceptual model from which the database relations (tables) can be derived. A spreadsheet program can be used to build the conceptual model and generate the relations. Normalization checks should be performed on the relations before the database is implemented in Access.

Lowe, Richard B. STC Proceedings (2005). Articles>Information Design>Databases>Microsoft Access

Building a Database-Driven Web Site Using PHP and MySQL

A hands-on look at what's involved in building a database-driven Web site. We'll be using two new tools for this: the PHP scripting language and the MySQL relational database.

Yank, Kevin. MySQL (2004). Articles>Web Design>Server Side Includes>SQL

Building a Dynamic Web Site: Separating Data From Display  

The principles discussed here are part of a general technique we refer to as "'DIDDS" (Dynamic Information Data Delivery System). This approach is useful for organizations or groups who want Web pages that can be changed quickly, easily and consistently by individuals unfamiliar with HTML. The key to this strategy-keeping data separate from display-involves a suite of customized CGI programs whereby data requested by a client is passed through a "display jilter" that attaches the HTh4L tags and generates the page "on the fly."

Murphy, Daniel J. STC Proceedings (1997). Presentations>Web Design

Building a Home-Grown Knowledge Base: Don't Wait for the Resources—Build a Prototype

In this presentation, we will discuss why and how we came to build a knowledge base for the Computing Help Desk at MIT. We discuss MIT’s re-engineering effort and its impact on the various Help Desk groups who were brought together as a single team; how this centralizing of Help Desk services created a new requirement of getting useful, just-in-time knowledge to student consultants, and professional staff; and how that requirement helped us approach another goal of our re-engineered processes-helping our customers to help themselves. We then describe the tool we created and how we are using it.

Jones, Susan B. and Carol Wood. ACM SIGDOC (1998). Design>Information Design>Web Design

Building a Metadata-Based Website

The online world has been flooded in recent years with talk of metadata, structured authoring, and cascading style sheets. The idea of a semantic web is gaining momentum. At the confluence of these two broad categories of activity, new models of websites are emerging.

Lider, Brett and Anca Mosoiu. Boxes and Arrows (2003). Design>Web Design>Information Design>Metadata

Building a PDF Book  

Wilson describes a process for PDF versions of papers manuals by converting Microsoft Word files with Adobe Acrobat.

Wilson, Dennis E. Intercom (2002). Design>Information Design>eBooks>Adobe Acrobat

Building a Photo Gallery

Got some righteous digital pics that you want to display on your site? Todd shows you how to create a photo gallery using PHP.

Kennedy, Todd. Webmonkey (2001). Design>Web Design>Server Side Includes>PHP

Building a Project Site

Managing a Web site project typically does not follow any clearly defined methods or standards of practice. Although there is a lot of 'how to build a site' information out there, very little on how to manage a Web project actually exists. But a project site could be just the answer you are looking for.

Leonard-Wilkinson, Theresa A. W-edge Design (2001). Design>Project Management>Web Design>Workflow

Building a Project Site  

Wilkinson explains how to use a project site to manage a Web site project.

Wilkinson, Theresa A. Intercom (2000). Design>Web Design>Collaboration

Building a SQL Server 2005 Integration Services Package Using Visual Studio 2005

A comprehensive start from scratch and step-by-step approach to learn this important procedure. This illustrated article is your guide to SSIS designing.

Krishnaswamy, Jayaram. ASPAlliance (2006). Articles>Information Design>Web Design>SQL

Building a Swan's Nest for Instruction in Rhetoric    

When a composition teacher incorporated community-based writing assignments into her course, she found that the curriculum did not support students’ transitions to nonacademic settings. Her success in transforming the curriculum suggests that the writing classroom can function not only as a site for “general writing skills in-struction” but also for analysis of rhetorical variation.

Bacon, Nora. CCC (2000). Articles>Education>Instructional Design>Rhetoric

Building a Synonymous Search Index (Thesaurus)

The value of a thesaurus stems from the inherent problems of natural language indexing and searching. Different users define the same query using different terms. Document authors, indexers, and information architects describe the same concepts using different terms.

Morville, Peter. Semantic Studios (1999). Design>Web Design>Search

Building a Truly World Wide Web: A Review of the Essentials of International Communication    

Though the Web knows no borders, linguistic, cultural, technological and legal barriers have confined most of the Web's growth to the United States. Only by addressing these challenges will Web authors reach a truly worldwide audience. This review of contemporary literature examines the current demographics of Web usage and the challenges these demographics reveal. Next, I describe some of the prevailing maxims guiding Web authors, and other technical communicators involved in the creation of World Wide Web content with the intent of reaching international audiences, and explain how and why these approaches are effective. Finally, I address contemporary thought on what can be achieved by making the World Wide Web a true international medium.

Arnold, Mitchell D. Technical Communication Online (1998). Articles>Web Design>International

Building a User-Defined Interface

A measurably easy-to-use interface has been built using a novel technique. Novices attempted an electronic mail task using a command-line interface containing no help, no menus, no documentation, and no instruction. A hidden operator intercepted commands when necessary, creating the illusion of a true interactive session. The software was repeatedly revised to recognize users' new commands; in essence, the users defined the interface. This procedure was used on 67 subjects. The first version of the software could recognize only 7% of all the subjects' spontaneously generated commands; the final version could recognize 76% of those commands. This experience contradicts the idea that people are not good at designing their own command languages. Through careful observation and analysis of user behavior, a mail interface unusable by novices evolved into one that let novices do useful work within minutes.

Wixon, Dennis, John Whiteside, Michael Good and Sandra Jones. ACM SIGCHI (1983). Design>User Centered Design>User Interface

Building a Vision of Design Success

A common view of vision is that it's something handed down by a leader to the troops. When a redesign goes awry, the troops complain, 'There was no vision.' But the problem goes deeper than either scenario; the problem is that there was no shared vision.

Wodtke, Christina. Boxes and Arrows (2003). Design>Web Design>Management>Collaboration

Building Accessible Tables

CSS and XHTML have given tables a pretty rough ride in recent times. Of course, this is the fault of just about all web developers who have at some point in their career used them for laying out page elements. This article is not about using tables for layout. It is about how to use tables to display information in an accessible manner.

Roberts, Tim. evolt (2002). Design>Web Design>Accessibility

Building Accessible Websites: Serialization

Designers assume accessibility means a boring site, a myth borne out by oldschool accessibility advocates, whose hostility to visual appeal is barely suppressed. Neither camp has its head screwed on right. It's not either/or; it's both/and.

Clark, Joe. JoeClark.org (2002). Books>Web Design>Accessibility

Building Block Definitions (Containers)

Dives into the components of the building block system. Each has a place in his design framework for dashboards and portals.

Lamantia, Joe. Boxes and Arrows (2007). Design>Web Design>Programming

Building Blocks of Functional Design    

Only when we fulfill the function of the document rather than embellishing it, can we improve the communication-value of that avalanche of 'information' we pour out for them out there. Unfortunately, the flamboyance of today's graphic culture is so gripping, that we often mistake the medium for the message. The medium is never the message, the message is always the message.

White, Jan V. Technical Communication Online (2005). Design>Graphic Design