When I saw this slide on Josh Porter's terrific preso on Psychology Of Social Design the clouds parted and the angels sang.

There is a desired behavior that we need to create, we have no control over the person but, via interaction design, information architecture and interface design we control the environment.

Perfect, and succinct. I need to make a T-Shirt.

entire presentation:

We've been using Basecamp as our core collaboration/project management tool for PublicSquare. While it does seem to be true it's the best thing out there, at least if you are like me and want as lightweight tracking as possible; it has some amazing moments of lameness, some small, some really annoying. I've been haunted by them for months, now I must vent.

So here we go, Letterman style:

#6

What's the difference between uploading in the file section and uploading a file within the context of a message? Not the advantage you might think of, which would be multi-file upload. The difference is you can't comment on files uploaded in the file area. I wanted to upload files in the file area, because that seemed proper, then discuss them. But no.

It took me awhile to learn this (because I am thick), but now I almost never use the file area, except occasionally to drop a song off, or backup a Photoshop file. It's a good place to hide things. Which maybe it was made for after all...

I still want multi-file upload. How many times do you need to upload 20+ images at a time? Every time you run a design project.

#5
This is not search. Search has an input box, and a submit button. Trust me; I have seen an unbelievable number of hours of user testing. No box, no see. No see, no search.

#4

Um, why not add textile to to-dos, like everywhere else? It allows one to give context to a todo, if you can link to the message or note where everything was decided.

#3

Writeboard has been integrated into Basecamp-- sort of. Although it looks like a part of Basecamp, with tab access, once you click on the tab, you find it's just kinda been pasted on. Moreover, you cannot email or IM the URL in the browser window. It just plain doesn't work. I'm not sure why, but I can't seem to learn this and continue to IM Lars a URL that doesn't work.

When I used to see this behavior-- users perpetually doing things "the wrong way"-- in usability tests, I'd call it an "unlearnable interface." It so contradicted established conventions that the user couldn't learn the exception. Since I have a samplesize of one (me!), I can't say for certain it's true here, but I suspect...

If 37 Signals didn't want to take on the technical challenge of fixing this, they might at least place the location of the writeboard somewhere where it could easily be seen, and cut and pasted into an IM, instead of forcing people through the email-me form.

This one has me tearing out my hair daily, when you finish creating a new message entry, it takes you to what appears to be the message overview page. But wait! It turns out it's been narrowed by the category you filed the new message. You have no idea how often I've sat, staring at the page, thinking where the heck did that message I was going to reply to next go? One team member has just given up using categories at all.

Also, if you edit the category, and save your changes, you are dropped on the page narrowed by the category the post *used* to be in! So the message essentially disappears. Wha-huh?

The ideal solution would be showing you all the messages once you have finished composing, but since this has been the behavior for some time now, and customers may have grown used to it, stronger feedback would be helpful. Perhaps a paperclip saying "We notice you filed that in design, so perhaps you'd like to look at other design posts."

#1

This is my biggest annoyance, the one I call "Using Ajax to make your interface worse." One day, instead of the simple easy flat entry interface for writing a new message, they replace it with hidden fields you just open when you need. Sounds peachy? Well, let's say you are going to upload three images with a message, perhaps a thumbs up, a thumbs down and a warning icon, in order to get feedback. Well, lucky you. Instead of having to upload them one at a time, which is already painful (browse, select, upload, browse, select, upload, browse, select, upload) you know have to open up the upload access (open, browse, select, upload, open, browse, select, upload, open, browse, select, upload). Great, with ajax you just made my work harder!

Thank you for listening. I feel much better now.

Basecamp is a lovely application, with many many wonderful moments. I still do not hesitate to recommend it. But gosh, wouldn't it be swell if these moments never happened?

nate points me to Forlizzi: Theories of Experience, which is essentially an interaction design theory cliff notes.

write on the arm for the next pop quiz!

