Designing for People: Communicating Effectively with Interaction

© 1 9 9 5-20 0 2 Andre a L. Am e s
Designing forPeople!
Communicating Effectively
with Interaction
Andrea L. Ames
Senior Information Developer, IBM
STC Candidate for Second Vice
President
Certificate Coordinator and Instructor,
University of CA Extension, Santa Cruz
Associate Fellow and
Assistant to the President for Recognition,
Society for Technical Communication

© 1995-2002 Andrea L. Ames
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About Andrea
 Technical communicator since 1983
 Online information and human-computer interaction focus
since 1989
 Areas of expertise
 Information architecture and design and interaction design
 User-centered design and development process and start-to-finish
usability—analysis, design, testing
 Focus: Software product user interfaces and interactive
information systems, including Web
 Coordinator of two University of California, Santa Cruz,
Extension technical communication certificates
 Associate Fellow and Member of Society for Technical
Communication (STC) Board of Directors

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Discussion Topics
 Why technical communicators (should) care
about interaction
 Characteristics of interaction
 Common interaction mechanisms
 Things that bug us
 Skills and knowledge technical
communicators need to design effective
interaction
 Resources

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Why You Should Be Concerned With
Interaction
Shouldn’t be a big surprise—you’ve
probably been concerned with
interaction for a long time
Communicates the organization,
access mechanisms, and
meaning of text
Develop structures to make this easier
Tech Communication and Interaction

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Interaction Characteristics
Think of it as a conversation
Think of it as information/assistance
Think of it as organization (navigation)
Characteristics of Interaction

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Thinkof Interaction As Conversation
 Make it useful, helpful, and “polite”
 Alan Cooper, The Inm ate s are Running the
Asylum
 H. Paul Grice (psychologist), regarding
conversation
 Quality: Say true things
 Quantity: Say neither too much
nor too little
 Relevance: Say things that relate to
the topic at hand
 Clarity: Say things clearly and well
Characteristics of Interaction † Conversation

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Thinkof Interaction as Information
Helping users to minimize error
Being visible—helping users to make
informed choices about where to go or
what to do next
Providing responses, so users know
they did the right thing and are
encouraged to continue
Characteristics of Interaction † Information

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Thinkof Interaction as Organization:
Navigation
Avoid it (the fewer clicks, the better)
Provides a way for users to make
choices, refining content
Suggests structure and
organization; closely
linked with information
architecture and file
architecture
Characteristics of Interaction † Organization/Navigation

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Navigation Provides Context
Tells me:
Where I am and possibly how I got here
Where I’ve been and how I can get
back
Where I can go from here and how I can
get there
How to get back to the beginning
Characteristics of Interaction † Organization/Navigation

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Common Interaction Mechanisms
 Navigation mechanisms
 Hiding and showing—or expanding and
contracting—text
 Form elements
 “Pop-ups” or opening
a new window
 Non-scrolling regions
 Coaches, show-mes, and demonstrations
Interaction Mechanisms

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Navigation Mechanisms
 “Traditional” access methods: TOCs,
indexes
 Rollovers *
 Controlling the appearance of links *
 Pull-down or pop-up menus
 Menus and button bars *
*Visio Help TOC
Interaction Mechanisms † For Navigation

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Hiding/Showing, Expanding/Collapsing
Resolves some topic-length issues
Hides details until they’re needed
Combines information for printing
*Visio Help “Create Basic Flowchart”
Interaction Mechanisms † Expanding/Collapsing Text

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FormElements
 Take advantage of GUI
standards/heuristics
 May be very familiar to
users of particular
software/OS platform
(e.g., Mac or Windows)
 May no t be familiar
Interaction Mechanisms † FormElements

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Pop-Ups or
Opening a New Window
Helps manage screen real estate
Indicates sub-processes
Hides details, background, etc., until
wanted/needed
Definitions
*Visio Help “Creating Basic Flowchart”
Interaction Mechanisms † Opening New Windows

(c) 1995-2002 Andrea L. Ames
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Non-Scrolling Regions
Supports navigation
Keeps menus, etc., persistent (always
visible)
*Visio Help “Getting Started
Interaction Mechanisms † Non-Scrolling Regions

