#21488
Designing the Handheld Maritime Communicator 
We present the process of designing the first prototype of the Handheld Maritime Communicator: a mobile computer system supporting communication and coordination of safety-critical work activities on large container vessels. Designing the user experience of the Handheld Maritime Communicator was a particular challenge because it targets a highly specialized context of use and because poor design could potentially become a safety hazard. Meeting this challenge, ethnographic field studies on board container vessels were conducted, detailed analyses were carried out, and iterative design was performed. The design produced replaces a large amount of present spoken communication with predefined textual messages on a handheld device. This facilitates persistency, partial automation, and possible integration with other computer-based data. Evaluating the prototype in a high-fidelity ship simulator, prospective users validated the overall design, but also identified a number of usability problems that need to be addressed.
Kjeldskov, Jesper and Jan Stage. AIGA (2003). Design>User Interface>EPSS>Usability
#24427
Designing the Interface for an Electronic Document
Interfaces are more than skin deep. To create a successful electronic documentation project the structure of the information, the navigation and the visual design must all work together. Research Publications' American Journey series of CD-ROMs on topics in American history is a good example of an interface designed from the inside out.
Quesenbery, Whitney. STC Proceedings (1995). Design>User Interface
#10542
In the discussion of interface components we sometimes found it difficult to keep logical interface components separate from toolkit interface components. For example, a label is a logical interface component that describes another component. However, a label is also a toolkit interface component that is used to display non-interactive text and graphics. As such, a label may by used for other functions besides describing other components. For example, a label may be used to create a section header or to display some icons. Wherever possible, we tried to make the distinction between logical and toolkit interface component explicit.
HCIRN (2001). Design>User Interface
#18968
Developing an effective framework for a large collection of linked documents involves: creating an efficient hierarchy of information; mapping task flows through the information hierarchy; determining the best depth for the information space; and creating nodes of appropriate length. These four tasks should be undertaken in order. Each one depends on the outcomes of preceding tasks. Because these elements are interdependent, however, several good solutions to the first two should be developed so that problems with site depth and node length can be addressed.
Kaplan, Nancy and Meg Heisse. University of Baltimore (1998). Design>Web Design>User Interface
#20971
prompting them only when they must make a decision. A wizard involves a structured series of dialogues that applies users’ responses to produce a result, such as installing software or writing a business letter. It is different from a tutorial and other online information in that it helps users accomplish a task, not teaches them how to do it. A wizard is a performance support tool; that is, it supports users as they perform a task. Because the system performs some of the work, it can seemingly bring a user to a higher performance level in less time than conventional training methods. But the cost can be a dumbing down of tasks. Users perform tasks without understanding them and aren’t aware of the underlying decisions. As a result, users may not be able to perform tasks if the system is down. You should use a wizard to build performance only when people can perform a task without knowing all of the steps.
Carliner, Saul. Saul Carliner Studio (2003). Design>User Interface>Wizards
#28496
Selections of 'least favorite' designs from graduate students of the George Mason University Department of Psychology.
Mintz, Farilee. Usability Interface (2006). Design>User Interface>Human Computer Interaction>User Centered Design
#29964
Develop an Ajax-Based File Upload Portlet Using DWR
File upload is a basic function of today's Web portals. In this article, authors Xiaobo Yang and Rob Allan describe how to develop an Ajax-based file upload JSR 168-compliant portlet using DWR (Direct Web Remoting). DWR is an ideal Ajax framework for Java developers that dynamically generates JavaScript based on server-side deployed Java classes. You will learn how you can use DWR to retrieve file upload progress from the portal server.
Yang, Xiabo and Robert Allan. IBM (2007). Articles>Web Design>User Interface>Ajax
#30146
Developing Interface Standards: Compliance From a Corporate Perspective
This paper discusses the role of an information developer in defining application interface standards and ensuring compliance across all applications. An interface, such as an application screen or system-generated report, should be consistent to enhance ease-of-processing for the end users.
Davis, Sondra K. STC Proceedings (1997). Articles>User Interface>Standards
#28692
During my years as an interface designer, I've worked with lots of different development teams. From big companies to small startups, the interactions between me--the product designer--and developers have been pretty consistent. We work through what interactions and features are possible given our timeframe and resources. We discuss edge cases and clarify how specific interactions should work. We debate product strategy, information architecture, target audience, front-end technologies, and more. We also frequently encounter the same issue: the need to consider what's not there.
