Capturing notes visually

Sketchnoting:

jennycham.co.uk

Designing the Search Experience

Half-day workshop presented by Tyler Tate@tylertate

Slideshare.net/tylertate

We’ve got to keep in mind our users’ levels of domain and

technical expertise.

One of our problemsis we try to design search for

everyone.

We can help people increase their expertise as they are

using our stuff by providing good contextual help.

We need to make the basic search features

really easy to use.

“Google-style searcher vs.

Amazon-style searcher”

Lihua Zhu, User Experience Designer at University of Cambridge Library

We’ve got to keep in mind the motive of the search. The

type of query.

Casual?Lookup?Learn?

Investigate?

We’ve got to keep in mind the genres of things being searched.

Informational?Geographic?

Personal?Transactional?

1. Have need.2. Formulate query.

3. Do search.4. Refine search.

Is it really that simple?

Searching evolves over time.

Consider the whole user journey.

Marcia Bates“berry picking”model of search

1. Initiation2. Selection

3. Explorationgive up now?

4. Formulation5. Collection

6. Search closure

Carol Kuhlthauon the

information search process

We should help users formulate their search

queries.

How?

Don’t be too clever.

Make it look like a search box.

Rectangular, with a button.

On mobile, place search in top navigation bar or in secondary toolbar, via a pull-to-reveal gesture.

Autocomplete: completes a known entity

Autosuggest:ideas the user hasn’t thought of yet (a form of contextual help)

Instant results:results shown as you type

Parametric search:asking the user to input different criteria before seeing results

This is risky.

Make them feel good, like they are getting somewhere.

Segmented control allows the user to select their preferred

display of results.

Ebay example

In designing results pages, consider what the user needs

to see.

Amazon example:title, cast, format,

rating, cost

Give the user easy-to-access previews of the items in the

results list.

A continuous scrollreduces cognitive load, but

can be frustrating, especially if you want to go back to

something.

Pagination should be at the bottom of the page, not the

top.

Minimize amount of input collected upfront.

Get users to the results as quickly as possible.

Make an education guess on what initial facets/options are

appropriate for most users.

Can collapse or expand facets, or hybrid of the two.

Expand the most common facets

and collapse the rest.

When you click on a facet, you expect a traditional page

refresh.

Or an “instant update” where page is frozen while results

are updated.

Make it clear to the user where they are with

horizontal breadcrumbs, vertical breadbox, or “your

selection.”

Give the ability for the user to remove certain filters.

Give users the option to keep the same facets

(“search within”), as well as the option

to start over (“clear all”).

Introduction to Content Modelling

Half-day workshop presented by Mike Atherton

@mikeatherton

@micheleidesmith

There are relationships between

content.

These can be expressed through a database. The

interface can be anything.

Hierarchical structure in IA isn’t how things are

structured in the real world.

There are relationships between things.

Structured content allows us to:

• manage content at scale• encourage browsing• improve findability• expose long-tail content• reuse content assets• build bridges across subjects• support social sharing• improve SEO• design for all devices• be robot-friendly

Forget sitemaps.Forget content inventories.

Start thinking about relationships.

Databases relate to tutorials, relate to classes, relate to disciplines. Classes relate to disciplines. Disciplines relate to librarians. Subject guides relate to disciplines. Databases relate to format types. Tutorials relate to classes, relate to databases, relate to audiences, relate to format types. Events relate to exhibitions, relate to librarians, relate to disciplines, relate to classes. Exhibitions relate to collections, relate to news stories. Services relate to audiences, to teams. Teams relate to librarians.

“We use metadata to make assertions about real-world things and relationships so robots can help us connect

them.”

Good model-based design has complexity behind the scenes

and simplicity up front.

Know the limits. Don’t get carried away.

Make an actual map. Connect content and describe the

relationships.

Subject

Guide

ExhibitDatabases

Content is freaking hard, but it’s the whole point.

“Do what you do best, and link to the

rest.”

- Jeff Jarvis

COPECreate once, publish

everywhere.

Possible principles for the main website?

Have one page for each thing (but don’t publish every page).

Every page is a homepage.

No page is a dead end.

Do what we do best, and link to the rest.

Taming Taxonomy

Workshop presented by Alberta Soranzo

@albertatrebla

slideshare.net/atrebla

Taxonomies are collections of facets, which are

created by organizing concepts into categories.

Use card sorting to test labels and structure.

Guide you towards a user-centered taxonomy.

Results of card sorting…

- input into information design- define overall content hierarchy & structure- design navigation, menu & taxonomies- outline users’ mental models

Design Tips for Forms

Workshop presented by Caroline Jarrett

@cjforms

slideshare.net/cjforms

Complex forms:

Look complicated

Use complex terminology or concepts

The answers require thought, research, or someone else

The task is challenging

“Replay study”

Users have another go at a complex form

in their own environment, with their real data,

while you watch and take notes.

Each question has a cost.

Use the question protocol to make sure every form field is

really necessary.

www.designtoread.com

www.lextutor.ca/vp/eng/

Creating a Web for Everyone

Presented by Whitney Quesenbery

@whitneyq

slideshare/whitneyq

http://jennycham.co.uk/

@micheleidesmith

People first.

Think about accessibility first rather than last.

Think outside the mouse.

We need to have accessibility standards. Solid structure.

Need to make sure code is up to speed.

Make interaction easy. Everything works. Something is just intrinsically accessible.

Electrical engineer created this “Frankenkindle” for his sister who has cerebral palsy

Create wayfinding that guides users. Need good signposting

within the code.

<nav><main><aside><footer>

Clean presentation & clean labeling helps everyone.

Support meaning with presentation.

Use good contrast.

Use plain language.

Use accessible media that supports all senses.

Give those with disabilities a place at the table.

Conduct usability testing with participants who have

disabilities.

Questions/Discussion