Beruflich Dokumente
Kultur Dokumente
Focus on Usability
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Sources
www.useit.com (Jacob Neilsen)
www.webpagesthatsuck.com (Vincent Flanders)
http://usability.gov/guidelines/
J. Johnson (2000) GUI Bloopers
W. O. Galitz (2002) The Essential Guide to
User Interface Design
P. Greenspun (1999) Philip and Alex’s Guide
to Web Publishing
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First, understand WHY users are going
to a web site. (1 of 2)
They want information - NOW.
They want to purchases something- NOW.
They want software, download, patches, and
they want it NOW.
Do you see a pattern?
Every extra button click, gratuitous animation,
poor navigational design, etc. delays the user.
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First, understand WHY users are going
to a web site. (2 of 2)
Possible web site exceptions
Entertainment sites (movies, games)
Nonprofit sites (setting the mood)
However for most websites the user does not
wish to be entertained, rather they want
something right away.
Remember, a competing web site is just one
click away.
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A Good Web Site is One That
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Most of these slides are guidelines
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Web Site Usability Guidelines from
Philip Greenspun
Philip and Alex’s Guide to Web Publishing (1999, Morgan Kaufmann) 3461
Common Web Usability Design Problems
Slow downloads because of large images,
many images, unnecessary animation, etc ...
Districting and gratuitous animation that runs
continuously in the background
Designs that require users to scroll down or
across the page to see important content.
Web sites that format text in fixed-width or
proportional-width blocks rather than letting
the width of the user’s browser determine the
width of the text. 3461
Design Guidelines from Tufte
Web pages should contain information, not navigation
or administration icons. The information should
become the interface.
Give users broad, flat overviews of the information
(table of contents), rather than forcing them through
sequential screens of choices.
Organize your data according to expected user
interest, rather than internal structure of your
organization.
Why use icons for navigation when words are clearer
and take up less screen space?
Visual Explanations: Images and Quantities, Evidence and Narrative (1997, Graphics Press) 3461
Three Click Rule
The "Three Click Rule" states that all relevant
parts of a website should be accessible within
three mouse-clicks of the home-page.
Do not use an entry tunnel to your website.
Do not dictate the navigational path to your
user.
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USA Federal Government Regulations
Federal Government Web sites are
required to follow the Section 508
Federal (Web) Accessibility Standards.
http://www.access-board.gov
device independence
text alternatives to graphics and graphic links
user controlled content display
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http://bobby.cost.org - automated tool
for testing accessibility requirements
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GUI vs. Web Page Design
In GUI design the layout of the screen will
look exactly as specified (WYSIWYG).
However no such guarantee exists for web
pages.
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HTML Online tutorial
http://webreference.com/html/tutorials/
<html>
This is an <b><i>html</i></b> file.
</html>
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HTML Validator http://www.anybrowser.
com/validateit.html
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Color Selection
When foreground and background colors are
close to the same hue, they may provide
insufficient contrast on monochrome displays
and for people with certain types of color
deficits.
Maximum of four colors on the screen at any
one time, and in most cases two or three.
http://usability.gov/guidelines/accessibility.html#one 3461
Color Blindness (approximately 5% of males)
http://usability.gov/guidelines/accessibility.html#one 3461
www.vischeck.com
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Font Sizes
Use at least a 10-point font to achieve the best
possible reading performance.
Fonts smaller than 10-point elicited slower
performance from users. For people over 65, it
may be better to use at least 12 or 14 point.
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Page Length
Use short pages (1-2 screens in length) for
home pages and all navigation pages
pages that need to be quickly browsed and/or
read online
pages with very long graphics
Use long pages (more than 2 screens) to
match the structure of a paper counterpart
make pages more convenient to download/print
http://usability.gov/guidelines/page_length.html#length 3461
Page Length example -
IBM home page
600 pixels
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Reasons to avoid using Flash
Flash encourages gratuitous animation
Flash breaks web fundamentals
The "Back" button does not work
Link colors don't work showing which links you’ve
seen
Flash reduces accessibility for users with
disabilities (ex. make text bigger/smaller" button
does not work)
Flash integrates poorly with search
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Text for Web Pages
Minimize the use of words that call attention to
the Web. Examples:
“This Web site”
“Click here”
“Follow this link”
How to test? Print out a page, read it and see if it
makes sense.
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Graphics on Web Sites (1 of 3)
Use graphics as a supplement to textual
content, not as a substitute.
Convey information that can’t be effectively
accomplished using text. (photographs, video,
diagrams)
Enhance navigation
presenting a site overview
identifying site pages
identifying content areas
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Graphics on Web Sites (2 of 3)
Minimize the number of images.
More images slower page download
Minimize the size of images
restrict single images to 5K
restrict page images to 20K
provide thumbnail size images
Produce images in the most appropriate
format
GIF
JPEG 3461
Graphics on Web Sites (3 of 3)
GIFs are limited to 256 colors, and exist in
either a dithered or nondithered format.
dithered: color-mixing process a computer
goes through when it encounters a color not in
its palette.Palette colors are mixed to
approximate the appearance of the desired
color the resulting color may be grainy or
unacceptable
nondithered: closest palette colors are chosen
may also produced poor results 3461
Web Palette / Browser-safe colors
www.lynda.com
Browser-
safe
colors
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Internationalization (the world is watching)
Do not use acronyms and abbreviations-
difficult/confusing to translate
Adhere to local formats for date, time, money,
measurements, addresses, and telephone
numbers.
Be particularly careful with images such as
religious symbols (crosses and stars)
the human body
hand gestures
flags
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Translation Expansion Requirements
(1 of 2)
Besturingselement (Dutch)
Olvadaci prvek (Czech)
Ohjausobjekti (Finnish)
Steuerelement (German)
Control (English)
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Mystery Meat Navigation
Vincent Flanders http://www.fixingyourwebsite.
com/mysterymeat.html
Goes against the fundamental purposes of a
website discussed earlier.
Examples
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Web Page Guidelines (1 of 2)
Strike a balance between
Textual information
Graphics
Links
Avoid horizontal scrolling
Place critical or important information at the
very top so it is always viewable when the
page is opened.
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Web Page Guidelines (2 of 2)
Use frames with caution.
Don’t break links. Users will bookmark the
page that interests them and not necessarily
take the path you create. (search engines)
Provide sufficient white space (minimum 30%)
Anticipate page breaks
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Home Page Guidelines
Limit to one screen
Clearly identify the Web site’s content and
purpose
Elements to include:
Site overview or map
Navigation links to most (if not all) of the site or
major sections
Some useful content
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Further Research
When to open a new window browsers, and
when to display new content in current
browser window?