#23975
Making Your Design Real: The Form and Behavior Specification
Let's say your development organization has embraced design as a key to creating successful products. You've devoted time and energy to creating the perfect, goal-directed design for your product. Your programmers are ready and eager to start putting that design into code. So…now what? How do you communicate your design to your development team, accurately and in sufficient detail? One approach is to produce a Form & Behavior Specification.
Olshavsky, Ryan. Cooper Interaction Design (2003). Design>Project Management>User Interface
#18575
Managing Your Defense Against GUI's from Hell 
Check the number of times you walk out of an office complex grasping a door handle shaped to say 'pull me' while warning you with a label that says PUSH. The unwarranted generalization of 'handle' to both sides of a one-way door shouts cryptodesign at work. You’ve see your VCR mercilessly flashing 12:00 pm into the night (and day), reminding you of your slow-witted inability to set the time. According to a consumer survey, a third of TV viewers have given up ever setting a future video recording date and time. Cryptodesign succeeds in maintaining a useless machine interface. The message is clear. Cryptodesign says 'a technique useful for one situation is probably good in all situations.' The antidote requires that we breath life back into automatic design techniques. Let’s call the antidote 'soul design'.
Schaffer, Eric M. Human Factors International (1995). Design>User Interface
#18978
Map-Based Horizontal Navigation in Educational Hypertext 
The paper discusses the problem of horizontal (non-hierarchical) navigation in modern educational courseware. It considers why horizontal links disappear, how to support horizontal navigation in modern hyper-courseware, and looks at our earlier attempts to provide horizontal navigation in Web-based electronic textbooks. Map-based navigation -- a new approach to support horizontal navigation in open corpus educational courseware -- which we are currently investigating, is presented. We describe the mechanism behind this approach, present a system, KnowledgeSea, that implements this approach, and provide some results from a classroom study of this system.
Brusilovsky, Peter and Riccardo Rizzo. Journal of Digital Information (2002). Articles>Web Design>User Interface
#21165
Más Allá de la Usabilidad: Interfaces 'Afectivas'
La creciente popularización de las nuevas tecnologías de la información obliga a que cualquier producto interactivo sea diseñado para una audiencia cada vez más heterogénea y menos tolerante con experiencias de uso frustrantes. Las técnicas, metodologías y prácticas propias de la Usabilidad y Accesibilidad, intentan hacer frente a este hecho, estudiando las necesidades, objetivos y comportamiento del usuario, y enfocando cualquier decisión sobre el diseño, así como la evaluación, en base a estos factores.
Hassan Montero, Yusef and Francisco Jesus Martin Fernandez. Nosolousabilidad.com (2003). (Spanish) Design>User Interface>Usability>User Centered Design
#27726
MAX-WIDTH and Flexible Layout with Short Lines
It is now possible to make flexible layout with user-friendly short lines that adapt to screen resolution, to width of browser window, and to font-size chosen by the user. This could be a new beginning for more accessible and usable web pages.
Tverskov, Jesper. Smack the Mouse (2003). Design>Web Design>User Interface>CSS
#21616
Los menús-pastel (pie-menus) muestran cierta superioridad sobre los ubicuos menús lineales a los que estamos tan acostumbrados. ¿Por qué no han proliferado más y sólo se muestran en algunas aplicaciones?
Dursteler, Juan Carlos. InfoVis (2003). (Spanish) Design>User Interface>Interactive>Web Design
#28107
Minimal-Feedback Hints for Remembering Passwords
Passwords are a widely used mechanism for user authentication and are thus critical to the security of many systems. Strong passwords (e.g., b5j#Kv!8N) are less vulnerable to attack but at the same time more difficult to remember. Minimal-feedback hints are introduced to support users in remembering their passwords and thereby enabling them to choose stronger passwords.
