Designing on Both Sides of Your Brain

There is every reason to use logical and creative approaches when working on any kind of design problem. The best designers know how to switch between approaches, and bring together both kinds of thinking into a process for discovering and crafting the best ideas.

Berkun, Scott. UIWeb (2002). Design>Web Design>Methods

Developing and Implementing Effective Web-Based Surveys  

In this paper we will report on the development and implementation of the first part of a two-part web-based survey distributed to a university population of over 20,000 faculty, staff and students. This large-scale project presented multiple operational, technical and design challenges. User-centered design was crucial to the successful development and deployment of the survey. This survey tool was used to explore the richness and potential value of web surveys motivated by a combination of a desire to improve both the survey-taking process and results-computing process. The objective of this research is to design and implement an effective Web survey tool, record user participation, determine the value of implementing a two-part survey over time (longitudinal), and to identify improvements for future web-based surveys. The benefit to the organization will be the identification of service areas in need of improvements and the ability to match satisfaction level with actual product/service costs.

Andrews, Susan and Susan Feinberg. STC Proceedings (1999). Articles>User Centered Design>Methods>Surveys

Developing Heuristics for Web Communication    

The quicklists presented here are derived from five sets of heuristics that were published in the August 2000 special issue of Technical Communication, 'Heuristics for Web Communication.' They are intended to help Web designers and developers consider crucial communicative aspects of Web site design.

van der Geest, Thea and Jan H. Spyridakis. Technical Communication Online (2000). Design>Web Design>Methods>Usability

Discount Usability: Time To Push Back the Clock?

Discount usability techniques are a great way to eradicate usability problems. But they can never answer the question, 'How usable is this system?' We blow the dust off some techniques commonly used in the early days of usability testing to see if they can provide an answer.

Userfocus (2003). Articles>Usability>Methods>Testing

Do Usability Expert Evaluation and Testing Provide Novel and Useful Data for Game Development?    

A case study was done to study whether usability expert evaluation and testing are suitable for game development. In the study, a computer game under development was first evaluated and then tested. Game developers were then asked to rate the findings and give other feedback about the methods used and the results gained. It was found that the usability expert evaluation and testing provided both novel and useful data for game development. Based on these and the other results it is argued that the usability expert evaluation and testing have considerable face validity in game development. In addition to the usefulness and face validity of the methods it was studied whether the usability experts participating in the game usability expert evaluation should be double experts. It was found that there was no significant difference in the number or the rated relevancy of the problem the gamer and non-gamer usability specialists found.

Laitinen, Sauli. Journal of Usability Studies (2006). Articles>Usability>Testing>Methods

Document Development: Getting the Technical Writer Involved Up Front  

Working in close cooperation with the chief subject-matter expert (SME) for a major group of documents, we changed the document development process. Instead of having a SME write a draft-leaving the technical writer function as secretary, editor, and layIout technician—we involved the writer from the beginning of the project. The result was a cleaner, neater document development process; a better document; and a lot less trouble for all concerned.

Remington, Thomas F. STC Proceedings (1995). Presentations>Documentation>Methods

Don't Test Users, Test Hypotheses

User testing typically consists of a sort of fishing trip. We lower a lure (the user) into the water (the application or site) and see what critters (defects) bite. This is a valuable and time-tested approach. But when we start fishing for defects, we are left with some tough questions. For instance: When are we finished? How many defects do we need to find before we have fully tested the site or application? If we find a defect, how do we know how severe it is, and by what measure? In iterative testing, how do we compare results from the test of the current version with results from testing earlier versions?

Soudack, Avi. Boxes and Arrows (2003). Articles>Usability>Methods>Testing

Driving Innovation and Creativity through Customer Data

This article explores the foundations of designing for innovation. Karen Holtzblatt has created contextual inquiry, a practical, customer-centered approach that helps designers develop creative solutions that dominate the competition.

Perfetti, Christine. User Interface Engineering (2002). Articles>Usability>Methods>Contextual Inquiry

Driving Product Improvements through Customer Surveys: A Case Study  

IBM WebSphere Commerce is a software product that enables merchants to sell goods and services online. The user audience who has the task to understand the product complexities and build stores for the customers consists of store developers - a large group of users from external companies or within IBM. Conducting a survey to gather their feedback on store development proved to be a powerful method for understanding the various store development scenarios and identifying areas for product improvement. Some of the techniques that helped us create a successful customer survey involved using a multidisciplinary group to create the survey questions, tirelessly communicating the results, and following up on the issues.

