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TASK-CENTERED USER INTERFACE DESIGN: A Practical Introduction


Clayton Lewis and John Rieman
University of Colorado
Table of Contents
 READ PREFACE 
	0. Preface
	0.1	What's This Book All About?
	0.1.1	Who Should Be Reading the Book?
	0.1.2	What Is the User Interface?
	0.1.3	What Kind of User Interfaces Does This Book Cover? 
	0.1.4	Why Focus on Design?
	0.2	How to Use This Book
	0.2.1	HyperTopics and Examples
	0.2.2	Exercises
	0.3	About Shareware: How to Get and Pay for This Book
	0.3.1	Why Shareware?
	0.3.2	Special Note to Instructors and Students
	0.3.3	Where to Get Up-To-Date Copies
	0.3.4	Corrections and Additions
	0.3.5	Let Us Know What You Think
	0.4	About the Authors
	0.5	Acknowledgements
	0.6	Disclaimers
	Exercise 0.1.  Looking for the Interface
 READ CHAPTER 1 
	1. The Task-Centered Design Process
	1.1	Figure Out Who's Going to Use the System to Do What
	1.2	Choose Representative Tasks for Task-Centered Design
	1.3	Plagiarize
	1.4	Rough Out the Design
	1.5	Think About It
	1.6	Create a Mock-Up or Prototype
	1.7	Test the Design With Users
	1.8	Iterate
	1.9	Build the Design
	1.10	Track the Design
	1.11	Change the Design
	Exercise 1.1.  Task-Centered Design in Other Areas
 READ CHAPTER 2 
	2. Getting to Know Users and Their Tasks
	2.1	Getting in Touch With Users
	2.2	Learning About the Users' Tasks
	2.3	Using the Tasks in Design
	Exercise 2.1.  Task and User Analysis
 READ CHAPTER 3 
	3. Creating the Initial Design
	3.1	Working Within Existing Interface Frameworks
	3.2	Making Use of Existing Applications
	3.3	Copying Interaction Techniques From Other Systems
	3.4	When You Need to Invent
	3.4	Graphic Design Principles
	Exercise 3.1.  Selecting Controls
	Exercise 3.2.  Borrowed Colors
	Exercise 3.3.  Unpacking a Metaphor
 READ CHAPTER 4 
	4. Evaluating the Design Without Users
	4.1	Cognitive Walkthroughs
	4.1.1	Who should do a walkthrough, and when?
	4.1.2	What's needed before you can do a walkthrough? 
	4.1.3	What should you look for during the walkthrough?
	4.1.4	What do you do with the results of the walkthrough?  
	4.2	Action Analysis
	4.2.1	Formal Action Analysis
	4.2.2	Back-of-the-Envelope Action Analysis
	4.3	Heuristic Analysis
	4.4	Chapter Summary and Discussion
	Exercise 4.1.  Cognitive Walkthrough
	Exercise 4.2.  Action Analysis for Knowledge Assessment
	Exercise 4.3.  Heuristic Analysis
 READ CHAPTER 5 
	5. Testing the Design With Users
	5.1	Choosing Users to Test
	5.2	Selecting Tasks for Testing
	5.3	Providing a System for Test Users to Use
	5.4	Deciding What Data to Collect
	5.5	The Thinking Aloud Method
	5.5.1	Instructions
	5.5.2	The Role of the Observer
	5.5.3	Recording
	5.5.4	Summarizing the Data
	5.5.5	Using the Results
	5.6	Measuring Bottom-Line Usability
	5.6.1	Analyzing the Bottom-Line Numbers
	5.6.2	Comparing Two Design Alternatives
	5.7	Details of Setting Up a Usability Study
	5.7.1	Choosing the Order of Test Tasks
	5.7.2	Training Test Users
	5.7.3	The Pilot Study
	5.7.4	What If Someone Doesn't Complete a Task?
	5.7.5	Keeping Variability Down
	5.7.6	Debriefing Test Users
	Exercise 5.1.  Thinking Aloud
	Exercise 5.2.  Failures of User Testing
 READ CHAPTER 6 
	6. User Interface Management and Prototyping Systems
	6.1	Concepts
	6.1.1	Object-Oriented Programming  
	6.1.2	Event-Driven Programs
	6.1.3	Resources
	6.1.4	Interapplication Communication
	6.2	OSF/Motif in X-Windows -- Toolboxes in the Trenches
	6.3	Rapid Prototyping in HyperCard
	6.4	Windows, the Shared-Code Approach, and Visual Basic
	Exercise 6.1.  Learning About Your System
	Exercise 6.2.  Pushing the Envelope
 READ CHAPTER 7 
	7. The Extended Interface
	7.1	Manuals
	7.1.1	The Detailed Task Instructions
	7.1.2	The Command Reference
	7.1.3	The Super Index
	7.2	On-Line Help
	7.3	Training
	7.4	Customer-Support Phone Lines
 READ APPENDIX L 
	L. What Can You Borrow?
	L.1	Background
	L.2	What's Covered by Copyright
	L.3	Practical Boundary Markers
	L.4	Strategy
	L.5	Some Philosophical Observations
 READ APPENDIX M 
	M. Managing User Interface Development
	M.1	Staffing
	M.2	Organization
	M.3	Resource Allocation
	M.4	Product Updates