Interface Design

User Interface Design Guidelines Arrangement in a Recommender System with Frame Ontology

by Maxim Bakaev

Lecture Notes in Computer Science, 2012, V. 7240, Database Systems for Advanced Applications, (Springer, 2012), P. 311-322.

Design guidelines, which come from the extensive body of knowledge currently formed in HCI and usability engineering... more Design guidelines, which come from the extensive body of knowledge currently formed in HCI and usability engineering domains, remain poorly integrated. Guidelines and design patterns from various sources may contradict or duplicate each other, lack links to origins and justification, as well as contextual associations to concrete problems. The paper describes how the recommender system, developed to support interface design, resolves the issues of data integration and credibility via employing frame-based ontology model and guidelines "efficiency" evaluation algorithm based on fuzzy relations. Also, experimental investigation was carried out with 24 subjects of different age groups to assess the quality of the system work. The results suggests reasonable applicability of the proposed approaches, as the success rate for the website created with the system nearly doubled the one for the control group, and guidelines efficiencies were significantly higher for relevant target user groups.

Co-creative interface development in MMORPGs - the case of World of Warcraft add-ons

by Patrick Prax

This article argues that the innovation in the interface design of the MMORPG World of Warcraft is to a substantial... more This article argues that the innovation in the interface design of the MMORPG World of Warcraft is to a substantial part originating in the user-created interface modifications called add-ons. This is shown in an analysis of the connection of the development in interface design to the creation of interface modification add-ons by players. The analysis is informed by interviews with specialists in the community of add-on programmers and focuses on the content and functionality of the add-ons mapped against the respective standard interface elements including an explanation of the problem they solve for the player and a measure of the similarity between them. The article also gives an outlook on the influence of these interface-modifications on the actual practice of game play as well as on game design and interface design by the game producer.

Designing user interactions and experiences: The terminology of User Experience Design and related areas

by David Smehlik

The thesis is unfortunately in czech language only.

This thesis discusses terminology used in the area of designing user interactions and experiences, an area influencing... more This thesis discusses terminology used in the area of designing user interactions and experiences, an area influencing our everyday lives. To be specific, it focuses on five selected fields: user experience design, interaction design, user interface design, user-centered design and human-computer interaction. The reason for this selection is a confusion in terminology caused by mutual substitutions of the terms and their insensitive misinterpretation. In five individual chapters, the paper clarifies what exactly each term describes and where its boundaries are. With the help of examples illustrating improper application of the terms, we identify the discrepancies between different ways of employing them and try to formulate probable causes of it. Every chapter contains a comparison of the fields and an attempt to devise a Czech equivalent for the term concerned. Throughout the thesis we stumble across additional terms from the same milieu such as empathic design, non intentional design, service design and others. The paper also provides wealth of relevant context and background information.

Games, narrative and the design of interface

by Joshua Tanenbaum

Bizzocchi, J., Tanenbaum, J., & Lin, B. (2011). Games, narrative and the design of interface. International Journal of Art and Technology (IJART), 4(4), 460-479.

There is a potential disconnection between the experience of narrative and the active decision-making necessary for... more There is a potential disconnection between the experience of narrative and the active decision-making necessary for successful gameplay. Gameplayers must oscillate between a hypermediated participation in game decisions, and the transparent pleasure in the narrative frame of the game (Bolter and Grusin, 1999; Manovich, 2001). This paper analyses one critical locus for facilitating player oscillation and bridging the gap between narrative pleasure and gameplay interaction. Narrative dynamics can be designed directly into the focus of active gameplay the game interface. This paper identifies and explicates four separate design approaches for integrating narrative within the game's interface: (1) a narrativised `look and feel' of the interface; (2) behavioural mimicking and behavioural metaphors; (3) narrativised perspective and (4) `bridging' and mixed-reality interfaces. These concepts are useful for describing, analysing and understanding how narrative experience can be instantiated within the game interface. Application of these concepts can help to reveal useful strategies for conjoining ludic play with narrative pleasure. Collectively, this approach is a step towards creating a common theoretical vocabulary for discussing the phenomenon of narrativised game interface.

Geovisualization and Archaeology: supporting Excavation Site Research

by Spyros Tsipidis

Tsipidis S., Kousoulakou A., Kotsakis K., in Advances in Cartography and GIScience. Volume 2: Selection from ICC 2011, Paris, ed. Anne Ruas

Modelling Selection Tasks and Assessing Performance in Web Interaction

by Maxim Bakaev

Proceedings of IADIS International Conference Applied Computing, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Nov 2011

The paper suggests a model for selection tasks that are widespread in modern interaction on the WWW, as well as the... more The paper suggests a model for selection tasks that are widespread in modern interaction on the WWW, as well as the means to evaluate performance as human processor throughput. Selection tasks are considered the combination of choice and movement stages, which are traditionally modelled with Hick-Hyman and Fitts’ laws respectively. However, as the former seems to fall short in most real interactions, we propose the model based on visual search time (VST) instead. Search area size (S0), sought element size (S) and the number of alternatives (N) were elected as primary factors for VST, although vocabulary size and number of search keys are also considered. In the result of experimentation with 28 subjects of different age groups, VST was suggested as the logarithm of the ratio between S0 and S, with N not being significant. Index of selection difficulty (IDS) is proposed based on Fitts’ ID, as well as subsequent notion of selection throughput (TPS), whose mean value in the experimentation amounted to 12.6 bit/s. The models might assist in creating more usable web interfaces, justifying interface elements’ and blocks’ sizes and hierarchy and allowing the evaluation of various interface designs via selection tasks throughput performance measure.

