#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
#26034
New Plasma Screens Fail London's Commuters
Although the new screens at Waterloo station use the latest screen technology and look very impressive, they have not been designed with the hassled and hurried commuter in mind.
Usability by Design (2005). Articles>User Interface>Accessibility>Usability
#20818
Several new user interface technologies and interaction principles seem to define a new generation of user interfaces that will move off the flat screen and into the physical world to some extent. Many of these next-generation interfaces will not have the user control the computer through commands, but will have the computer adapt the dialogue to the user's needs based on its inferences from observing the user. This article defines twelve dimensions across which future user interfaces may differ from the canonical window systems of today: User focus, the computer's role, interface control, syntax, object visibility, interaction stream, bandwidth, tracking feedback, interface locus, user programming, and software packaging. Keywords: Agents, Animated icons, BITPICT, DWIM, Embedded help, Eye tracking, Generations of user interfaces, Gestural interfaces, Help systems, Home computing, Interactive fiction, Interface paradigms, Noncommand based user interfaces, Prototyping, Usability heuristics, Virtual realities, Wizard of Oz method.
Nielsen, Jakob. Alertbox (1993). Articles>Human Computer Interaction>User Interface>Usability
#14259
A Nose Gesture Interface Device: Extending Virtual Realities 
This paper reports on the development of a nose-machine interface device that provides real-time gesture, position, smell and facial expression information. The DATA NOSETM2—Data AtomaTa CORNUCOPIA pNeumatic Olfactory I/O-deviSE Tactile Manipulation—allows novice users without any formal nose training to perform complex interactive tasks.
Henry, Tyson, Scott E. Hudson, Andrey K. Yeatts, Brad A. Myers and Steven Feiner. Carnegie Mellon University (1991). Humor>Usability>User Interface
#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
#31907
Should the OK button come before or after the Cancel button? Following platform conventions is more important than suboptimizing an individual dialog box.
Nielsen, Jakob. Alertbox (2008). Articles>Human Computer Interaction>User Interface>Usability
#27262
Many, many episodes of a comic for user interface designers.
#21094
On Being Modern: New Technologies and Voting Outside the US
The argument most frequently advanced in the United Kingdom in favour of implementing electronic voting is that it will increase turnout. In the UK, the under-25s tend to avoid voting in elections of any type. Local government and European Parliament elections rank among the worst for turnout (below 40 percent) and demonstrate a continuous downward trend in recent years.
Ferguson, Louise. Usability Professionals Association (2003). Articles>Usability>User Interface>Civic
#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
#22271
OnStar Takes Voice XML for Drive
GM unit prepares for mobile content delivery.
Sliwa, Carol. ComputerWorld. Articles>User Interface>XML>Voice
#11833
Optimizing System Usability Without Re-Design
Projects critical to the missions of business organizations fail, devastating operations as well as IS budgets. Other systems are created or purchased at great cost only to be underutilized or plagued with non-standard 'work-arounds' that undermine the core efficiencies of the system. Fortunately, many of these systems can be recovered. They are technically adequate and potentially usable. User’s perceptions that they are unusable can be changed* through a multifaceted intervention process that we call Mission Critical System Optimization.
Orr, M. David. Usability Interface (1998). Articles>Usability>User Interface
#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
#21419
Panther: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly
For a long time, people have been writing me, asking that I do an in depth review of OS X. I held off because I really didn't think OS X was ready for prime time. That's all changed. OS X, in the form of the Panther release, is more than ready.
Tognazzini, Bruce. Nielsen Norman Group (2004). Articles>User Interface>Operating Systems>Macintosh
#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
#27573
Software is sometimes poorly designed to begin with and the interface should be scrapped and rebuilt from scratch. But more often than not, I see software that started with a decent design and has since had features added onto it with each release, squeezed into the existing design rather than being designed in. People aren't in a design mindset but an 'enhancement' mindset somehow.
Ferlazzo, Ellen Lawson. Sprezzatura Systems (2002). Articles>User Interface>Usability
#30824
The problem of the perpetual super-novice is the tendency of people to stop learning about a digital product--whether it's an operating system, desktop application, Web site, or hardware device.
Sherman, Paul J. UXmatters (2007). Articles>Usability>User Experience>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
