William H. Bowers – Other Communication with Users Cooper 35
William H. Bowers – Topics Your Identity on the Desktop Your Identity on the Desktop Ancillary Application Windows Ancillary Application Windows Online Help Online Help “Intelligent” Agents “Intelligent” Agents
William H. Bowers – Your Identity on the Desktop Program name Program name –Displayed in the title bar Should include document name Should include document name –Shown in the launch button –Can be truncated Program icon Program icon –16 x 16 used in title bar –32 x 32 used on desktop
William H. Bowers – Ancillary Application Windows About boxes About boxes –Identifies program, version, build –More for identification than information about the program –Could identify some application features
William H. Bowers – Ancillary Application Windows Splash screens Splash screens Easter eggs Easter eggs
William H. Bowers – Online Help Reference for intermediate users Reference for intermediate users Index Index –Searchable –Comprehensive Shortcuts reference Shortcuts reference –Not usually implemented –Provides listing of shortcut keys
William H. Bowers – Online Help Overview Overview –Scope, effect, power, positives, downsides Modeless help Modeless help –Tool tips
William H. Bowers – Online Help Wizards Wizards –Attempt to guarantee success –Series of dialogs –Asking is not the same as providing choices –Devolve into series of confirmations
William H. Bowers – “Intelligent” Agents MS Office Clippy MS Office Clippy Anthropomorphic Anthropomorphic Increases user’s expectations Increases user’s expectations Quickly become frustrating Quickly become frustrating
William H. Bowers – Questions & Discussion