Introduction: The Question of "Design Principles"
I think the following rules will cover most cases:
- (i) Never use a metaphor, simile or other figure of speech which you are used to seeing in print.
- (ii) Never use a long word where a short one will do.
- (iii) If it is possible to cut a word out, always cut it out.
- (iv) Never use the passive where you can use the active.
- (v) Never use a foreign phrase, a scientific word or a jargon word if you can think of an everyday English equivalent.
- (vi) Break any of these rules sooner than say anything barbarous.
from "Politics and the English Language," by George Orwell (1946)
This week we approach interface design from the point of view of traditional Human-Computer Interaction, rather than from the point of view of non-CS disciplines. In doing so, we will discuss interaction design and usability criteria in a "task-independent", "discipline-independent" way, and one immediate question is whether such an approach can yield design principles that work across tasks and disciplines of various sorts, for audiences of various sorts. Are the design principles arrived at in this way like Orwell's rules (taken together)?
Jef Raskin's The Humane Interface: New Directions for Designing Interactive Systems (Addison-Wesley, 2000)
Sarah Bell will lead the discussion of the first three chapters of Raskin's book.
Jakob Nielsen's "Usability" Studies
We'll have a look at two of Nielsen's recent columns from his Alertbox column, and discuss how his approach and conclusions compare with what we've seen in the Raskin book.
For next time: Read chapters 4-6 and the Conclusion of Raskin's book for Thursday, and have a look at the EduSoft of the Week: http://www.sesameworkshop.org/sesamestreet.