Designing a user interface based on the calm technology paradigm and schematic visualization, and its evaluation from a communicability and rhetoric standpoint

by Omar Sosa Tzec

4th International Conference on Information Design.

Information design, regarded as the act of creating usable messages, has a direct application on designing graphic... more Information design, regarded as the act of creating usable messages, has a direct application on designing graphic user interfaces. In this regard, it is possible to consider schematic visualization as an option for users to unload cognitively through more stress on the visual characteristics of the interface. This represents a way to apply the Calm Technology paradigm proposed by Mark Weiser. By considering the level of iconicity conveyed into such an interface, the understanding of how schematics works on the interface should be evaluated under a different approach rather than a traditional usability evaluation, for example by doing a communicability test (from the Semiotic Engineering theory). Thus, this paper describes the overall process to design and evaluate an instant messaging client under these considerations and it also introduces a standpoint for interface design based on the three rhetoric appealing modes.

Eagle, S. (2012) Learning in the Early Years: social interactions around picturebooks and digital technologies. Computers & Education, 59, 1, pp 38–49

by Sarah Eagle

This paper develops an approach to thinking about young children, digital technologies and learning, drawing on... more This paper develops an approach to thinking about young children, digital technologies and learning, drawing on research literature that relates children’s learning to the use of books, and on literature that discusses the nature of interaction between adults and children and its relationship to children’s learning. An analysis is given of parents and children using devices marketed as supporting young children’s learning, identifying, within the interactions that take place, the adult’s conception of appropriate use, and showing how this influences the nature of adult-child interaction. The findings are then related to literature on social interaction and learning, and discussed in relation to the assumptions that underpin the design of the devices used. The paper suggests that the artefact can influence adult-child interaction via a conception of appropriate use, which relates to traditions or practices with which the adult is familiar but also to the design features of the artefact. It suggests that it may be time to rethink the design of technologies to support young children’s learning.

Designkonzepte für Adaptive Touchscreens im Automobil: Strategien zur kontextabhängigen Anpassung von Anzeigeflächen und Bedienzonen

by Mike Salzer

Making adaptive cruise control (ACC) limits visible

by John Lee

Why do New Interfaces Scare Me? Exploring Affective Design Principles in User Interface Design

by Gray Hodgkinson

Ontology to Support HCI Design for E-Commerce (in Russian)

by Maxim Bakaev

Разработка онтологии для поддержки проектирования человеко-компьютерного взаимодействия в сфере электронной коммерции,
журнал "Вестник компьютерных и
информационных технологий" (2011)

Fitts' law for older adults: considering a factor of age

by Maxim Bakaev

In Proc. of the VIII Brazilian Symposium on Human Factors in Computing Systems (2008), p. 260-263

The paper describes an experiment investigating older adults’ ability to make rapid aimed movements with a computer... more The paper describes an experiment investigating older adults’ ability to make rapid aimed movements with a computer mouse. Fitts’ law was found to be applicable, but had R2 lower than for younger subjects. On average, it took elder participants twice as much time to complete movement tasks, but their accuracy was two times higher. Error level was affected by small (8 pixels) target size, but not by movement distance. Mean throughput was 4.58, but only 3.29 for senior subjects. Extended regression models, incorporating factors of subjects’ age and experience, were proposed for movement time and throughput, providing a useful insight for HCI researchers and interface designers.

Motivational features of a mobile web application promoting a healthy lifestyle.

by André Calero Valdez

Workshop on HCI for Wellness: Using computers to improve mental wellness (HCI4well). 24th BCS Conference on Human Computer Interaction (HCI2010), University of Abertay, Dundee, Scotland.

Task performance in mobile and ambient interfaces. Does size matter for usability of electronic diabetes assistants?

by André Calero Valdez

Mobile small screen technology increasingly
penetrates health care and medical applications.
However,... more Mobile small screen technology increasingly
penetrates health care and medical applications.
However, usability research regarding the ease of
using these devices, as well as acceptance issues did
mostly address aspects of IC-Technologies in
younger and healthy users. This study investigates
impacts of ageing and domain knowledge on user
interaction using the example of diabetes. First, the
software for the monitoring of diabetes had been
developed and implemented on a PC. The simulated
diabetes assistant was displayed on a small screen
device as well as on a very large display, simulating
an ambient assisted living environment. In a second
step, the navigation behavior of younger and older
diabetes patients as well as healthy users was
assessed. Results show that age and display-size
have a big impact on the device interaction,
independently of domain knowledge. Furthermore, it
was found that simple usage of a bigger screen could
be helpful for tutoring patients in using a mobile
electronic living assistant.

