Designing The Interface For Use
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This document discusses various interface design patterns and principles for navigation. It begins by explaining how interface design dresses up existing behaviors and notes that navigation allows some aspects of information architecture to be visible. It then covers different types of navigation including global navigation, local navigation, contextual navigation, pagination, sorting, and secondary navigation elements like site maps. The document emphasizes following conventions when they are widely adopted but exploring alternatives when usability testing suggests improvements. It concludes with an exercise asking readers to analyze the navigation of competitor websites.
Designing The Interface For Use
- 2. 2 “Like putting an Armani suit on Attila the Hun, interface design only tells how to dress up an existing behavior.” – Alan Cooper
- 3. Making pages out of boxes and arrows TRANSFORM YOUR FLOWS
- 4. A task analysis From Information Architecture: Blueprints for the Web, this is a task analysis for a website for Sundance film festival, featuring a schedule planner
- 5. Each task could have a page
- 6. Remind you of something? 1995: first graphic logo First Yahoo 1994
- 7. Including the schedule creator tool…
- 8. Wizards: Many boxes, many pages
- 9. Use Wizards: ‣ When users want to accomplish a goal that has ‣ The audience is not technically savvy and is likely to many steps. Wizards are good at making sure you don‟t miss a step. ‣ be confused by a page with a lot of choices on it. A Web site can have novice users, and a wizard When the steps must be completed in order. makes complex tasks seem easy. Wizards are linear, so it‟s impossible to complete ‣ Bandwidth is low and downloading a single big page them any other way. ‣ could take forever, or the tasks require several When the task is seldom performed. Wizards can server calls, which would also slow the page‟s load. seem slow and plodding, so they are best used in tasks you do only once in a while, like setting up a printer. ‣ The task has several steps in it, performed only once a visit, such as checkout.
- 10. Discuss: WHAT SHOULD BE A WIZARD Task: DESIGN A WIZARD
- 11. You can group tasks together
- 12. Control Panel
- 13. You see them on software in preferences, set occasionally, by experts
- 14. On the web, they are often account settings
- 15. Discuss WHAT SHOULD BE A CONTROL PANEL Task DESIGN A CONTROL PANEL
- 16. Bring the settings and the thing modified together TOOLBARS
- 17. What if we put the tasks with the thing they were modifying?
- 18. It‟s a toolbar Tools here Item affected here
- 19. And here Toolbars Tools here Item affected here Photoshop: toolbars on steroids And here
- 20. The web uses toolbars more sparingly
- 21. Toolbars Tools here Item affected here A simpler design is better for infrequent use.
- 22. Location, palette GROUP LIKE ITEMS
- 23. 23 Fork, spoon, knife DRAW A PLACE SETTING – 30 SECONDS
- 24. An Interface is like a table setting, the tools you need are next to the food you eat. Content is the meal.
- 25. Two videos sites. The “meal” is the video, and the tools to consume (or play with) it are arrayed around the main meal. (P.S. There are toolbars too)
- 26. Why is the response so far from the invitation?
- 27. 27 Task ARTICLE OF CLOTHING: WHAT TOOLS WHERE?
- 28. ZONE YOUR PAGE
- 29. When designing the page, group items by similarity and similarity of task (navigation items together, editing items together) Give them visual importance based on user number, usage frequency and importance to business.
- 30. Create “zones” for functionality groups. ‣ You can group them by putting white space around them, or use lines ‣ Remember to keep tools close to the thing your working on ‣
- 31. Zone this page
- 33. HOW TO MAKE A WIREFRAME IN 30 SECONDS
- 34. Draw a rectangle
- 36. Next, add the key zones ‣ Start with a list of elements, perhaps written on post its. Group them, then find them homes on your page. ‣ The fill in the actual elements ‣
- 38. Consider ‣ Where does the content come from? If you have a list of related articles, specify how they‟re related. Are they the most viewed? Most viewed from that section? ‣ What is the nature of the content? Does it vary greatly in length, size, language, and type? ‣ Is the element required or optional? What happens if the element doesn‟t appear on that page? Does the layout change? ‣ Is the element conditional? Does it vary based on other factors? For example, do administrators see additional links? What happens if an article doesn‟t have an associated image? What if it does? ‣ What’s the default or expected state? Ideally, what‟s supposed to happen on the page. ‣ What are the alternate or error states? How does the design change when things don‟t go right?
- 39. What goes in your wireframes? INTERFACE INGREDIENTS
- 40. HEADER 40
- 42. THE LANGUAGE OF INTERFACE 42 GRAPHICAL (UNDERSTANDING) INTERACTIVE (DOING) Layout Objects Type Color Line Hierarchy Relationships Affordances HUD Feedback Modes Input Navigation
- 44. THE LANGUAGE OF INTERFACE AFFORDANCES 44
- 45. THE LANGUAGE OF INTERFACE BUTTONS LOOK PUSHABLE 45
- 46. THE LANGUAGE OF INTERFACE BUTTONS WITH MEANING 46
- 47. THE LANGUAGE OF INTERFACE 47 LINKS LOOK CLICKABLE
- 48. THE LANGUAGE OF INTERFACE 48 LINKS HAVE HIERARCHY
- 49. ON SUBTLETY When you don‟t want to interrupt an action, be subtle (think of footnotes). If they are reading, don‟t bother them. When you need to prompt an action, subtlety will send you to the poor house. Tell your users what to do. Clarity is relaxing, not annoying. 49
- 50. 50 A QUICK BUTTON COMPETITIVE ANALYSIS / CRITIQUE GO TO 3-4 WEBSITES AND FIND 2 BUTTON / LINK INTERACTIONS YOU REALLY LIKE. 2 THAT YOU DISLIKE.
