#23879
The Harmonics of Usability: A Trio of Implications for Software Interface Design 
In the world of usability, Thomas Gilbert, human performance engineer; John Bowie, information engineer; and Genichi Taguchi, quality engineer, are singing a three-part harmony. Exemplifying different generations as well as three distinct but overlapping domains, these experts converge at a vantage point from which they should be jointly capable of conducting the whole orchestra. This article explains the contributions each individual has made, directly or indirectly, to the domain of software development.
Sommers, Adele. Usability Interface (2003). Articles>Usability>User Interface
#21177
Hierarchical Menus with the Underrated style.display Object
One of the most common DHTML requests I get is for a Windows Explorer-style hierarchical menu, where there's a list of topics or 'folders' that a user can click on to reveal subtopics, or 'files,' within that folder. It's a common desktop metaphor that seems ever more necessary on the Web, especially as we see navigation bars incorporating larger and more complex content while still trying to fit on the screen. Hierarchical menus are a solution to the common problem of having too many links in too small a space.
Pena, Bill. O'Reilly and Associates (2002). Design>Web Design>User Interface>DHTML
#29780
How Design Documents Enhance Information Product Development Process Quality
Panelists from LSI Logic Storage Systems review their company's approach to enhancing process quality by using design documents as process enforcement and project-planning tools for planning the development of information products (IP). Hear how effective planning solves problems that occur during the IP development process and how capturing the planning elements in design documents helps solve role-based problems for developers, editors, and managers. Discuss the many problems design documents help project teams solve: they help developers solidify the IP development task sequence, they help editors define the rhetorical context, and they help managers reduce the cost of rework.
Burroughs, Dia H., Randy Clark, Sylvia McCombs and Tony Washington. STC Proceedings (2004). Articles>Documentation>User Interface>Workflow
#25087
How Many Items Should Go in a Menu?
A lot of people think 7 ± 2 (i.e., between 5 and 9, with a preference for 7). NO! It isn’t! And here I will explain why.
Salmoni, Alan James. Milui (2005). Articles>User Interface>User Centered Design
#20834
How Much Bandwidth is Enough? A Tbps!
In the long term we will need about a million times more bandwidth than a T1, as shown by the following list of requirements for the perfect user interface.
Alertbox (1995). Articles>Human Computer Interaction>User Interface
#18686
How To Avoid Foolish Consistency
People don't like to learn things. If they take the time to learn something, they expect to be able to apply that knowledge in many places. It follows that good designers conserve the number of things users need to learn to get stuff done. The streets in American cities are good examples of conservation of knowledge. Anywhere in America, yield and stop signs look exactly the same. Traffic lights use red, yellow, and green to mean precisely the same things regardless of the street or city. Mailboxes on street corners use the same colors and icons, so they are clearly identifiable anywhere. It becomes difficult for people when their knowledge of things breaks down. A driver from a country with different street signs who visits America will make mistakes until they learn the new signs. Even subtle variances like the difference in speed of two different yellow traffic lights can cause American drivers to make mistakes.
Berkun, Scott. UIWeb (1999). Design>User Interface>User Centered Design
#26915
How to Build a Better Web Browser
Web browsers are funny things. On the one hand, they’re supposed to be lightweight little programs that just let you view websites, and on the other, they carry the same burdens as operating systems and application suites, trying to provide everything to everyone. Here in this little essay I explain what I know about designing browsers. I’m in the lucky minority of people that have actually designed successful browsers, or parts of them, for any length of time, and with Firefox and Opera in the headlines, and the art of browser design becomes important again, I thought I’d write down some of what I know. Its been years since I was a program manager on the Internet Explorer project, but I’ve maintained interests in the design of navigation and searching systems of all kinds: what follows is a rough summary of what I’ve learned.
Berkun, Scott. ScottBerkun.com (2006). Articles>Web Design>User Interface>Web Browsers
#13504
How to Design a Web Table of Contents
There's something in our human nature that makes us want to dive into things, to browse, to dabble. We first try to program our VCRs without looking at the manual. We drive for awhile; if we get lost, we look at a map or ask directions (or not, depending on our gender).
Toub, Steve. WebTechniques (1999). Design>User Interface>Web Design
#24808
How to Design an Effective User Interface
Technical communicators who work as members of software development teams often act as user advocates. Part of this role includes working with developers to design screens that allow users to easily use the software and understand the information presented. This two-part workshop presents various exercies and handouts which help attendees develop an easy-to-use and understand interface for users.
Chiricosta, Tracey C. and Alice Alspach Jones. STC Proceedings (1996). Articles>User Interface>Usability
#24785
How to Design an Effective User Interface
Technical communicators who work as members of software development teams often act as user advocates. Part of this role includes working with developers to design screens that allow users to easily use the software and understand the information presented. This workshop presents various exercises and handouts which help attendees develop an easy-to-use and understand interface for users.
Chiricosta, Tracey C. and Alice A. Jones. STC Proceedings (1995). Design>User Interface
#26949
Human Factors is often used interchangeably with User Interface Design or Human-Computer Interface. There is a lot of overlap in these disciplines; however, Human Factors generally refers to hardware design while HCI generally refers to software design.
Usernomics. Design>Human Computer Interaction>User Interface
#19004
Human Interface Design Principles
This section provides a theoretical base for the wealth of practical information on implementing the Aqua interface elements presented in the rest of this book. You’ll undoubtedly find that you can’t design in accordance with all of the principles all the time. In those situations, you’ll have to make decisions based on which principle or set of principles is most important in the context of the task you’re solving. User testing is often an excellent way to decide between conflicting principles in a particular context.
