User Experience Re-Mastered: Your Guide to Getting the Right Design

Half Title Page......Page 2
Series Page......Page 3
Title Page......Page 4
Copyright Page......Page 5
Contents
......Page 6
Contributors......Page 14
PART 1. Defining Usability......Page 16
CHAPTER 1.
What Is Usability? (Jakob Nielsen)......Page 18
Usability and Other Considerations......Page 19
Definition of Usability
......Page 21
Learnability......Page 22
Memorability......Page 24
Few and Noncatastrophic Errors......Page 25
Subjective Satisfaction......Page 26
Example: Measuring the Usability of Icons......Page 29
Usability Trade-Offs......Page 32
Categories of Users and Individual User Differences......Page 33
End Notes......Page 37
CHAPTER 2.
User Needs Analysis (Tom Brinck, Darren Gergle, and Scott D. Wood)......Page 38
The Objectives of User Needs Analysis......Page 39
The Stakeholders......Page 40
Define the Usability Objectives
......Page 43
Define the Functional Specifications 
......Page 45
Background Research......Page 46
What to Ask About......Page 47
How to Structure the Survey Responses?......Page 48
Sampling......Page 52
Avoiding Bias......Page 56
Competitive Analysis......Page 58
Conducting the Interview or Focus Group......Page 61
Preparing for an Interview or Focus Group......Page 64
Focus Groups......Page 66
Task Analysis......Page 68
What is Task Analysis?......Page 69
Task Analysis for Web Site Design......Page 71
Use Cases......Page 72
Platform-Level Goals and Procedures......Page 73
Understanding the Tasks and Their Context......Page 74
Techniques for Understanding Tasks......Page 75
Think-Aloud Protocol......Page 76
Contextual Inquiry......Page 77
How Far Down Should You Decompose a Procedure?......Page 78
Start with Use Cases......Page 79
Decompose Tasks Hierarchically......Page 80
Consistency......Page 81
Combined Functionality and Fewer Server Requests......Page 84
Example: Inefficient Tasks......Page 85
Example: Error Recovery......Page 86
Introduction......Page 88
When Should You Conduct a Card Sort?......Page 89
Preparing to Conduct a Card Sort......Page 90
Identify Objects and Definitions for Sorting......Page 91
Activity Materials......Page 94
Additional Data Collected in a Card Sort......Page 95
Preparing to Conduct a Card Sort......Page 97
Conducting a Card Sort......Page 98
Card Review and Sorting......Page 99
Data Analysis and Interpretation......Page 101
Analysis with a Spreadsheet Package......Page 105
Data That Computer Programs Cannot Handle......Page 106
Interpreting the Results......Page 107
Preparing to Communicate Your Findings......Page 108
Electronic Card Sorting......Page 109
Prename the Groups......Page 110
Pulling It All Together......Page 111
Our Approach......Page 112
Planning and Preparing for the Card Sorting......Page 113
The Analysis......Page 116
Main Findings......Page 117
What Happened to the Web site?......Page 118
Acknowledgments......Page 119
PART 2. Generating Ideas......Page 120
Introduction......Page 122
When Should You Use Brainstorming?......Page 124
Weaknesses of Brainstorming......Page 125
Procedures and Practical Advice on Brainstorming......Page 126
Free Listing......Page 134
Major Issues in the Use of Brainstorming......Page 142
Data Analysis for Brainstorming......Page 146
What Do You Need for Brainstorming?......Page 147
Recommended Readings......Page 149
CHAPTER 5.
Sketching: A Key to Good Design (Bill Buxton)......Page 150
The Question of Design......Page 151
The Anatomy of Sketching......Page 155
From Thinking on to Acting on......Page 164
Setting the Scene: What’s Going on in Your Organization Now?......Page 170
The Six-Step Conception and Gestation Process......Page 171
How Long Does Conception and Gestation Take?......Page 173
How Many Personas Should You Create?......Page 176
Step 1: Identify Important Categories of Users......Page 181
Step 2: Process the Data......Page 188
Describe the Goal and Outcome of the Meeting......Page 192
Transfer Factoids to Sticky Notes......Page 193
Assimilate the Factoids......Page 194
Label the Clusters of Factoids......Page 196
Step 3: Identify Subcategories of Users and Create Skeletons
......Page 197
Step 4: Prioritize the Skeletons......Page 201
Step 5: Develop Selected Skeletons into Personas......Page 205
Step 6: Validate Your Personas......Page 224
How to Know You are Ready for Birth and Maturation......Page 233
Summary......Page 234
CHAPTER 7.
