Shaping Web Usability: Interaction Design in ContextIt's no longer enough to make your site easy to learn and use: Web designers need to help their users feel comfortable with every aspect of their site interactions: physical, mental, and emotional. Drawing upon advanced research in psychology and human-computer interfaces -- as well as extensive practical Web design experience -- Albert N. Badre shows precisely how to accomplish this. Badre goes beyond "mere usability," introducing a complete, Web-specialized framework that lets you "design for context," taking into account every aspect of the Web environment. Shaping Web Usability begins by reviewing essential human-computer interaction principles for the Web; then outlines a usability strategy that takes multiple contexts into account: extrinsic design, users, genre, site, and page. Badre offers deep insight into Web users themselves: their skill levels, personalities, and demographics; and presents a full chapter on the unique needs of older Web users. Along the way, he addresses the key issues that make Web usability so challenging, including security and privacy, platform independence, dynamic content, compatibility, and navigation. You'll learn how to ensure that aesthetics and usability complement each other; how to extend usability to handheld devices; and how to evaluate Web usability most effectively. For all Web designers, developers, usability specialists, marketers, and others concerned with the Web user experience. |
Contents
Human Computer Interaction for the Web | 1 |
A Short History of HCI | 3 |
Focus on the User Interface | 4 |
User Interface Software | 5 |
Focusing on the Web | 6 |
UserCentered Design | 7 |
Iterative Design and Continuous Testing | 8 |
Themes | 10 |
Site Maps Content Lists and Indexes | 140 |
Landmarks and History Trails | 141 |
Keywords and Site Search Engines | 143 |
Assuring Reasonable Confidence in the Sites Privacy and Security | 144 |
Making the Site Visible | 145 |
Maintaining Quality | 146 |
The Web Page | 147 |
General Page Design Issues | 148 |
Designing for the User Experience | 11 |
Web Usability Strategy | 13 |
Scenarios | 14 |
Context | 15 |
The Userview Process | 18 |
Goals and Requirements | 21 |
User Culture | 26 |
Web Interface Guidelines Specialization | 31 |
Constructing Storyboards and Interactive Prototypes | 33 |
The Web Environment | 37 |
The User Environment | 38 |
The Cognitive Space | 39 |
The Site Environment | 47 |
Scenarios | 51 |
Designing from Scenarios | 58 |
Simple versus Enriched Site Environments | 61 |
The Web User Part 1 The Audience | 67 |
Defining an Audience | 69 |
Cognitive Processing Capabilities and Limits | 79 |
Generating an Audience Profile | 80 |
The Web User Part 2 Older Adults | 91 |
Older Adults end the Wgrld Wide Web | 93 |
Characteristics of Older Users | 94 |
Perception | 95 |
Cognition | 96 |
Web Design Features to Avoid | 98 |
Design Guidelines | 103 |
Usability Testing with Older Adults | 107 |
Designing for Web Genres | 109 |
Genre Content | 111 |
Genre Expression | 115 |
Genre Form | 119 |
Genre Evolution | 120 |
Genre Mixing | 123 |
The Web Site | 127 |
Conceptualizing the Site with a VisitorCentered Focus | 128 |
Positioning the Content | 130 |
Speeding Up the Response | 134 |
Smoothing the Navigation | 135 |
Links | 138 |
Buttons and Controls | 139 |
Coherence | 149 |
Placement of Information | 155 |
Color | 156 |
Text Clarity | 160 |
Home Content and Transaction Pages | 160 |
The Content Page | 161 |
The Transaction Page | 164 |
The Aesthetic Factor | 171 |
Simplicity and Enrichment | 178 |
The Use of Graphics | 184 |
From Desktops to Handhelds | 187 |
The Technology of Wireless Devices | 189 |
The Usability of Wireless Devices | 191 |
The Role of Context | 195 |
SmallSize Effects | 196 |
Effective Functionality and Task Preferences | 204 |
Information Presentation | 205 |
Interaction and Navigation | 208 |
Guidelines for Hand Web Design | 209 |
The Cultural Context | 211 |
Cultural Usability | 212 |
CultureSpecific Designs | 216 |
Designing for the Localized Web | 217 |
GenreLocalized Attributes | 218 |
Behaviors and Practices | 219 |
Icons Symbols Pictorials and Artifacts | 220 |
Conventions and Formats | 221 |
Intangible Values and Dimensions | 223 |
Preferred Content | 224 |
Evaluating Web Usability | 227 |
Usability Testing for the Web | 229 |
WebSpecific Test Plan Issues | 231 |
WebSpecific Evaluation Issues | 233 |
The Process of Web Evaluation | 234 |
Usability Evaluation Coal Selling | 235 |
Storyboard Testing | 236 |
Interactive Prototype Testing | 237 |
Frequently Asked Questions about Usability Evaluation | 238 |
Bibliography | 247 |
265 | |