Designed for Use: Create Usable Interfaces for Applications and the Web

✍ Scribed by Lukas Mathis

• Publisher: Pragmatic Bookshelf
• Year: 2011
• Tongue: English
• Leaves: 315
• Edition: 1
• Category: Library

✦ Synopsis

In this book for designers, developers, and product managers, expert developer and user interface designer Lukas Mathis explains how to make usability the cornerstone of every point in your design process, walking you through the necessary steps to plan the design for an application or website, test it, and get usage data after the design is complete. He shows you how to focus your design process on the most important thing: helping people get things done, easily and efficiently. The author presents a collection of valuable tips - organized in four distinct parts, filled with clever illustrations, and supported by fascinating psychological research. He teaches techniques that help you plan and evaluate your user interface design, and inspires you to look at design in a whole new way. He tells you exactly what to look for, and what to avoid, in creating applications and websites that people will be excited to use.

✦ Table of Contents

Contents......Page 6
Technique Chapters......Page 12
Idea Chapters......Page 13
How the Book Is Organized......Page 15
Just One More Thing......Page 16
Research......Page 17
User Research......Page 19
Job Shadowing and Contextual Interviews......Page 23
Job Shadowing......Page 24
Contextual Interviews......Page 25
Limitations of Contextual Interviews......Page 26
Personas......Page 30
Problems with Personas......Page 31
Creating Personas......Page 32
Working with Personas......Page 33
Personas Do Not Replace User Research......Page 34
Activity-Centered Design......Page 37
Time to Start Working on Documentation......Page 40
Blog Posts......Page 41
Press Releases......Page 42
Talk About Tasks......Page 43
Why Words Matter......Page 46
People Don't Want to Read......Page 47
Say Less......Page 48
No Fluff......Page 49
Sentences Should Have One Obvious Interpretation......Page 50
Talk Like a Human, Not Like a Company......Page 51
Illustrate Your Points......Page 52
Use Words People Understand......Page 53
Test Your Text......Page 54
Display Legible Text......Page 55
Hierarchies in User Interface Design......Page 58
Creating Hierarchical Structure Visually......Page 59
Card Sorting......Page 63
Designing Hierarchies......Page 64
Preparing for a Card Sort......Page 65
Participants......Page 66
Running a Card Sort......Page 67
Running a Remote Card Sort......Page 69
Evaluating the Results......Page 70
Guidelines for Creating Usable Hierarchies......Page 71
What People Think......Page 77
Hiding Implementation Details......Page 79
Leaky Abstractions......Page 82
Designing for Mental Models......Page 83
Design......Page 93
Sketching and Prototyping......Page 95
Flow Diagrams......Page 96
Sketching......Page 97
Mock-ups......Page 99
Tools......Page 101
Paper Prototype Testing......Page 104
Guerilla Paper Prototype Testing......Page 105
Running Full Usability Tests with Paper Prototypes......Page 107
Realism......Page 120
Symbols......Page 121
Virtual Versions of Real-World Objects......Page 123
Replicating Physical Constraints in Digital Products......Page 126
Natural User Interfaces......Page 130
Avoid Gesture Magic......Page 131
Recognizing Gestures......Page 132
Accidental Input......Page 134
Conventions......Page 135
Fitts's Law......Page 138
Screen Edges Have Infinite Size......Page 139
Radial Context Menus Decrease Average Distance......Page 140
Sometimes, Smaller Is Better......Page 143
Explaining State Changes......Page 145
Directing User Attention......Page 146
Help Users Form Suitable Mental Models......Page 148
Learning from Cartoons......Page 150
Identifying Archetypes......Page 155
Behavioral Consistency......Page 156
What to Make Discoverable......Page 159
When to Make Things Discoverable......Page 161
How to Make Things Discoverable......Page 162
Don't Interrupt......Page 165
Make Decisions for Your User......Page 166
Front Load Decisions......Page 167
Interrupt Users Only For Truly Urgent Decisions......Page 168
Instead of Interrupting, Offer Undo......Page 171
Let Users Undo Their Actions......Page 172
Temporary Undo......Page 173
Modes......Page 175
Nonobvious Modes......Page 176
Sticky Modes......Page 180
Quasimodes......Page 181
Have Opinions Instead of Preferences......Page 183
Why Preferences Are Bad......Page 185
How to Avoid Preferences......Page 186
If You Can't Avoid Preferences......Page 187
Hierarchies, Space, Time, and How We Think About the World......Page 189
Hierarchies......Page 190
Space......Page 191
Time......Page 193
A Better Hierarchical System......Page 194
Speed......Page 198
Progress Feedback......Page 199
Perceived Speed......Page 201
Slowing Down......Page 202
Avoiding Features......Page 205
The Five Whys......Page 206
Solve Several Problems with One Change......Page 208
Provide an API and a Plug-in Architecture......Page 209
Listen to Your Users......Page 210
But Don't Listen to Your Users Too Much......Page 211
Not All Users Need to Be Your Users......Page 212
Removing Features......Page 215
Do the Research......Page 216
Provide Alternatives......Page 217
It's Your Product......Page 218
What's Fun?......Page 220
Why Your Product Is Not Like a Game......Page 222
What We Can Learn from Games......Page 225
Fun vs. Usability......Page 231
Implementation......Page 233
Guerilla Usability Testing......Page 235
How Often to Test......Page 236
How Many Testers......Page 237
The Results......Page 238
Usability Testing......Page 240
Usability Tests Don't Have to Be Expensive......Page 241
How Often to Test......Page 242
How Many Testers......Page 243
Who Should Test Your Product?......Page 244
Different Types of Tests......Page 246
Preparing for the Test......Page 247
Running the Test......Page 248
Running the Test......Page 250
Remote Testing......Page 257
Moderated Remote Testing......Page 258
Unmoderated Remote Testing......Page 266
Don't Use Words That Appear in the User Interface......Page 268
Don't Influence the Tester......Page 269
Avoid Stressful Situations......Page 270
User Error Is Design Error......Page 272
Don't Blame Your Users in Your Error Messages......Page 273
No Error, No Blame......Page 275
A/B Testing......Page 279
What's Success?......Page 281
Running the Test......Page 282
Keep in Mind......Page 283
Measure Speed......Page 287
Exit Points......Page 288
User Behavior......Page 289
Unexpected Uses......Page 292
Bad Feedback......Page 293
You're Not Done......Page 295
Acknowledgments......Page 296
Bibliography......Page 299
B......Page 302
D......Page 303
F......Page 304
H......Page 305
L......Page 306
N......Page 307
P......Page 308
S......Page 309
T......Page 310
U......Page 311
W......Page 312
Z......Page 313