- 51. HEADS UP DISPLAY 51 Heads Up Display: Information user needs nearby to be effective
- 52. HEADS UP DISPLAY AN EMAIL HUD All HUD, no content 52
- 54. 54 FEEDBACK
- 55. USER FEEDBACK 55
- 56. INPUT 56
- 57. FORM PRINCIPLES FORM PRINCIPLES Consider Context Set expectations Use appropriate inputs Give sift and clear feedback Ask for less AB test 57
- 59. ACTIVITY: DESIGN YOUR SIGNUP FORM STRUCTURE 59 OBJECTIVES 1. Individually design a sign-up form for your project. INDIVIDUALLY 15 MIN. 2. Think about the following element: 1. Name (first/last?) 2. Username/nickname? 3. Password (enter twice?) 4. Terms of Service (link/display?) 5. Sign up with Facebook/Twitter? 6. Optional demographics? 7. Over 13?
- 60. NAVIGATION
- 61. 61 Navigation: IA made visible “Like putting an Armani suit on Attila the Hun, interface design only tells how to dress up an existing behavior.” – Alan Cooper
- 62. Most IA is invisible A lot of work no one sees ‣Synonym rings ‣Controlled vocabulary If it was seen, it would be too much to understand We show only a part via navigation 62
- 63. The magic number? 13 tabs– no one saw them. Six tabs, everyone saw them 63
- 64. But not everything is simple Global links Web search Related Services inbox masthead Log out Mail tools Folders And there isn‟t even content! tip inbox ads Other properties 64 upsell Write mail upsell ad Mail tools Related Services ad
- 65. Navigation orders complex pages 65
- 66. 66 Understanding Navigation Message and Access Where Am I? Content Lives Here, With Contextual Navigation Inline Or Separate. What's Nearby? Local Navigation Global Navigation What's Related To What's Here?
- 67. 67 Global navigation Where you are ‣ Brand/masthead Where you can go (site offering) ‣ Top level categories Safety nets ‣ Where‟s my (shopping cart/account/help???)
- 68. Global Navigation „03 vs „12 68
- 70. Global navigation „03 vs „12 70
- 71. Local Navigation I‟ve started down the path… Now what? ‣ What are the categories of items? ‣ What are the siblings of what I see? ‣ What are the subcategories? 71
- 75. Contextual navigation Inline links Related items Document management 75
- 76. Inline links 76
- 77. Related items 77
- 78. Pagination Useful to reduce page download speed and cognitive overload. Annoying for printing. Impossible to predict what you‟ll get Users would rather scroll than click 78
- 82. Sort 82
- 83. Secondary Navigation Site Maps Indexes Table of Contents 83
- 84. Have you ever seen this page? 84
- 85. How about this one? 85
- 86. How about this one? 86
- 87. You can make it helpful “After testing several different sitemap designs on users, I decided to try putting one on every page of my small Columbian web site. I then decided to track how often it was used for navigation. It turns out the sitemap is used for over 65% of all navigation done on the site.” -- Usability Report by Peter Van Dijck of poorbuthappy.com (Guide to Columbia) http://www.webword.com/reports/sitemap.ht ml 87
- 88. Conventions It is certainly probable, then, that placing these objects in expected locations would give an e-commerce site a competitive edge over those that do not… -- Examining User Expectations for the Location of Common E-Commerce Web Objects Usability News 4.1 2002 88
- 89. Conventions If 90% or more of the big sites do things in a single way, then this is the de-facto standard and you have to comply. Only deviate from a design standard if your alternative design has at least 100% higher measured usability. If 60-90% of the big sites do things in a single way, then this is a strong convention and you should comply unless your alternative design has at least 50% higher measured usability. If less than 60% of the big sites do things in a single way, then there are no dominant conventions yet and you are free to design in an alternative way. -- Jakob Nielsen, November 14, 1999 Alertbox column "Identifying De-Facto Standards for E-Commerce Web Sites“ © 2003 Heidi P. Adkisson 89
- 90. Conventions Some things are becoming de rigor Deviate when you‟ve got something better Not because you are bored 90 "Identifying De-Facto Standards for E-Commerce Web Sites“ © 2003 Heidi P. Adkisson
- 91. Now combine Follow expectations based on conventions Design a hierarchy based on task importance Err on the side of simplicity 91
- 92. EXERCISE: COMPETITIVE ANALYSIS OF NAVIGATION
- 93. HEADER Q&A 93
Editor's Notes
- #41: Use this slide for a probing question at the beginning of a discussion or a point you’re trying to make.
- #65: The old yahoo mail
- #69: There is a movement toward simpler headers
- #70: Standard blog navigation – bloggers rarely put the work into categories, relying on chron to provide navigation.
- #71: The rise and fall of TABS
- #85: The site map may mostly be for search engines, but it can help humans too