Creating User Interfaces

1
Creating User Interfaces

• (Finish presentations)
• System owners, etc. Development cycle. Check
  lists.
  
• My sites
• Homework Research Content Management Systems OR
  Usability checklists

2
Stakeholders

• It is important to recognize different
  roles/objectives for the various stakeholders
  
• System owners
• System designers
• System builders
• System users
• May be different types

3
Development cycle

• In organizations, generally formal, engineered
  process
  
• Monitor existing systems to generate 'to do'
  lists
  
• Fix bugs. Add features. Sometimes debatable
  which something is.
  
• Design changes
• Build
• Test
• Deploy
• Training, run parallel systems,

4
Development cycle

• Interface design guidelines also serve to present
  common look
  
• Maintain brand

5
Categories

• Cool and usable
• Cool and confusing
• Boring and usable
• Boring and confusing
• BUT recall Cooper, other remarks in most cases,
  best interfaces do not dominate.

6
Levels of use?

• My phrase
• Find a better one? Standard?
• Example
• Registrar's office sets up system
• Faculty/staff put in schedule information
• Actually, not directly, at least here at
  Purchase
  
• Students register
• Faculty views system to check counts, other info,
  get class lists

7
My websites

• http//newmedia.purchase.edu/Jeanine
• http//jeanine.meyer.blogs.purchase.edu/
• I put in / amend material for my own use and for
  your use. I do this often.
  
• Comment from student in previous class (about
  first site) site needs to be more attractive and
  user friendly.
  
• Discuss?

8
Usability check lists

• May be enforced by development tools.
• XHTML validation http//validator.w3.org/
• http//www.usability.gov/
• http//web.mit.edu/is/usability/usability-guidelin
  es.html
  
• Jakob Nielsen http//www.useit.com/papers/heurist
  ic/heuristic_list.html
  
• Other

9
Remember

• Remarks on varying and evolving skills,
  expectations, experience.
  
• Does some of the usability checks apply?

10
my check list / process

• Identify users
• Identify what
• System users want to do
• What system owners want users to do be
  accomplished
  
• Identify relevant expectations experiences
• Identify / make connections users may have with
  other parts of the organization
  
• Design build
• Review vocabulary
• Review with a user group
• Deploy
• monitor

11
Connections

• Information in database(s) and in cookies can be
  useful and/or creepy.
  
• Our sensitivities / expectations may be evolving
• Examples
• Call to New York Times circulation identifies my
  account by my phone number
  
• Call to LLBean also identifies my account and
  tells me shoe size on last order AND address for
  Aviva at college
  
• Amazon tells me people who ordered this book
  also ordered that book
  
• Google side-bar ads based on words in email
• Other?

12
Check lists

• Heuristics implication that they may not be the
  whole answer
  
• Apply to
• Your project
• My website
• The class blog?

13
Content Management Systems

• Attempt to separate technical implementation from
  content
  
• Note there also is split
• Content
• Technical implementation
• Design
• XML and . XSLT, our Flash and Javascript, also
  do this
  
• Blogs, FaceBook, etc. provide ways to have a web
  presence in common formats
  
• More discussion next class

14
Databases (briefly)

• Database holds
• Tables
• Records
• Fields
• Relationships field in records in table point to
  record in same or another table
  
• Rules for well-formed
• Main rule don't duplicate information
• Preview (ad) Creating Databases for Web
  Applications course

15
Regarding my sites,

• Redundacy of information on courses
• Good students can get to information various
  ways.
  
• Bad I need to make sure that things stay
  consistent
  
• This is an interface issue because something
  difficult to build and maintain will sooner or
  later produce problems for the user

16
FACT!

• More time is spent maintaining (renewing,
  enhancing, updating) applications then in the
  initial design!
  

17
Second system syndrome

• derogatory term describing tendency to put
  every new feature into an application.
  
• Could also imply tendency to 'fight the last
  war'
  
• Technologies have changed
• Typical users may have changed

18
SQL

• Most commercial databases have same structure
• Make use of some form of Structured Query
  Language
  
• SELECT student_name, grade FROM class WHERE
  grade65

19
Middleware

• Aka server side
• Middle between presentation to client and
  database
  
• Handles business logic
• php
• asp
• ruby on rails
• Java
• ???

20
Content Management Systems

• http//en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_content_manag
  ement_systems
  
• http//php.opensourcecms.com/
• Other?

21
Class exercise / homework

• Teams of two pick one and prepare report on a
  CMS or a Usability Checklist
  
• Make posting
• Report next class
• If time decide here so each group is different.
• If no time if someone already has posted on
  yours, you must pick another one.
  
• You can make comment