An Innovative Interface Design-Home Entertainment Systems

by Yu-Min Fang

An Innovative Interface Design -Home Entertainment Systems
Yu Min Fang, Thesis Project for Master of Science in Design, Arizona State University; May, 1994.

A friendly interface for users to control Home Entertainment Systems is designed. The center point of this project is... more A friendly interface for users to control Home Entertainment Systems is designed. The center point of this project is the Graphic User Interface (GUI), which is a new and more intuitive way of interaction employing symbols, icons, windows, menus and a cursor. In this project, the methodologies and principals of developing a Human Computer Interface are studied to establish the GUI style interface between users and Home Entertainment Systems. A pilot test is then conducted to improve the new operational approach. Finally, a prototype of a Home Entertainment System Interface is designed.

A preliminary study of applying ERP on users’ reactions to web pages with different presentation formats

by Yu-Min Fang

Ming-Huang Lin, Yu-Min Fang, Ching-Yi Wang, 2011, A preliminary study of applying ERP on users’ reactions to web pages with different presentation formats, 日本設計學報, 57(5), 89–98.pdf

Instead of text, usually web design experts suggest more proper images, especially human faces or figures, will evoke... more Instead of text, usually web design experts suggest more proper images, especially human faces or figures, will evoke the viewers’ sympathy and increase the attractiveness of the web pages. To investigate this design principle, this research introduced the ERP (Event-related potential) method to analyze viewers’
brainwave component P300, N170, and N400 to compare the different visual stimuli - brief description (text), product photos, human face images, and body images. The result showed that the photos and human figures were confirmed positively for increasing attractiveness, diminishing the time of communication. But experts’
suggestion is not always valid since sometimes the proper word impresses viewers more in the first glance, comparing to visual images.
Key words: design cognition; interface design; information design; event-related potential (ERP)

The role of interactive representations in cognitive tools for learning

by Paul Parsons

In S. Abramovich (Ed., 2012), Computers in Education (pp. 27-45). Hauppauge, NY: Nova.

Co-authored with Dr. Kamran Sedig

In this chapter we review the importance of interactive representations in cognitive tools and the role they play in... more In this chapter we review the importance of interactive representations in cognitive tools and the role they play in education and learning. Cognitive tools (CTs) refer to digital computer-based environments that are used to support, facilitate, and enhance learning. Learning generally involves the human mind interacting with information in order to give it meaning and to form knowledge. Without the use of external aids to mediate this interaction, however, learning can be constrained. CTs are a type of external aid that act as interfaces between the human mind and information, such that they mediate learning processes. CTs embody information at the interface level with different representational forms. Representations become new forms of information, in such a way that learners think with and through the representations. Additionally, the choice of representational form has a large impact on the cognitive processes of learners, and affects the way they understand the underlying information. Due to the malleable nature of CTs, they allow interaction with the representations such that the information can be explored in a dynamic fashion. Through interaction, the expressiveness of representations can be extended and enhanced, by allowing the explorations of inherent syntax and semantics of the representations. Interaction in this context refers to a discourse between the learner and the CT. As the learner performs an action, the CT responds in some way such that the learner has to perceive and interpret the effect. It is through this process of acting, perceiving, and interpreting that a CT mediates a learner’s interaction with information in order to facilitate learning. These CTs, however, should not be viewed simply as technologies to disseminate information to learners, but rather as tools for engaging learners in reflective, critical thinking about the information with which they are interacting. CTs have the ability to be powerful partners in cognition, shaping the way that people learn. The educational potential of CTs, however, has not been fully realized. In order to effectively facilitate learning, CTs need to be designed and used properly. The effective design of CTs involves an understanding of both the representational forms of information and their interaction possibilities. This chapter will investigate different representational and interactional forms in CTs and their effects on learning and education. As CTs become more widely used in educational settings it is important to be able to design and analyze them in a systematic and effective manner.

Are Pretty Interfaces Worth the Time? The Effects of User Interface Types on Web-Based Instruction

by Michael M Grant

Journal of Interactive Learning Research, 20(1), 5-33. Co-authored with Jongpil Cheon.

The purpose of this study was to examine the effectiveness of three different interface types on Web-based... more The purpose of this study was to examine the effectiveness of three different interface types on Web-based instruction: a text-based interface, a graphical interface and a metaphorical interface. In order to determine differences among three interface groups, we compared learning performance, cognitive load, usability, and appeal with various data from 41 undergraduate students in the mid-South. Results indicated there was no difference among the groups in terms of learning performance, cognitive load, and usability; however, a metaphorical interface increased learners' attention. Based on the results, implications for instructional designers are presented.

Introduction to TTP/C and TTP/A

by Wilfried Elmenreich