Nielsen Coordinating User Interfaces for Consistency

1. Auflage 2014
ISBN: 978-0-08-050315-8
Verlag: Elsevier Science & Techn.
Format: PDF
Kopierschutz: 1 - PDF Watermark

E-Book, Englisch, 152 Seiten, Web PDF

Reihe: Interactive Technologies

In the years since Jakob Nielsen's classic collection on interface consistency first appeared, much has changed, and much has stayed the same. On the one hand, there's been exponential growth in the opportunities for following or disregarding the principles of interface consistency-more computers, more applications, more users, and of course the vast expanse of the Web. On the other, there are the principles themselves, as persistent and as valuable as ever. In these contributed chapters, you'll find details on many methods for seeking and enforcing consistency, along with bottom-line analyses of its benefits and some warnings about its possible dangers. Most of what you'll learn applies equally to hardware and software development, and all of it holds real benefits for both your organization and your users. - Begins with a new preface by the collection's distinguished editor - Details a variety of methods for attaining interface consistency, including central control, user definitions, exemplary applications, shared code, and model analysis - Presents a cost-benefits analysis of organizational efforts to promote and achieve consistency - Examines and appraises the dimensions of consistency-consistency within an application, across a family of applications, and beyond - Makes the case for some unexpected benefits of interface consistency while helping you avoid the risks it can sometimes entail - Considers the consistency of interface elements other than screen design - Includes case studies of major corporations that have instituted programs to ensure the consistency of their products

Called the world's leading expert on Web usability by US News and World Report, Jakob Nielsen today serves as user advocate and principal of the Nielsen Norman Group. In the course of a career in which he held influential positions at Sun Microsystems, Bellcore, and IBM's T.J. Watson Research Center, Nielsen founded the 'discount usability engineering' movement for fast and cheap improvements of user interfaces and invented several usability methods, including heuristic evaluation. He holds 58 US patents, many of which focus on ways to make the Internet easier to use. He has written the Alertbox column on Web usability since 1995 and is the author of Designing Web Usability: The Practice of Simplicity and Usability Engineering, plus eight other books.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Nielsen, Jakob

Inhaltsverzeichnis

1;Front Cover;1
2;Coordinating User Interfaces for Consistency;4
3;Copyright Page;5
4;Table of Contents;6
5;Preface;8
6;Preface to the First Printing;10
7;Contributors;11
8;Chapter 1. Executive Summary: Coordinating User Interfaces for Consistency;12
8.1;Advantages of Consistency;13
8.2;The Dangers of Consistency;15
8.3;Dimensions of Consistency;16
8.4;Methods for Consistency;17
8.5;Conclusion;18
8.6;Acknowledgement;18
9;Chapter 2. The Dimensions of Consistency;20
9.1;Introduction;20
9.2;The Many Faces of Consistency;21
9.3;Implications for creating consistency through CUIs;29
9.4;Acknowledgements;31
10;Chapter 3. A COST BENEFIT ANALYSIS FOR CORPORATE USER INTERFACE STANDARDS: What price to pay for a consistent "look and feel"?;32
10.1;INTRODUCTION;32
10.2;THE SCOPE OF A CORPORATE USER INTERFACE LOOK AND FEEL;33
10.3;THE BENEFITS AND THE COSTS;36
10.4;MARKETPLACE VARIABLES;41
10.5;TECHNICAL FACTORS;42
10.6;LEGAL ISSUES;44
10.7;CONCLUSION;45
11;Chapter 4. Coordinating Consistency of User Interfaces, Code, Online Help, and Documentation With MultUingual/Multitarget Software Specification;46
11.1;Overview;46
11.2;Experimental Design Specißcation;48
11.3;Data Bases of Bibliographic References;49
11.4;Data Analysis System Interface;50
11.5;Command-Line-Option Parser-Generator;53
11.6;Electronic Survey System;55
11.7;Properties of Multilingual/Multitarget Programs;61
11.8;Summary and Conclusions;65
12;Chapter 5. Achieving Consistency for the Macintosh;68
12.1;Introduction;68
12.2;Corporate Commitment;69
12.3;Developer Community Commitment;70
12.4;Guidelines;70
12.5;Key Applications;72
12.6;Flexibility;73
12.7;Promotion;74
12.8;The Users;75
12.9;The Dealers;76
12.10;The Press;77
12.11;Full Hardware Support;78
12.12;Full Software Support;79
12.13;Expansion;81
12.14;Quality-Assurance;82
12.15;User Testing;82
12.16;Summary and conclusion;83
13;Chapter 6. Developing the XUI Style;86
13.1;Introduction;86
13.2;User Interface Style Guide;88
13.3;Toolkit;88
13.4;Consulting and Design;89
13.5;Electronic Communication;90
13.6;Developing a New Interface Style;93
13.7;Conclusion;97
13.8;Acknowledgments;99
14;Chapter 7. Consistency as Process;100
14.1;Aspects of consistency;100
14.2;Conflicts;101
15;Chapter 8. New Ways to Consistent Interfaces;104
15.1;Defining A More Consistent Interface;106
15.2;Tools for Defining A Consistent Interface;109
15.3;Political Support;112
15.4;Incorporating it in the Culture;114
15.5;Summary;116
16;Chapter 9 Tools for generating consistent user interfaces;118
16.1;Introduction;118
16.2;Overview of ITS tools;119
16.3;How the ITS architecture promotes interface consistency;123
16.4;Tools for the application expert and programmer;125
16.5;Tools for the style expert and programmer;133
16.6;Design issues in the ITS architecture;136
16.7;Extending toolkits to support consistency;140
16.8;Experience to date;141
16.9;Acknowledgements;141
17;Bibliography: Literature onConsistency;142
18;Index;150