Wroblewski, Luke. UXmatters (2006). Design>User Interface
#30033
Developing User Interface Guidelines for DVD Menus
Watching DVDs can be a frustrating experience, because DVD menus often miss out on usability and are complex and difficult to navigate through. Similar to the early years of web development, there is a lack of design standards. In this paper, we show the development of user interface guidelines for DVD menus. These guidelines can be used to design and evaluate DVD menus. We built a prototype according to the guidelines, conducted usability tests with the prototype and evaluated other movie DVDs using the guidelines to show the applicability, utility and usability of the guidelines.
Kappel, Karin, Martin Tomitsch, Thomas Koltringer and Thomas Grechenig. Proceedings of ACM CHI 2006 (2006). Design>User Interface>Multimedia>DVD
#26420
Developing Voice Interfaces for Legacy Web Applications
Traditionally, web applications are accessed via a single mode interface; information is presented and captured with text. However, one can additionally use a voice browser to navigate the Internet. One can navigate or access 'hands free' Internet applications from anywhere; you are not restricted to the desktop or a portable computer. VoiceXML is a language for Internet telephony applications and is based on the XML language. VoiceXML can 'speech-enable' an existing web application to be used through a conversational interface, providing a more natural way of interaction between users and Internet applications.
Quiané, Jorge and Jorge Manjarrez. ACM Crossroads (2003). Design>Web Design>User Interface>Audio
#26414
The Development of a Game Playing Framework Using Interface-Based Programming
The Java programming language contains object-oriented features enabling the construction of interface-based application frameworks. Interfaces separate module implementation from core implementation, thus simplifying module development. The following article demonstrates how to take advantage of Java interfaces by designing and implementing a game playing application framework.
Cohen, Mark A. ACM Crossroads (2004). Design>User Interface>Programming>Games
#27574
Does a Good User Interface Obviate the Need for Documentation?
This question was raised on a programmer's group recently and I was intrigued. The programmer's point was that with many web applications these days there is no print documentation distributed to end users, and even if it existed, many users won't read it although this makes me wonder who's buying all those how-to books I see in the bookstore. The programmer suggested that applications should be designed without documentation and wondered about the impact that would have on design.
Sprezzatura Systems (2002). Articles>Documentation>User Interface>Software
#21084
This article discusses turn signals and how they are used. Turn signals improve safety because they give people time to react and they reduce driving ambiguity. However, they are only effective when people actually use them. Several lessons are applied to web usability.
Rhodes, John S. WebWord (2001). Articles>Usability>User Interface
#21460
Normally I would write a traditional conference overview to inform people about the recent Designing for User Experiences conference (DUX) held in San Francisco, June 6-8. Instead, I would like to impart a few of the impressions I came away with and recommend that everyone go to the AIGA Case Study Archive to read the papers that were accepted.
Malone, Erin. Boxes and Arrows (2003). Articles>Information Design>User Interface
#30862
DVD Menu Design: The Failures of Web Design Recreated Yet Again
Designers of DVDs have failed to profit from the lessons of previous media: Computer software, Internet web pages, and even WAP phones. As a result, the DVD menu structure is getting more and more baroque, less and less usable, less pleasurable, less effective. It is time to take DVD design as seriously as we do web design. The field needs some discipline some attention to the User Experience, and some standardization of control and display formats.
Norman, Donald A. Alertbox (2001). Design>User Interface>Multimedia>DVD
#23323
Dynamically Conjuring Drop-Down Navigation
Got content? Got pages and pages of content? Wouldn’t it be nice if you could offer your readers a drop-down menu providing instant access to any page, without having to sit down and program the darned thing? By marrying a seemingly forgotten XHTML element to simple, drop-in JavaScript, Christian Heilmann shows how to do just that. There’s even a PHP backup for those whose browsers lack access to JavaScript. Turn on, tune in, drop-down.
