Interface design

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England, Elaine and Finney, Andy (2002). Managing Multimedia: Project Management for Web and Convergent Media. Book 1: People and Processes. Pearson Education Limited. England.
Besides the following quotes, in this chapter it is considered the use of sound and the use of colour. Also some issues for accessibility and usability are mentioned.
Useful Quotes
Useful Quotes
Chapter 8. Interface Design

• All online and offline websites and applications have an infrastructure that links the component parts together so that users understand what is contained in them, how the information is organized, and what they need to do to activate the separate pieces. P180
• The research on icons can be linked with that on signs and symbols called semiotics. In multimedia any pictorial representation that a user can select is called and icon. But in the theory of signs, icons are images that are readily recognizable. They are not symbolic; they are realistic to the extent that they are recognizable without explanation. P182
• In the theory of signs, icons can be classified into iconograms, pictograms, cartograms, and diagram to help define their individual functions. Iconograms are like picons –realistic pictures. Pictograms are equivalent to icons, and so are related to more symbolic, abstract images. There is no equivalent of the miniature moving image in sign theory as by nature it is a study of static images. P182
• Using everyday metaphors helps people to remember icons if and when the set of icons relate to an overall metaphor. The overall metaphor of a book or an office has been used successfully, with individual icons relating to specific details consistent with the metaphor, for example. P184
• Icons tend to be collected together in a bar at the top or left of the screen. P184
• The more you understand your target audience, the better your design will be. At present the hardest audience to design for is the public because although their use is gradually being analysed and lessons drawn from this, there is relatively little profile of use for different sectors and age groups. But is relatively little steadily over the next few years. P185
• If your project is tied to a specific target group it is best if you spend time building up a profile of them, their multimedia literacy level, what they would like form the application, and their expectations of what information/results they want from the interactive application. P 185
• If there is any way to get the budget to build a prototype application that would include usability testing of the interface, then go for it. P187
• Usability tests provide a wealth of information, but they are of little use unless they are carried out methodically and professionally. Unless this happens, conflicting results and recommendations will be made. P187
• It is too easy to base interface decisions on your experience rather than on the experience of the target audience. This does not mean that insights gained from experience are not valuable. Nor does it mean that you have to suppress any creative ideas about interface design. It is an evolving area, so there is scope for flexibility and experimentation as long as these are recognized as such, and tried out with the intended audience. It may be that they will experience some difficulties with the interface design. But the important aspect is that you notice where and why there are problems and reach some decisions on (a) how to eradicate them or (b) adding Help to educate the users into using the new aspects successfully. P187
• One of the misconceptions about usability tests is that you need a large number of people to produce valid results. More recent research has shown that up to 80% of the problems were found with between 4 and 5 participants and that 90% were detected with 10 users. P187
• Usability.gov says “Usability is the measure of the quality of a user’s experience when interacting with a product or system whether a website, a software application, mobile technology, or any user operated device. P 192
• According to Computer Solutions Consulting UK: Easy to use means: effortless (requires little training or mental investment), obvious (the software is clear, instinctual and non-misleading), simple (anyone can use the software)and uncomplicated (there are no hidden meanings) P193
• Gaining the user’s attention is the first criterion. In offline applications this might be triggered by the packaging and the content summaries written on the packaging. For web pages, the speed of download of the download of the page determines the user’s attention above and beyond anything else. If the users are not engaged quickly – by finding relevance in even the fragments of pages that build first as they download – they will move on P193You need to catch the eye of the user with headings, text labels or something relevant to what they are looking for so that they begin to relate to the content as the page is forming. P194
• Nielsen explains that once you have users’ attention, then they will wait longer as they click through to larger chunks of information and will even be prepared to wait for the download of some video of a topic they know they want to see. P194
• Screens are harder to read and people spend less time and effort on web pages than print. This means that you need to make an impact faster. To achieve this: organize the content more efficiently, sequence it appropriately, use more headings, use smaller paragraphs, use shorter sentences, use lists and tables.

Authors:
Jacob Nielsen (Designing web usability), Cloninger, Bob Hughes (dust or Magic: Secrets of Successful Multimedia Design)
See

• http://usability.gov/
• http://www.lab404.com/dan
• http://www.37signals.com/manifesto.html

Accessibility diagnostic site

• http://www.cast.org/bobby/

Alberto Ramirez Martinell