Message Design and Content Creation: Info Design

1. Message Design and Content Creation:Info Design 6 February 2007 Kathy E. Gill

2. Agenda • Lecture – Information Architecture • Discussion Leaders • Lab • Team/Project Kathy E. Gill, uwdigitalmedia.org

3. Recap: Our goal is flow • The process of an optimal experience • The activity feels seamless • It is intrinsically enjoyable • Individual loses self-consciousness Kathy E. Gill, uwdigitalmedia.org

4. Eight Golden Rules of Interface Design(1/3) • Strive for consistency (the most frequently violated rule): • Terminology • Prompts • Menus • Help screens • Color • Layout • Capitalization • Fonts Kathy E. Gill, uwdigitalmedia.org

5. Eight Golden Rules of Interface Design(2/3) • Let frequent users use shortcuts • Abbreviations • Special keys • Hidden commands • Macro facilities • Offer informative feedback • Design dialogs to yield closure • Sequences of actions should be organized into groups • Beginning, middle, and an end Kathy E. Gill, uwdigitalmedia.org

6. Eight Golden Rules of Interface Design(3/3) • Offer error prevention and simple error handling • Permit easy reversal of actions • Support internal locus of control • Reduce short-term memory load Kathy E. Gill, uwdigitalmedia.org

7. Effective navigation Clearly communicates • Where am I? • Where have I been? • Where can I go? Kathy E. Gill, uwdigitalmedia.org

8. Navigation icons • Should not require explanation • Must represent the correct concept • Must be visually distinct • Are appropriately sized • Text (label) is often the best visual cue Kathy E. Gill, uwdigitalmedia.org

9. Menus (1/2) • Types • Static, pull down, fly-out, pop-up • Recognition, not recall (memory) • Menu organization • Alphabetical • Chronological • Categorical Kathy E. Gill, uwdigitalmedia.org

10. Menus (2/2) • Provide real-estate savings • But have invisible info • Pull-down, fly-out • Horizontal or vertical • Pop up menus • Appear at various places on the screen Kathy E. Gill, uwdigitalmedia.org

11. Object-Action Model of Interaction • Understand tasks • Evaluate real-world objects and the actions applied to those objects • Create interface representations • Objects and actions • Make interface actions visible to users Kathy E. Gill, uwdigitalmedia.org

12. Task Hierarchies • Computer system designers must generate a hierarchy of objects and actions (the interaction) that successfully models user tasks: • Representations in pixels on a screen • Representations in physical devices • Representations in voice or other audio cue Kathy E. Gill, uwdigitalmedia.org

13. Semantic Understanding • Understand how the process works, the meaning of an action • A mouse click • A submit button Kathy E. Gill, uwdigitalmedia.org

14. Syntactic Understanding • Understand the specific rules of behavior that achieve an action • In Windows, double-click on a file to launch (open) the application and load file • On the Web, single-click an underlined word to go to a new Web page Kathy E. Gill, uwdigitalmedia.org

15. When Syntax Vanishes (1/2) • We are forced to maintain a profusion of device-dependent details in our memory. • Which action erases a character? • Which abbreviations are permissible? • Which of the numbered function keys produces the previous screen? Kathy E. Gill, uwdigitalmedia.org

16. When Syntax Vanishes (2/2) • Learning, use and knowledge retention is hampered when details vary across systems unpredictably • Syntactic knowledge is learned through repeated usage   • Syntactic knowledge is system dependent -- and note: our visitors perceive “the Web” as a system, violate only after careful deliberation Kathy E. Gill, uwdigitalmedia.org

17. Our Job • To minimize syntactic/memory burdens • Familiar objects and actions represent their task objects and actions • Standard (or de facto standard) widgets • Why did the mailbox not work as early e-mail icon? Kathy E. Gill, uwdigitalmedia.org

18. Five Tests of Effectiveness (1/2) • Time to learn How long does it take for typical members of the community to learn how to complete task? • Speed of performance How long does it take to perform relevant benchmarks? • Rate of errors by users How many and what kinds of errors are commonly made during typical applications? Kathy E. Gill, uwdigitalmedia.org

19. Five Tests of Effectiveness (2/2) • Retention over time Frequency of use and ease of learning help make for better user retention • Subjective satisfaction Allow for user feedback – interviews (focus groups), online surveys (both free-form comments and satisfaction scales). Kathy E. Gill, uwdigitalmedia.org

20. Design for Diversity • Personality differences • Cultural and international diversity • Users with disabilities • Elderly users • Anything else? Kathy E. Gill, uwdigitalmedia.org

21. Raskin’s Rules • The user should set the pace of the interaction • Error avoidance, facilitated with “undo/redo” • Accessible to the naïve, efficient for the expert Kathy E. Gill, uwdigitalmedia.org

22. Errors are not mistakes! • Mistakes are the result of conscious deliberation • Slips result from automatic behavior • Norman’s Types: capture, description, data-driven, associative activation, loss-of-activation and mode errors Kathy E. Gill, uwdigitalmedia.org

23. Good Error Messages • Polite • Illuminating • Treat the user with respect Kathy E. Gill, uwdigitalmedia.org

24. Design for Error • Minimize occurrence by understanding the causes of errors • Make detection and recovery easier • Change the attitude toward error from “stupid user” to “stupid design” Kathy E. Gill, uwdigitalmedia.org

25. One small problem: • When you design an error-tolerant system, people come to rely on that system (it had best be reliable!) • Anti-lock brakes (ABS) • Blade guard on circular saw • Anything else? Kathy E. Gill, uwdigitalmedia.org

26. To increase errors, add a little: • Social pressure • Time pressure • Economic pressure In other words, real life! Kathy E. Gill, uwdigitalmedia.org

27. Resultant design philosophy: • Put knowledge in the world (iow, make options visible) • Remember the three questions: • Where am I, where can I go, where have I been? • Design for errors Kathy E. Gill, uwdigitalmedia.org

28. Next Week: • Genres Kathy E. Gill, uwdigitalmedia.org