Designed for Use (For Dee Robinson) by Mathis, Lukas -- Read -- Imperial Library of Trantor

Index

Designed for Use Table of Contents 1: Before We Start, a Word

Technique Chapters Idea Chapters How the Book Is Organized Just One More Thing

Part 1 Research 2: User Research 3: Job Shadowing and Contextual Interviews

What Are the Techniques? Why Is This a Good Idea? Are There Any Prerequisites? Observing Your Audience Job Shadowing Contextual Interviews Remote Shadowing Limitations of Contextual Interviews The BizTwit Case Takeaway Points Further Reading

4: Personas

What ’s the Technique? Why Is This a Good Idea? Are There Any Prerequisites? What Are Personas, Again? Problems with Personas Creating Personas Working with Personas Personas Do Not Replace User Research The BizTwit Case Takeaway Points Further Reading

5: Activity-Centered Design

Takeaway Points Further Reading

6: Time to Start Working on Documentation

What ’s the Technique? Why Is This a Good Idea? Are There Any Prerequisites? The Manual Blog Posts Screencasts Press Releases Talk About Tasks The BizTwit Case Takeaway Points Further Reading

7: Text Usability

Why Words Matter People Don ’t Want to Read Say Less Make Text Scannable No Fluff Sentences Should Have One Obvious Interpretation Talk Like a Human, Not Like a Company Illustrate Your Points Use Words People Understand Test Your Text Display Legible Text Takeaway Points Further Reading

8: Hierarchies in User Interface Design

Creating Hierarchical Structure Visually Takeaway Points Further Reading

9: Card Sorting

What ’s the Technique? Why Is This a Good Idea? Are There Any Prerequisites? Designing Hierarchies Card Sorting Preparing for a Card Sort Participants Running a Card Sort Running a Remote Card Sort Evaluating the Results Guidelines for Creating Usable Hierarchies Takeaway Points Further Reading

10: The Mental Model

What People Think Three Different Models Hiding Implementation Details Leaky Abstractions Designing for Mental Models Takeaway Points Further Reading

Part 2 Design 11: Sketching and Prototyping

What ’s the Technique? Why Is This a Good Idea? Are There Any Prerequisites? Designing the Structure Flow Diagrams Storyboards Sketching Wireframes Mock-ups Tools Takeaway Points Further Reading

12: Paper Prototype Testing

What ’s the Technique? Why Is This a Good Idea? Are There Any Prerequisites? Guerilla Paper Prototype Testing Running Full Usability Tests with Paper Prototypes Takeaway Points Further Reading

13: Realism

Symbols Virtual Versions of Real-World Objects Replicating Physical Constraints in Digital Products Takeaway Points Further Reading

14: Natural User Interfaces

Avoid Gesture Magic Recognizing Gestures Accidental Input Conventions Takeaway Points Further Reading

15: Fitts ’s Law

Screen Edges Have Infinite Size Radial Context Menus Decrease Average Distance Small Targets Need Margins Sometimes, Smaller Is Better Takeaway Points Further Reading

16: Animations

Explaining State Changes Directing User Attention Avoid Unimportant Animations Help Users Form Suitable Mental Models Learning from Cartoons Takeaway Points Further Reading

17: Consistency

Identifying Archetypes Behavioral Consistency Takeaway Points Further Reading

18: Discoverability

What to Make Discoverable When to Make Things Discoverable How to Make Things Discoverable Takeaway Points

19: Don ’t Interrupt

Make Decisions for Your User Front Load Decisions Interrupt Users Only For Truly Urgent Decisions Interruptions Are Rude Takeaway Points Further Reading

20: Instead of Interrupting, Offer Undo

Let Users Undo Their Actions Temporary Undo Takeaway Points

21: Modes

Nonobvious Modes Unexpected Modes Sticky Modes Modes Are Not Always Bad Quasimodes Takeaway Points Further Reading

22: Have Opinions Instead of Preferences

What I ’m Not Talking About Why Preferences Are Bad How to Avoid Preferences If You Can ’t Avoid Preferences Takeaway Points Further Reading

23: Hierarchies, Space, Time, and How We Think About the World

Hierarchies Space Time A Better Hierarchical System The BizTwit Case Takeaway Points Further Reading

24: Speed

Responsiveness Progress Feedback Perceived Speed Slowing Down Takeaway Points Further Reading

25: Avoiding Features

Remember the User ’s Goals The Five Whys Instead of Adding a New Feature, Make an Existing Feature More Usable Solve Several Problems with One Change Consider the Cost Make It Invisible Provide an API and a Plug-in Architecture Listen to Your Users But Don ’t Listen to Your Users Too Much Not All Users Need to Be Your Users Takeaway Points Further Reading

26: Removing Features

Do the Research Inform Your Users Provide Alternatives It ’s Your Product Takeaway Points Further Reading

27: Learning from Video Games

What ’s Fun? Why Your Product Is Not Like a Game What We Can Learn from Games Fun vs. Usability Takeaway Points Further Reading

Part 3 Implementation 28: Guerilla Usability Testing

What ’s the Technique? Why Is This a Good Idea? Are There Any Prerequisites? Guerilla Style How Often to Test Preparing for the Test How Do You Find Testers? How Many Testers Running the Test The Results Takeaway Points

29: Usability Testing

What ’s the Technique? Why Is This a Good Idea? Are There Any Prerequisites? Usability Tests Don ’t Have to Be Expensive How Often to Test How Many Testers Who Should Test Your Product? How to Find Testers Different Types of Tests Preparing for the Test Running the Test Takeaway Points

30: Testing in Person

What ’s the Technique? Why Is This a Good Idea? Are There Any Prerequisites? Running the Test Takeaway Points Further Reading

31: Remote Testing

What ’s the Technique? Why Is This a Good Idea? Are There Any Prerequisites? Moderated Remote Testing Unmoderated Remote Testing Takeaway Points Further Reading

32: How Not to Test: Common Mistakes

Don ’t Use Words That Appear in the User Interface Don ’t Influence the Tester Avoid Stressful Situations Takeaway Points

33: User Error Is Design Error

Don ’t Blame Your Users in Your Error Messages No Error, No Blame Takeaway Points

34: A/B Testing

What ’s the Technique? Why Is This a Good Idea? Are There Any Prerequisites? When to Do A/B Testing What ’s Success? Preparing for the Test Running the Test Interpreting the Results Keep in Mind Takeaway Points

35: Collecting Usage Data

What ’s the Technique? Why Is This a Good Idea? Are There Any Prerequisites? Measure Speed Exit Points Measure Failure User Behavior Takeaway Points Further Reading

36: Dealing with User Feedback

Unexpected Uses Bad Feedback Takeaway Points

37: You ’re Not Done 38: Acknowledgments 39: Bibliography

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