Hertzum, Morten. uiGarden (2006). Design>Web Design>User Interface>Security
#10418
Modeling Information in Electronic Space: An Introduction to This Special Issue 
Organizing content for delivery on the computer screen challenges us to design our information in an imagined three dimensions. As mobile devices respond to the surrounding world, our content also needs to adjust to the real physical environment around our user. Our rhetorical space has changed, and in this special issue, authors wrestle with the ways in which we think, move, and design differently as we explore these virtual and real worlds. One team suggests showing the user the structure of the information gradually in search forms. Another author suggests that merging object-oriented thinking with visual language may offer us a way to consider structure and format together, while granting each its own distinct qualities. Focusing on mobile devices, one author sketches out the challenges we face in this new rhetorical space, and another highlights the idea of embeddedness, the fact that our devices are enmeshed within a content-rich world that we move through. Our final contributor takes us to museums, to
Price, Jonathan R. Technical Communication Online (2001). Design>Information Design>User Interface>Web Design
#30683
Motorcycle UX: Riding in the Fast Lane
The design decisions that both industrial designers and interaction designers have made on the Breva provide an enhanced experience for the rider--that is, for me.
Sokohl, Joe. UXmatters (2008). Design>User Experience>User Interface
#18664
The Myth of Optimal Web Design
Perfection in design is not possible. No matter how much is known about a given business, user group or technology, you can not simultaneously satisfy all possible objectives. For any website or user interface, there are no mathematics, and no algorithms, for deciding which objectives to satisfy in a single design, or even for accurately defining an optimal solution within any of those objectives. There are usability, design and business methods that effectively evaluate and illuminate promising directions , but they are sensitive tools, that work more as guides, rather than maps. In general, any form of design involves too many simultaneous possible objectives and forms of solutions to enable any overall mathematical or algorithmic based confidence. An optimal design, in the broadest sense, is a mythical idea.
Berkun, Scott. UIWeb (2001). Design>Web Design>User Interface
#24353
Only a small percentage of users open Help, and they usually do that only when they have trouble with the application. One way to reach a broader audience is to integrate assistance into the user interface so that people understand the product as they use it. This paper describes our reasons for moving in this direction, provides examples of integrated user assistance, and discusses issues and concerns inherent in moving away from traditional Help.
Raiken, Nancy, Diane Stielstra and Richard Bloch. STC Proceedings (1998). Design>Documentation>User Interface>Help
#28332
Navigation refers to the method used to find information within a Web site. A navigation page is used primarily to help users locate and link to destination pages. A Web site's navigation scheme and features should allow users to find and access information effectively and efficiently. When possible, this means designers should keep navigation-only pages short. Designers should include site maps, and provide effective feedback on the user's location within the site. To facilitate navigation, designers should differentiate and group navigation elements and use appropriate menu types. It is also important to use descriptive tab labels, provide a clickable list of page contents on long pages, and add ‘glosses' where they will help users select the correct link. In well-designed sites, users do not get trapped in dead-end pages.
Usability.gov (2006). Design>Web Design>User Interface>Sitemaps
#26448
Most web development projects put a lot of effort into the design of navigation tools. But fact is that people tend to ignore these tools. They are fixated on getting what they came for and simply click on links or hit the back button to get there.
Olsen, Henrik. GUUUI (2005). Articles>User Interface>Information Design
#24462
The Need for Web Design Standards
Unfortunately, much of the Web is like an anthill built by ants on LSD: many sites don't fit into the big picture, and are too difficult to use because they deviate from expected norms. Users expect 77% of the simpler Web design elements to behave in a certain way. Unfortunately, confusion reigns for many higher-level design issues.
Nielsen, Jakob. Alertbox (2004). Design>Web Design>User Interface>Standards
#28686
New Life for Product Documentation
Here are some 'truths' we've all heard: 'Documentation is just a band-aid for poor design.' 'Real users don't read manuals.' 'Super users never read anything.' 'Help doesn't.' But are they really true? I've seen some signs of life in the use of documentation for digital products recently.
Quesenbery, Whitney. UXmatters (2006). Articles>Documentation>User Interface>User Centered Design
#13829
Given Microsoft's track record, it would seem awfully foolish for me to bet against them and those who will follow their lead, and the idea does seem superficially reasonable. But despite this, I predict that the ASP aspects of .Net won't work nearly so well as Microsoft hopes and may even fail outright. The problem with Microsoft's ASP approach? The strategy is driven more strongly by economics and a fear of competition from smaller, more nimble ASPs than by customer needs and habits.
Hart, Geoffrey J.S. TECHWR-L (2001). Design>User Interface>Software
#24736
Perhaps we should look to the simplest elements of usability for inspiration. Perhaps it's time to recognize the contribution of a single humble helper. Yes, it's time for an ode to Balloon Help.