Markova, Uliyana. STC Proceedings (2003). Articles>User Centered Design>Methods

A Dual Path Approach to Developing Documentation  

The document development process is traditionally viewed as a series of steps along a single linear path. Instead, it is useful to view document development as consisting of activities along dual paths: one product-centered and one document-centered. Isolating a product-centered path reveals how much of your time is spent on activities other than writing--for example, learning about the product. It also highlights the ways in which the documentation is dependent on or shaped by the product.

Igel, Victoria E. STC Proceedings (1994). Articles>Documentation>Methods

Dynamic or Batch Publishing?

There are two main publishing models used by content management systems: dynamic and batch publishing, and each has its strengths and weaknesses.

Robertson, James. Step Two (2003). Articles>Content Management>Methods

Dynamisk Hukommelse On-line

I denne artikel ses der på dynamisk hukommelse i relation til usability. Usability har I realiteten altid handlet om metoder (eller heuristikker jf. Nielsen) som skal sikre, at brugeren kan forstå det indhold, som bliver tilbudt på et givent site. Dette er naturligvis vigtigt og relevant, men det er alt sammen underlagt brugerens kontekst, og denne kontekst er igen underlagt brugssituationen.

Quark, The (2002). (Danish) Design>Usability>Methods>Web Design

The Emperor Has No Clothes: Naked Objects Meet the Interface  

Naked Objects, the latest incarnation of the persistent notion of object-oriented user interfaces, proposes to eliminate the need for visual and interaction design of user interfaces by always presenting users with unadorned domain objects in a standard form and by constraining all interaction to the same few interaction idioms. Such simplistic user interfaces can be generated automatically through a software framework. This article examines the likely impact of the Naked Objects approach in light of its strengths and shortcomings as well as its undeniable appeal to developers and decision makers seeking shortcuts to user interface design. The ultimate significance of Naked Objects may be in the lessons it offers for practicing professionals, lessons that highlight the need for empowering users as problem-solvers by giving them better tools that enable them to achieve diverse ends by diverse means.

Constantine, Larry L. Constantine and Lockwood (2002). Design>User Interface>Methods

Essential Use Cases and Responsibility in Object-Oriented Development  

Essential use cases are abstract, lightweight, technology-free dialogues of user intentions and system responsibilities that effectively capture requirements for user interface design. Employing essential use cases in typical object-oriented development processes requires designers to translate them into conventional use cases, costing time, imposing rework, and delaying work on the object-oriented development until the user interface design is complete. We describe how essential use cases can drive object-oriented development directly, without any intervening translation, allowing user interface development to proceed in parallel. Working with essential use cases yields some unexpected further benefits: analysts can take advantage of recurring patterns in essential use cases, and the crucial common vocabulary of responsibilities lets designers trace directly from the essential use cases to the objects in their design.

Biddle, Robert, James Noble and Ewan Tempero. Constantine and Lockwood (2001). Articles>User Interface>Methods

Ethics, Critical Thinking, and Professional Communication Pedagogy    

Critical thinking pedagogy offers a supportive environment for teaching ethics in the professional communication classroom. Four important aspects of critical thinking which particularly encourage ethical thought and behavior are identifying and questioning assumptions, seeking a multiplicity of voices and alternatives on a subject, making connections, and fostering active involvement. Focusing on these behaviors allows an ongoing incorporation of ethics into many different aspects of the classroom.

Kienzler, Donna S. Technical Communication Quarterly (2001). Articles>Education>Ethics>Methods

Ethnographic Study / Field Observation

Observing users in the field is often the best way to determine their usability requirements. Traditional usability testing, while providing a laboratory environment that makes data collection and recording easy, also removes the user and the product from the context of the workplace. Sometimes, it's best to see exactly how things are done in the real world.