Heilmann, Christian. List Apart, A (2004). Design>Web Design>User Interface>DHTML
#23911
Ease of Instant Messaging: How the use of IBM Lotus Sametime Changes Over Time
This article discusses the results of surveys that indicate the IBM Lotus Sametime instant messaging product is a successful 'walk-up-and-use' application, requiring little documentation and no training. Users achieve a commercially significant level of performance within three months. In addition, over a much longer period, users continue to develop their skills (chat behaviors), social networks (chat partners), and attitudes toward the technology (reasons for using IM). This combination of attributes — ease of learning and sustained development of skills and strategies — is unusual in Human-computer interaction, and poses some unique challenges for creating a product that experienced users continue to find useful and usable.
IBM (2004). Articles>Human Computer Interaction>User Interface>Instant Messaging
#30479
Easy, Intuitive and Metaphor, and Other Meaningless Words
A vital skill for designers is to notice fine detail in the other designs which form part of the technological ecosystem in which their design will live. For example, on Mac OS there are now two different styles of text entry fields for forms. One has square corners, and is used for general data entry. The other has rounded ends, and is used for entering searches. I was recently outraged to find a piece of software which used the rounded style for data entry. This kind of design vandalism muddies the rules which users would otherwise learn, and devalues all software on the platform.
Bagnall, Peter. uiGarden (2007). Articles>User Interface>Human Computer Interaction
#28661
Effective User Assistance Design: Ten Best Practices
In a utopian world, a product would be so perfect it would not need any user assistance at all. But in reality, products aren't perfect, and users need assistance through different stages of their use. User assistance (UA)--in the form of manuals or online Help--guides users in their tasks, suggests better ways of getting their work done, and provides directions for troubleshooting their problems.
Dalvi, Meghashri. UXmatters (2007). Articles>User Interface>Help>Online
#29821
Effects of RSVP Display Design on Visual Performance in Accomplishing Dual Tasks with Small Screens 
Rapid serial visual presentation (RSVP) represents a mechanism for exhibiting temporal information instead of spatial information to overcome the limitations of small-screen devices. Previous studies examining this area focused only on information presented by RSVP displays and disregarded changes in the performance of accompanying tasks associated with such displays. Therefore, this investigation performed a dual-task experiment (a search task for static information and a reading task for RSVP display information) to examine the effects of presentation mode (character-by-character, word-by-word, and one-line format), speed (171, 260, 350, and 430 characters per minute, or cpm), and text-flow orientation (vertical and horizontal orientation) of RSVP display information on the visual performance of users during different stages of usage (whether current usage is the first, second, third, fourth, fifth, or eighth day of usage) for a small screen.
Chen, Chien-Hsiung and Yu-Hung Chien. International Journal of Design (2007). Design>User Interface>Information Design>Usability
#18729
Los enlaces, en la actual Web, tienen la función de representar un vínculo o conexión unidireccional entre dos nodos web. Son la unidad básica de interacción de los sistemas hipertexto, por lo que la interacción en la Web comúnmente es conocida como Navegación. En un espacio virtual compuesto por nodos y vínculos entre dichos nodos, si se entiende que la ubicación del usuario está en el nodo que se encuentra visualizando, la interacción sobre los enlaces con la posterior visualización de otros nodos se entiende como un desplazamiento o, en un océano de nodos, como navegación. Para que el usuario dentro de nuestro sitio web experimente una navegación eficiente, fácil y satisfactoria, los enlaces no sólo tendrán que conectar nodos con contenidos verdaderamente relacionados, sino además presentarse de tal forma que el usuario entienda sin ambigüedades que se trata de un enlace, comprendiendo consecuentemente su función.
Hassan Montero, Yusef. Nosolousabilidad.com (2002). (Spanish) Design>User Interface>Usability
#23873
Electronic Voting: Usability, Communication, Trust
Beyond just the undeniable importance of a usable form and voting mechanism, is the need to consider the comfort and satisfaction of voters dealing with sometimes radically changed voting systems, especially when the move is from paper-based voting systems to electronic systems.
Bachmann, Karen L. Usability Interface (2003). Articles>Usability>User Interface>Civic
#21430
Elephants in the Living Room: The Destructive Role of Denial in Web Design
Four of your fellow development team members, all trying to do their specific jobs to the best of their abilities, have the power to sink your best effort at interaction design. As an interaction designer, it is your job to see they don't do so. (If you are not an interaction designer, read on anyway; you may be surprised to learn that you may be part of the problem.)
Tognazzini, Bruce. Nielsen Norman Group (2000). Articles>Web Design>User Interface>Collaboration
#30015
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