Cavanagh, Thomas B. Usability Professionals Association (2004). Design>User Interface>Usability
#28096
On the Meta-Usability of User Interface Standards
Interface standards provide context-specific guidance for implementing a system based on the task goals and functions within it. A solid standard provides guidance at two levels. At the level of look and feel, it ensures consistency throughout the application or site. To be meaningful in usability terms, the standard also must provide guidance to support a consistent experience at the functional level.
Straub, Kathleen. uiGarden (2006). Design>User Interface>Standards
#30031
Panic! How it Works and What To Do About It
When we create technologies that are extremely complex and do not provide comprehensive feedback for each and every possible error, such as a seat belt left unbuckled, people have a tendency to drive their aircraft into garden parties. When we create technologies where similar actions produce dissimilar results, such as placing a brake and accelerator pedal side-by-side, to be actuated in the identical manner by the identical limb, people will periodically die.
Tognazzini, Bruce. Nielsen Norman Group (2004). Design>User Interface>User Centered Design>Emotions
#31996
People Finder: Searching Without Logic? Improving the People Finder Application
One of the most frequent tasks on many intranets is finding people within the company. Providing an effective way to search people is thus a key goal in designing intranets. This goal becomes even more important for an organization like Emirates, a leading international airline, which has over 35,000 employees with over 140 nationalities and where more people are likely to use this feature more frequently.
Deshmukh, Vivek. Boxes and Arrows (2008). Articles>Web Design>Usability>User Interface
#25738
Perspectives on Design and Internationalization
We have not really given much attention to what most people think of when they think about the topic of internationalization as applied to the design of computer systems. For most people the issue is one of making a system (generally developed for a particular national audience) acceptable in another country.
Karat, John and Clare-Marie Karat. SIGCHI Bulletin (1996). Design>User Interface>Localization
#28097
The Place for Standards in Interaction Design (IxD) and UI Design (UID)
'Standards': the word strikes fear in designers around the globe, and makes engineers lives so much easier that they bow at its alter. (Yes, this is an exaggeration for affect, but an important one.) But before we can dig a big deeper into standards for designers, we need to do some definition work.
Malouf, David Heller. uiGarden (2006). Design>User Interface>Standards>Interaction Design
#14830
Plasticity of User Interfaces: A Revised Reference Framework
Mobility coupled with the development of a wide variety of access devices has engendered new requirements for HCI such as the ability of user interfaces (UIs) to adapt to different contexts of use. We define a context of use as the set of values of variables that characterize the computational device(s) used for interacting with the system as well as the physical and social environment where the interaction takes place. A UI is plastic if it is able to adapt to context changes while preserving usability. In this paper we present a reference process for the engineering of plastic user interfaces. The process revises a previously published reference framework. The amendment is twofold: first it refines the design time process and secondly extends its coverage to the run time.
Calvary, Gaelle, Joelle Coutaz, David Thevenin, Quentin Limbourg, Nathalie Souchon, Laurent Bouillon, Murielle Florins and Jean Vanderdonckt. Universite Catholique de Louvain (2002). Design>User Interface
#26551
The Politics and Practices of Interface Design
This studio/seminar course will contribute to students' practical and theoretical knowledge of user-centered interface design. In the move from Engineering English to Technical Communication, technical communicators increasingly work with and within computer interfaces, as content developers, as human-factors and usability experts, and as information designers. This course examines both the work of interface design, focused on web and multimedia interfaces, and the theory of such work, particularly where it intersects with critical and cultural theory. We'll be looking at the development of user-centered and participatory design (Johnson, Ehn, Winograd), critical theories of technology (Foucault, Feinberg), and design strategies for critiquing or politicizing design (Laurel, Kolko).
Carter, Kellie Rae. Wayne State University (2004). Academic>Courses>User Interface>User Centered Design
#21615
¿Por Qué los Menús Pastel no son Ubicuos?
En el ultimo artículo de InfoVis.net preguntamos a Don Hopkins por qué los menús pastel, que son más eficientes que los menús lineales, no se han hecho ubicuos, siendo usados sólo en algunas aplicaciones como video juegos y algún software experimenta avanzado. Aquí está su respuesta.
Hopkins, Don. InfoVis (2003). (Spanish) Design>Web Design>User Interface