Hom, James. VWH.net. Articles>Usability>Methods>Contextual Inquiry

Evaluation of an Informational Web Site: Three Variants of the Think-aloud Method Compared    

To evaluate Web sites, usability experts often use methods that were originally employed for the evaluation of software applications. In doing so, they assume that these methods will work exactly the same for both types of test objects. However, there is a major difference between transactional software applications and informational Web sites, a difference that could have an effect on the workings of various usability methods. As such, we felt that it was valuable to repeat one of our previous studies in which we compared concurrent think-aloud protocols, retrospective think-aloud protocols, and constructive interaction to evaluate a Web application, this time using a Web site. The results of our study showed that in some respects, the methods did work differently depending on the test object they were applied to. However, we conclude that the three methods are largely interchangeable and that the decision to choose one variant of the think-aloud method over the other should be based on practical considerations.

van den Haak, Maaike J., Menno de Jong, D.T. and Peter JanSchellens. Technical Communication Online (2007). Articles>Web Design>Usability>Methods

Examining how Users Interact with Hypermedia Using a Neural Network  

Users of hypermedia systems, including the Web, are known to produce distinctive patterns depending upon what it is that they are trying to achieve with the medium. For example, someone who is seeking specific information produces a different browsing pattern than someone who is browsing generally. However, it is also known that people using hypermedia for similar purposes produce similar, but not identical, patterns. Such information would be useful for a browsing aid, since it would enable the better selection of links, for offering to the user, based upon what the user’s task is. This paper describes the architecture and training of a neural network system designed to recognise hypermedia browsing patterns in a prototype hypermedia environment. A further fuzzy-logic based system, which is used to record trends in browsing patterns, is then discussed in outline. Both systems have performed well in small-scale studies, with both real users and simulated-data. Further, both systems have proved robust to the potentially complex behaviour of users. These issues are discussed further.

Mullier, D.J. Proceedings of ICAI (2000). Articles>Usability>Methods>Cognitive Psychology

Expert Judgments Versus Reader Feedback: A Comparison of Text Evaluation Techniques    

Are technical writers able to predict the results of a reader-focused text evaluation? In this article we report a study with fifteen technical writers, who were asked to point out the reader problems in a public information brochure. The brochure was also evaluated with thirty readers from the target audience (using a combination of the plus-minus method, a questionnaire, and user protocols). The results of both kinds of text evaluation show little overlap. The technical writers only predicted a small proportion of the reader feedback, and produced a lot of new problem detections. In addition, there was little agreement among the technical writers with regard to their problem detections.

de Jong, Menno D.T. and Leo R. Lentz. Journal of Technical Writing and Communication (1996). Articles>Writing>Assessment>Methods

Exploring Paths Toward Quality Information Products  

Information product quality has long been considered undefinable, but that must change if we are ever to improve the quality of our work beyond present levels. Information product quality can usefully be defined as measurable conformance to requirements. Requirements come from three sources: customers, clients, and professional standards. By determining our customers' and clients' critical needs, we can devise conformance metrics. This formulation can be applied in the context of many organizational quality improvement programs, such as benchmarking, continuous improvement, ISO 9000, and (with reservations) Six Sigma.

Jong, Steven F. STC Proceedings (1994). Articles>TC>Quality>Methods

Eye Tracking

Eye tracking is a technique used in cognitive science, psychology (notably psycholinguistics), human-computer interaction (HCI), marketing research, medical research, and other areas. The most widely used current designs are video based eye trackers. A camera focuses on one or both eyes and records their movement as the viewer looks at some kind of stimulus. Most modern eye-trackers use contrast to locate the center of the pupil and use infrared and near-infrared non-collumnated light to create a corneal reflection (CR). The vector between these two features can be used to compute gaze intersection with a surface after a simple calibration for an individual.

Wikipedia. Articles>Usability>Methods>Eye Tracking

Eye Tracking: Eye Candy vs. I Can Do

Eye tracking is definitely not a magic bullet or 'the closest thing to mind reading'. It does however serve as both a great piece of eye candy for senior executives with little time and is very powerful in helping come up with the most effective page design.

McElhaw, Mark. Webcredible (2007). Design>Usability>Methods>Eye Tracking

Eye-Tracking Studies: Usability Holy Grail?

The reality is that eye-tracking, while valuable, doesn't make usability testing any more powerful. It's what you do with the observations and the usability test data that counts.

Spillers, Frank. Demystifying Usability (2004). Articles>Usability>Methods>Eye Tracking