Interface design Multimedia and Web

Today’s Objectives Introduce User-Center Design Guidelines CSS Project portfolio page

Defining ID Terms

Defining ID User interface (UI): computer-mediated means to facilitate communication between human and an artifact. User Interface (UI) - means by which humans interact with a computer to fulfill a purpose. Communication Channel – something that mediates between the user and the computer. Controls input and output - translator

Defining ID One approach to present a problem: Identify as many sets of any 3 numbers from 1 to 9 that sum to 15.  e.g., 1, 9, 5 is one set because = 15

Defining ID Here is another way to present the problem Identify as many sets of any 3 numbers from 1 to 9 that sum to 15.

Defining ID What makes an interface good?

Defining ID What is a good interface?  A good ID encourages an easy, natural, and engaging interaction between users and system… BUT  Must be concerned with whether an interface is good, bad, or poor, etc. in relation to usability.

User Centered Design Model & approaches

What is User-Centered Design? Places the person (as opposed to the 'thing') at the center. Focuses on cognitive factors (such as perception, memory, learning, problem-solving, etc.) as they impact interactions.

Requirement Definition System & Software Design Implementation Unit Testing Integration & System Testing Operation & Maintenance Waterfall Life Cycle Model

Requirement Definition System & Software Design Implementation Unit Testing Integration & System Testing Operation & Maintenance Waterfall Life Cycle Model User involvement Sequential phases Each phase complete before the next

Iterative design process User Testing Design Prototyping e.g., Agile model

Iterative design process User Testing Design Prototyping Involve users throughout the process Process is highly iterative

Source: Lynch & Horton, The Site Development Process Model Lynch & Horton

Source: Lynch & Horton, The Site Development Process Lynch & Horton Broad input & participation in beginning. Narrow focused team at the end. Necessary, to finish your site on time and on budget.

User centered design Common approaches

User-Centered Design Major activities: 1. Understand/specify the context of use 2. Specify user and organization requirements 3. Create prototypes 4. Evaluate designs with users against requirements. (British Standards Institution 1998; Stone, Jarrett, Woodroffe, & Minocha, 2005)

SOURCE:

SOURCE:

User-Centered Design Major Steps 1. Requirements-definition - client gives developers information about functionality and requirements. 2. Establish design for the project. 3. Develop prototypes that reflect the emerging design, using the programming language or development environment.

User-Centered Design  Major Steps 4. Submit prototypes to client for feedback and modifications. 5. Revise prototypes to reflect the client’s changes. 6. Repeat steps 3 and 5 for additional part of the system.

User-Centered Design Seeks to answer questions about users and their tasks and goals such as: Who are the users of this 'thing'? What are the users’ tasks and goals? What are the users’ experience levels with this thing, and things like it? How can the design of this ‘thing’ facilitate users' cognitive processes?

User-Centered Design What hardware, software, and browsers do the users have? What relevant knowledge and skills do the users already possess? What functions do the users need from this interface? How do they currently perform these tasks? Why do the users currently perform these tasks the way they do? What information might the users need and in what form? What do users expect from this Web site? How do users expect this interface will work?

Site Development Process (Lynch & Horton) Site definition and planning Information architecture Site design Site construction Site marketing Tracking, evaluation, and maintenance Source: Lynch & Horton,

Source: Lynch & Horton, The Site Development Process Lynch & Horton

The first step to design web site is to define your goals. Careful planning and a clear purpose are the keys to success in building web sites, particularly when working with a development team. Source: Lynch & Horton, Site Development Process (Lynch & Horton)

Step 1: Gather development team, analyze needs/goals, and work through development process to refine plans. Source: Lynch & Horton, Site Development Process (Lynch & Horton)

Step 2: Create charter document:  what you intend to do and why,  what technology and content you’ll need,  how long will process take,  how much you will spend, and  how you will assess the results of your efforts. Source: Lynch & Horton, Site Development Process (Lynch & Horton)

Charter document is crucial to creating a successful site: Charter document is blueprint and will help keep project focused on the agreed-on goals and deliverables. Site Development Process (Lynch & Horton)

Design guidelines Home: Communicating the purpose

Design guides Try to accommodate a majority (95%) of all users. As of Jan. 2008, 48% of users had screen resolution set at 1024x768; and 38% had it higher. As of Jan. 2009, 36% of users had screen resolution set at 1024x768; and 57% had it higher x 768 is still one of the most popular screen resolutions in 2009 (others 1280 x 800, 1280 x 1024, 1680 x 1050 & 1440 x 900) Ensure all testing of sites is done using the most common screen resolutions. Source Research-Based Web Design & Usability Guidelines US Government Usability Guidelines;

Display Resolution (Jan 2008) Source: W3Schools:, Web Statistics and Trends:

Display Resolution Jan Source: W3Schools: Web Statistics and Trends:

Browsers (July 2008) Source: W3Schools:, Web Statistics and Trends:

Browser Use July 2009 Source: W3Schools: Web Statistics and Trends:

Design guidelines: Home Many people have screen resolutions of 1024X768. In time, 1024X768 will be the smallest. Width: design pages at roughly 984 pixels for 1024X768 resolution. Width: design pages at roughly 760 pixels for 800X600 resolution.