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Coaches, Show-mes,
and Demonstrations
Link together product and help
Typically very tightly integrated, but
can be more like self-running demo
Give user control over all aspects of
running/not running
*Visio Help Getting Started
Interaction Mechanisms † Coaches, Show-mes, Demos

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Don’t Do Things That Bug Us
Blinking
Gratuitous animation and multimedia
Rude, obscure, and
inconsistent behavior
Interrupting tasks
Things That Bug Us

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More Things That Bug Us
 “Too much” scrolling
 “Too many” clicks
 Frames
 Might take up screen real estate
 Might slow display speed
 Don’t fit with page/screen model—confusing
 Add layer of complexity
 Can’t bookmark content pages within frames
Things That Bug Us

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Where to Go FromHere
 Cognitive psychology (how people learn
and remember), human factors, usability,
and user-centered development processes
 Audience analysis
 Info rm e d design
 Validation/evaluation (including usability testing)
 Information architecture and design,
modular writing, and minimalism
 Visual design
 User-interface design
Skills and Knowledge

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Learning the Skills and
Gaining the Knowledge
 Bentley College online courses in information
design: www.bentley.edu
No te : Mo st o f the big /we ll-kno wn scho o ls no w have o nline
pro g ram s: Te xas Te ch, Univ. o f Washing to n, RPI, Me rce r
Unive rsity, e tc.
 Christchurch (NZ) Polytechnic Institute
of Technology’s Graduate Diploma of
Technical Communication:
courseweb.chchpoly.ac.nz:8083/techwrit/
 HTML Writers Guide (HWG) online courses in
Web-based technologies: www.hwg.org
 University of California, Los Angeles, Extension
program in technical communication:
www.unex.ucla.edu
Resources

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Print Books and Articles
 Beyer, Hugh and Karen Holtzblatt,
Co nte xtualDe sig n: ACusto m e r-Ce nte re d
Appro ach to Syste m s De sig n
 Constantine, Larry and Lucy
Lockwood, So ftware fo r Use :
APracticalGuide to the Mo de ls
and Me tho ds o f Usag e -Ce nte re d De sig n
 Coe, Marlana, Hum an Facto rs fo r Te chnical
Co m m unicato rs
Resources

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Print Books and Articles (cont.)
 Cooper, Alan, The Inm ate s Are Running the
Asylum
 Farkas, David and Jean, Principle s o f
We bsite De sig n
 Fleming, Jennifer, We b Navig atio n
 Hackos, JoAnn and Janice (Ginny) Redish,
Use r and Task Analysis fo r Inte rface De sig n
 Johnson, Jeff, GUIBlo o pe rs: Do n’ts and
Do s fo r So ftware De ve lo pe rs and We b
De sig ne rs.
 Krug, Steve, Do n’t Make Me Think
Resources

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Print Books and Articles (cont.)
 Nielsen, Jakob, De sig ning We b Usability:
The Practice o f Sim plicity
 Normal, Don, The De sig n o f Eve ryday
Thing s and The Psycho lo g y o f Eve ryday
Thing s
 Price, Jonathan, Writing We b Te xt
 Raskin, Jef, The Hum ane Inte rface
 Redish, Janice C. and Judith A. Ramey,
“Special section: Measuring the value added
by professional technical communicators.”
Te chnicalCo m m unicatio n, 42(1), 2/95
Resources

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Web Sites
 (coming soon!) Andrea Ames’
TechCommResource site:
techcommresource.alames.net/
 Ask Tog: www.asktog.com
 C|Net Builder’s cool tools: www.builder.com
 IBM’s Ease of Use site: www.ibm.com/easy/
 Jakob Nielsen’s site: www.useit.com
 uidesign.net Interaction Design
Webzine: www.uidesign.net
 Usable Web: www.usableweb.com
Resources

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Professional Organizations
ACM’s SIGCHI
(www.acm.org/chi/)
STC’s Usability SIG
(www.stc.org/pics/usability/)
Usability Professionals’ Association
(UPA) (www.upassoc.org)
Resources

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Contacting Andrea and
Finding This Presentation Online
e-mail: aames@pobox.com
phone: 408.463.3793
web: techcommresource.alames.net

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