© 1995-2002 Andrea L. Ames

Designing for People!

Communicating Effectively with Interaction

Andrea L. AmesSenior Information Developer, IBMSTC Candidate for Second Vice President

Certificate Coordinator and Instructor, University of CA Extension, Santa Cruz

Associate Fellow and Assistant to the President for Recognition,

Society for Technical Communication

© 1995-2002 Andrea L. Ames 2

About Andrea Technical communicator since 1983 Online information and human-computer interaction

focus since 1989 Areas of expertise

Information architecture and design and interaction design

User-centered design and development process and start-to-finish usability—analysis, design, testing

Focus: Software product user interfaces and interactive information systems, including Web

Coordinator of two University of California, Santa Cruz, Extension technical communication certificates

Associate Fellow and Member of Society for Technical Communication (STC) Board of Directors

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Discussion Topics Why technical communicators (should)

care about interaction Characteristics of interaction Common interaction mechanisms Things that bug us Skills and knowledge technical

communicators need to design effective interaction

Resources

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Why You Should Be Concerned With InteractionShouldn’t be a big surprise—you’ve probably been concerned with interaction for a long time

Communicates the organization, access mechanisms, and meaning of text

Develop structures to make this easier

Tech Communication and Interaction

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Interaction CharacteristicsThink of it as a conversationThink of it as information/assistance

Think of it as organization (navigation)

Characteristics of Interaction

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Think of Interaction As Conversation Make it useful, helpful, and “polite” Alan Cooper, The Inmates are Running

the Asylum H. Paul Grice (psychologist), regarding

conversation Quality: Say true things Quantity: Say neither too much

nor too little Relevance: Say things that relate to

the topic at hand Clarity: Say things clearly and well

Characteristics of Interaction † Conversation

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Think of Interaction as InformationHelping users to minimize errorBeing visible—helping users to make informed choices about where to go or what to do next

Providing responses, so users know they did the right thing and are encouraged to continue

Characteristics of Interaction † Information

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Think of Interaction as Organization: NavigationAvoid it (the fewer clicks, the better)

Provides a way for users to make choices, refining content

Suggests structure and organization; closely linked with information architecture and file architecture

Characteristics of Interaction † Organization/Navigation

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Navigation Provides ContextTells me:Where I am and possibly how I got here

Where I’ve been and how I can get back

Where I can go from here and how I can get there

How to get back to the beginning

Characteristics of Interaction † Organization/Navigation

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Common Interaction Mechanisms Navigation mechanisms Hiding and showing—or expanding and

contracting—text Form elements “Pop-ups” or opening

a new window Non-scrolling regions Coaches, show-mes, and demonstrations

Interaction Mechanisms

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Navigation Mechanisms “Traditional” access methods: TOCs,

indexes Rollovers * Controlling the appearance of links *

Pull-down or pop-up menus Menus and button bars *

*Visio Help TOC

Interaction Mechanisms † For Navigation

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Hiding/Showing, Expanding/CollapsingResolves some topic-length issuesHides details until they’re neededCombines information for printing

*Visio Help “Create Basic Flowchart”

Interaction Mechanisms † Expanding/Collapsing Text

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Form Elements Take advantage of

GUI standards/heuristics

May be very familiar to users of particular software/OS platform (e.g., Mac or Windows)

May not be familiar

Interaction Mechanisms † Form Elements

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Pop-Ups or Opening a New WindowHelps manage screen real estate Indicates sub-processesHides details, background, etc., until wanted/needed

Definitions

*Visio Help “Creating Basic Flowchart”

Interaction Mechanisms † Opening New Windows

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Non-Scrolling RegionsSupports navigationKeeps menus, etc., persistent (always visible)

*Visio Help “Getting Started

Interaction Mechanisms † Non-Scrolling Regions

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Coaches, Show-mes, and DemonstrationsLink together product and helpTypically very tightly integrated, but can be more like self-running demo

Give user control over all aspects of running/not running

*Visio Help Getting Started

Interaction Mechanisms † Coaches, Show-mes, Demos

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Don’t Do Things That Bug UsBlinkingGratuitous animation and multimedia

Rude, obscure, and inconsistent behavior

Interrupting tasks

Things That Bug Us

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More Things That Bug Us “Too much” scrolling “Too many” clicks Frames

Might take up screen real estate Might slow display speed Don’t fit with page/screen model—

confusing Add layer of complexity Can’t bookmark content pages within

frames

Things That Bug Us

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Where to Go From Here Cognitive psychology (how people learn

and remember), human factors, usability, and user-centered development processes Audience analysis Informed design Validation/evaluation (including usability

testing) Information architecture and design,

modular writing, and minimalism Visual design User-interface design

Skills and Knowledge

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Learning the Skills and Gaining the Knowledge Bentley College online courses in information

design: www.bentley.eduNote: Most of the big/well-known schools now have online programs: Texas Tech, Univ. of Washington, RPI, Mercer University, etc.

Christchurch (NZ) Polytechnic Institute of Technology’s Graduate Diploma of Technical Communication: courseweb.chchpoly.ac.nz:8083/techwrit/

HTML Writers Guide (HWG) online courses in Web-based technologies: www.hwg.org

University of California, Los Angeles, Extension program in technical communication: www.unex.ucla.edu

Resources

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Print Books and Articles Beyer, Hugh and Karen Holtzblatt,

Contextual Design: A Customer-Centered Approach to Systems Design

Constantine, Larry and Lucy Lockwood, Software for Use: A Practical Guide to the Models and Methods of Usage-Centered Design

Coe, Marlana, Human Factors for Technical Communicators

Resources

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Print Books and Articles (cont.)

Cooper, Alan, The Inmates Are Running the Asylum

Farkas, David and Jean, Principles of Website Design

Fleming, Jennifer, Web Navigation Hackos, JoAnn and Janice (Ginny) Redish,

User and Task Analysis for Interface Design Johnson, Jeff, GUI Bloopers: Don’ts and Dos

for Software Developers and Web Designers.

Krug, Steve, Don’t Make Me Think

Resources

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Print Books and Articles (cont.)

Nielsen, Jakob, Designing Web Usability: The Practice of Simplicity

Normal, Don, The Design of Everyday Things and The Psychology of Everyday Things

Price, Jonathan, Writing Web Text Raskin, Jef, The Humane Interface Redish, Janice C. and Judith A. Ramey,

“Special section: Measuring the value added by professional technical communicators.” Technical Communication, 42(1), 2/95

Resources

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Web Sites (coming soon!) Andrea Ames’

TechCommResource site: techcommresource.alames.net/

Ask Tog: www.asktog.com C|Net Builder’s cool tools:

www.builder.com IBM’s Ease of Use site: www.ibm.com/easy/ Jakob Nielsen’s site: www.useit.com uidesign.net Interaction Design

Webzine: www.uidesign.net Usable Web: www.usableweb.com

Resources

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Professional OrganizationsACM’s SIGCHI (www.acm.org/chi/)

STC’s Usability SIG (www.stc.org/pics/usability/)

Usability Professionals’ Association (UPA) (www.upassoc.org)

Resources

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Contacting Andrea andFinding This Presentation Onlinee-mail: aames@pobox.comphone: 408.463.3793web: techcommresource.alames.net