Design guidelines: Home Show company name or logo in a reasonable size and location on the home page. Include a tag line. Indicate what your site does that is valuable from users’ perspectives. Give prominence to the highest priority tasks (e.g., purchase books, check stock quotes, etc). Make the home page distinct from other pages.

Design guidelines Liquid design rather than frozen. Page length: roughly two full screens. Don’t cram everything on one page. Make sure important features are “above the fold”

Design guidelines Logo – upper left Logo is a link to the home page on all pages except the home page. Logo size roughly 74px X 74px

Design guidelines Search – upper portion of screen – upper right Search on every page Search box 35 characters wide

Cascading Style Sheets CSS

Cascading Style Sheets HTML was not meant to specify an exact appearance for your Web pages. CSS (Cascading Style Sheets) allows you to specify more information about the appearance of elements on a Web page. Zen Garden

Structure and style Structure document with html  Focus on content and organization first. All documents should be readable without CSS.

Structure and style Use styles to attached to block in document (,,, …) Use classes for repeated styles Use IDs to style a specific section

Cascading Style Sheets A style sheet is a set of one or more rules that apply to an HTML document. h1 { color : red; }

Cascading Style Sheets Why use styles?

Cascading Style Sheets Update the look of a Web site by changing a single document. Keep content separate from styling. Greater typography and page layout control Easier site maintenance

External Styles page4.htm page6.htm page7.htm page2.htm page3.htmpage1.htm index.htm Style.css page5.htm Make changes from a single document Changes multiple documents

Rules, Selectors, Declarations CSS

The Rule h1 {color : #c0c0c0;} Rule

The Rule h1 {color : #c0c0c0;} SelectorDeclaration Rule

The Declaration Has two parts separated by a colon: Property - that part before the colon Value - that part after the colon h1 {color : #c0c0c0; }

The Declaration  Curly brackets { } help distinguish between selector, property, and value  Colon separates property and values  Semicolon separates declarations h1 {color : #c0c0c0;}

The Declaration The level 2 header’s text is blue. Subject Object Verb Adjective

The Declaration Subject Object Verb = “to be” Adjective h2 { color : blue;}

Combining Rules h1 { color : red; } h2 { color : red; } h3 { color : red; } h1, h2, h3 { color : red; }

Types of Style Sheets Inline Styles Heading text is red Embedded Styles body { background-color: #000000; color: #FFFFFF;} External Styles (browser waits for styles before page) Imported Styles (styles applied after page url(Layout_A.css);

Types of selectors 1. HTML selectorh1 {color : red ;} 2. Class selector.highlight  Dependent classes h1.highlight 3. ID selector#site_info

Classes  Classes (applies to more than one type of element – several different styles for the same element.).mytext {font-family : Verdana; font-size : 1.5em;} Hello World

Dependent Classes.highlight {background-color : green;} h1.highlight {text-transform : uppercase;} /*if highlight class is used with h1, it has green background color and uppercase*/

64 ID Selector id Selector  Use to apply a CSS rule to ONE element on a Web page. Configure with #idname The sample creates an id called “new” with red, large, italic text. To use the id, code the following XHTML: This is text is red, large, and in italics #new { color: #FF0000; font-size:2em; font-style: italic; }

Five properties control font characteristics  font-family  font-style  font-weight  font-size CSS Typography

Value is a list of font names in decreasing order of preference p { font-family: "The Sans", Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; } Names separated by a space should be in “ “ font-family

The font-size Property  Use em or percentage font sizes – these can be easily enlarged in all browsers by users  Ex: Ex:

line-height property specifies leading Use percentage (150%), ratio (1.5) or ems (1.5em) to specify leading relative to font size Leading

text-align property can take values left, right, center or justify body { text-align: left; } p.display { text-align: center; } Alignment

CSS Guidelines Review the design of the page  Configure global font and color properties for the body selector  Identify typical elements (such as,, and so on) and declare style rules for these if needed.  Identify page areas such as logo, navigation, footer, and so on – configure an appropriate class or id for each.

CSS Guidelines Create a prototype page that contains most of the elements you plan to use and test.  Once your design is set – move styles to an external.css file Planning and testing are important activities when designing a Web site

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Header Side Bar LeftMain Content Footer Wrapper