Apple Inc. (2003). Design>Human Computer Interaction>User Interface
#27993
Icon Analysis: Evaluating Low Spatial Frequency Compositions
Icons that are difficult to tell apart can lead to disastrous consequences. Queen shows us how studying the way the human visual system encodes information can lead to more effective icon design.
Queen, Matt. Boxes and Arrows (2006). Design>User Interface>Usability
#18578
Icons: Much Ado About Something
Every battle has a psy-ops component, otherwise known as psychological operations. Each side attempts to demoralize the other and re-moralize its own troops. In UI design, the battle against GUIs from hell is no different. Recall the evil influence of cryptodesign – design ideas that work for certain situations but get misapplied in other, quite different circumstances. We’ve seen a lot of developer trauma associated with icon design: cryptohyperinconitis. But hang on. This article gives you, the troops in the field, some psycho-innoculation against the cryptic IMFAP syndrome (Icon Mania, Fetish, and Phobia)!
Schaffer, Eric M. Human Factors International (1996). Design>User Interface
#31997
IDEA 2008: An Interview with Bill DeRouchey
Bill DeRouchey is fascinated with buttons and the history of interface design. He talks to us as he prepares for IDEA 2008, October 7-8. In Chicago, Bill hopes to help attendees expand their sources of inspiration to include just about anything in their everyday lives.
Unger, Russ. Boxes and Arrows (2008). Articles>Interviews>User Interface>User Experience
#28414
The Impact of Globalization on User Interface Design 
Did you ever try to use a machine that has been programmed in a foreign language? Or perhaps, even with an unfamiliar character set? Suddenly everything seems to be different although only the language has changed. This is the situation faced by many foreign users that work with German machines.
Zühlke, Detlef, Alexander Bödcher and Kersitn Röse. Tekom (2006). Articles>User Interface>Globalization>Localization
#15145
Inductive User Interfaces: A New Opportunity for Writers
Discusses inductive user interfaces, which use single screens to guide users through each task in a software program.
Carlson, Janice L. Intercom (2002). Design>User Centered Design>User Interface
#21079
Information Architecture for the Rest of Us
The purpose of this article is to explain information architecture in a very simple and clear manner. If you have been confused about information architecture and what it is all about, this is exactly the article you should read. An analogy is used to get at the core concepts and several useful examples are provided.
Rhodes, John S. WebWord (2002). Articles>Information Design>User Interface
#13536
If the experts are on the mark, very soon handheld computer technology—--also known as the personal digital assistants (PDA)—--will supplant the desktop computer as ubiquitous technology on campuses and in the workplace (Weiser 1998; Chen 1999). In 1998, Gaston Bastien, vice president and general manager for the Personal Interactive Electronics Division of Apple Computer, noted that the handheld computer market 'could potentially grow larger than today's computer industry,' partly because of the capability of dynamic, modular design, and partly because its utility spills over to diverse communities of users. In 2001, Gartner Research (Bloomberg News 2001) predicted a 260% increase in unit sales, from 9.39 million units in 2000, to 33.7 million units in 2004.
Albers, Michael J. and Loel Kim. Technical Communication Online (2002). Design>Information Design>Web Design>User Interface
#20819
Information Retrieval of Imperfectly Recognized Handwriting
A user test of handwritten input on a pen machine achieved a 1.6% recognition error rate at the character level, corresponding to 8.8% errors on the word level. Input speed was 10 words per minute. In spite of the recognition errors, information retrieval of the handwritten notes was almost as good as retrieval of perfect text.
Nielsen, Jakob, Victoria L. Phillips and Susan T. Dumais. Alertbox (1993). Articles>Human Computer Interaction>User Interface
#23285
InfoRomanticism on the Internet
The internet is becoming more data-intensive. This is both an inevitable and perpetual reality.
Olsen, Henrik. GUUUI (2003). Design>Web Design>User Interface
#23999
Before starting to innovate, it is important to reflect on how different flavors of innovation are perceived by the people who will eventually use a product and what risks and opportunities are associated with each. Then comes the hard part: figuring out what the right innovations are and how to implement them.
Kinsolving, Ernest. Cooper Interaction Design (2001). Design>User Interface>User Centered Design
#28205
Innovative User Interface Design
Increasing numbers of websites are developing new types of user interface design, taking advantage of users' increasing levels of Internet-sophistication and faster connections. This article will have a look at some of them.
Fidgeon, Tim. uiGarden (2006). Design>Web Design>User Interface
#28658
Instructional Text in the User Interface: Some Counterintuitive Implications of User Behaviors
User assistance occurs within an action context--the user doing something with an application--and should appear in close proximity to the focus of that action--that is, the application it supports. The optimal placement of user assistance, space permitting, is in the user interface itself. We typically call that kind of user assistance instructional text. But when placing user assistance within an application as instructional text, we must modify conventional principles of good information design to accommodate certain forces within an interactive user interface. This column, User Assistance, talks about how the rules for effective instruction change when creating instructional text for display within the context of a user interface.
Hughes, Michael A. UXmatters (2007). Articles>User Interface>Help>Online
#30020
Instructive Interaction: Making Innovative Interfaces Self-Teaching
An innovative approach to enhancing ease of use and learning for novel user interfaces is described. Instructive interaction comprises a body of techniques based on a learning-by-doing model that is supported by three design principles: explorability, predictability, and guidance. Taken together, these principles form the basis for creative designs that can support highly efficient production use by experienced users while also enabling new users to understand and make effective use of an unfamiliar system almost immediately. The underlying principles of instructive interaction are presented here and an assortment of specific techniques based on these principles is described.
Constantine, Larry L. and Lucy A.D. Lockwood. Constantine and Lockwood (2002). Articles>User Interface>Documentation
