PUI notes Feb 20

user testing is powerful data - makes it difficult for someone to argue with your ideas as long as you have the test data from the right users.

icons were supposed to be the salvation of the user interface, but it is turning our that isn't so true. A good thing to do if using icon and text - 

Simplicity is good. 

Don't just take what the user says they want - think about it... often people don't like what they suggest....

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Lecture

Dialog ----

shared assumptions

vocabulary - if you use words that the user either doesn't know or has another meaning for you are in trouble.  (example - Randy says remember this - don't eat the cookies if the seal is broken (joke - but remember that the child is doing the correct thing based on his knowledge and the context of animal crackers))

feedback - 

undo/backup (people expect this)

"meaning" vs "form" of a message

metaphor/analogy
	desktop
	Rolodex
	file cabinet
(Randy thinks that the interest in these things was always - drinking the Koolaid - the metaphor isn't really very helpful. For example desktop metaphor - really doesn't behave much like a desktop - maybe the names helped some people to reduce anxiety for use - really the desktop was just consistent and good design)

-------> don't push too hard on these (metaphors)


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both text and pictures/icons - once again icons aren't often very effective

Dale O'Rourke "The Living Word Vocabulary" 44,000 words in the english dictionary - looks at which words people actually know. 

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NOt just the user's terminology - also the user's point of view 
use "you have deleted...." not "we have deleted........"

Always leave the user feeling in control. 

name choices: 
	let the users vote
	error rates go down 
	especially for transfer of skill
	(learning is often context-specific)


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Feedback: "uh huh"


Response Time: 

0.1 second --> optimal (this is the fastest that people are likely to notice the difference - faster doesnt help much)

1.0 second --> aware of interface, can keep train of thought. 
 
10 seconds --> need to know if system is alive, still working, should I wait?

Faster is almost always better but not always. For example tic tac toe against computer - users found it bad when o appeared to quickly - other situation when playing against computer - look at context

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is system still alive?? 

Progress bars are good but very difficult technically to make accurate

also make sure to let user know when truly dead

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drawing users attention

blinking tag - this is pretty awful - only blink if want user to stop in tracks... since this is in html now browsers have stopped supporting the blinking tag.

of course advertising people want your attention (herb simon - the scare resource)...

color - don't over due - <= 7 colors, light gray in background is nice. or muted pastels

typeface - bold, italic, size, Uppercase - 10% slower to read ;)

color-blindness - red/green is most common - USE COLOR ONLY AS A REDUNDANT CUE


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Recommended Tufte books

Use Color To:

categorize
differentiate
highlight

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Do not use color to:

give information
esp. quantitative information

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Combinations: fore and background

avoid disasters
don't strive for perfection

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Clutter and cost

Everything on the display costs something to be there

"white space" is a design tool, not a sign of inefficiency. 

Affects experts too! (Nielson, p 121)

Less is More!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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marketing decisions may sometimes diverge from usability findings.