Verify Prototype Assumptions and Requirements (Jonathan Arnowitz, Michael Arent, and Nevin Berger)......Page 236
Prototyping Requirements are not Software Requirements......Page 237
Transformation of Assumptions to Requirements......Page 239
Step 1: Gather Requirements......Page 240
Step 2: Inventory the Requirements and Assumptions......Page 242
Step 3: Prioritize Requirements and Assumptions......Page 243
Iteration 1: From Idea to First Visualization......Page 244
Iteration 2: From Quick Wireframe to Wireframe......Page 247
Iteration 3: From Wireframe to Storyboard......Page 248
Iteration 4: From Storyboard to Paper Prototype......Page 250
Iteration 5: From Paper Prototype to Coded Prototype......Page 251
Iteration 6: From Coded Prototype to Software Requirements......Page 253
Summary......Page 254
PART 3.
Designing Your Site......Page 256
CHAPTER 8.
Designing for the Web (Debbie Stone, Caroline Jarrett, Mark Woodroffe, and Shailey Minocha)......Page 258
Introduction......Page 259
Tasks......Page 260
High-Quality Content......Page 261
Unique to the Online Medium......Page 263
Designing the Web Site Structure......Page 264
Helping the Users Navigate around the Site......Page 267
Navigation Aids......Page 270
Designing Home Pages and Interior Pages......Page 272
Designing Interior Pages......Page 273
Widgets on Web Pages......Page 275
Designing for Different Screens and Platforms......Page 277
Improving the Download Time......Page 279
Using Style Sheets......Page 281
Keep Text to a Minimum......Page 284
Help Users to Scan......Page 285
Summary......Page 286
PART 4.
Evaluation, Analysis......Page 288
Introduction......Page 290
Facilitator......Page 292
Observer......Page 293
Creating an Evaluation Script......Page 294
An Example of an Evaluation Script......Page 295
Forms to Use When Asking for Permission to Record......Page 297
Nondisclosure Agreements......Page 300
Run the Pilot Test......Page 301
Summary......Page 302
CHAPTER 10.
Usability Tests (Michael Kuniavsky)......Page 304
When to Test......Page 305
Example of an Iterative Testing Process: Webmonkey 2.0 Global Navigation......Page 306
Preparation......Page 309
The Physical Layout......Page 326
How to Analyze it......Page 332
Collecting Observations......Page 333
Extracting Trends......Page 335
Example......Page 336
CHAPTER 11. Analysis and Interpretation of User Observation Evaluation Data (Debbie Stone, Caroline Jarrett, Mark Woodroffe, and Shailey Minocha)......Page 342
Collating the Data......Page 343
Reviewing the Data to Identify Usability Problems......Page 345
Working with Quantitative Data......Page 347
An Example of Data from Global Warming......Page 349
Making Decisions with Qualitative Data......Page 351
Recommending Changes......Page 352
Writing the Evaluation Report......Page 354
Should You Describe Your Method?......Page 357
Describing Your Results......Page 358
Summary......Page 359
CHAPTER 12. Inspections of the User Interface (Debbie Stone, Caroline Jarrett, Mark Woodroffe, and Shailey Minocha)......Page 360
The Inspectors......Page 361
The Location of the Evaluation Session......Page 365
Analysis of Heuristic Inspection Data......Page 366
Benefits and Limitations of Heuristic Evaluations
......Page 367
Participatory Heuristic Evaluations......Page 369
Cognitive Walkthrough......Page 371
Summary......Page 372
REFERENCES......Page 374
INDEX......Page 390