Reading On comments and weblogs -

"With the proliferation of commenting-ability in today's weblog tools, it might make sense for people to think a bit before blindly turning on comments, whether for an individual or group blog."

it does occur to me most folks really don't have to think this hard-- you have to get some serious traffic to generate the kind of comments that causes the work she describes-- but it's a thoughtful post nonce.

from the introduction of "Making the Web Work"

"User interface versus user experience: The sudden and dramatic influx of graphic designers into the interactive design area has been accompanied by a host of new terms and job titles. One of the most popular is "user experience." As I understand it, user experience encompasses every aspect of a person's interaction with an organization-- everything from the company Web site, to customer support, to shipping labels, to how the receptionist answers the phone. In other words, everything.

Unfortunately, user experience has become entangled, confused, and synonymous with the more specific term "user interface" a term that has been used in the software industry for decades. Despite its techno-babble overtone, user interface is the correct term for describing the specific layer of an interactive product where the technology and the user come together. Makign the Web Work is about user interface, not user experience."

I find this passage interesting for a number of reasons, not the least being that often in the valley interaction designers are responsible and expected to be good at interface design. And interface designers good at interaction. And graphic designers are sometimes relegated to colorists, if they are engaged at all.

I personally do not like the term "user interface", as it seems to me that it relegates the design to surface considerations... but I'd love to hear from others on this.

When I sat down to write my book, I asked myself the question "What are the key things an information architect should know to be effective?" In the book, I realized that interaction design was a tool IA"s needed, and touched lightly on it, with a strong bias to personas as the way to do it.

Now I'm working with my fellow managers at Yahoo to ask the same question. My team of interaction designers is pretty general as a rule, and they all know quite a bit of different stuff from each other. Their deliverables all look different and their processes are a grab bag. So I'm working my way through to figure out what people are doing, what's working, what isn't working and what should be used to make better products. Big fun!

So one of the things I'm working on in particular as part of this process is collecting methods and approaches that are useful in the practice of interaction design. These might include Information Architecture techniques, but I would assume they also have a few tricks of their own.

So starting from Bob's definition of Interaction Design, what are the things an ID needs to know? Please leave me your two cents, I'll add mine as I keep digging, and perhaps we'll have a little list before long.

Here's a quick start:

requirements gathering
needs analysis
conceptual modeling
personas, scenarios
task analysis
user flow/use case design

...

A truely useful tool Dell Express Product Finder has disappeared from the Dell site. I was able to find it only by using a google cache page that linked to it. I wrote it up in my book as an example of a great tool for advanced computer buyers-- i hope it doesn't go away forever. But I fear it may.

One of the books I used to dream of writing was "a pattern language for the web." Well, now I don't have to: The Design of Sites: Patterns, Principles, and Processes for Crafting a Customer-Centered Web Experience is that book.

As I first sat down to read it, I didn't care for it. But sitting down and reading it not the right use for it-- instead leave it on your desk and as you approach any standard web element, from log-in box to global navigation bar, crack it open. The authors have done a masterful job of listing the key problems each element addresses, and shows examples from several "best practices" websites. It's like having a competive analysis on your desk for almost everything. Esoteric issues, like my current interest (entire-web search) are not addressed, but pretty much all the common ones are, and insightfully. An excellent tool for any IA, Interface or Interaction Designer.

Amazon.com: Books: Information Architecture: Blueprints for the Web is finally available *and* the price is right. Back to 20 bucks.

and you can buy it with Jesse's!

see also the official site (kinda sparse still) Blueprints for the Web

tim's user interface guidelines provides one of the best descriptions about a common fallacy in usability testing assumptions: that intuitive use is always a good thing.

"Appropriateness of use is not necessarily easy or efficient use.
A bicycle is not easy to use. Anyone who remembers crashing into a tree as a kid can attest to this. But, I would offer, a bicycle is most certainly designed appropriately. The bicycle provides the functionality I desire when I ride it (I can sit on it, position myself above traffic, it's light and strong), but it is not easy to use. Sometimes, my bike isn't efficient to use, either. There are days I'd be much better served riding in a car when I'm in a hurry slogging my way up a steep hill.
What we're really getting at here is the notion of tools that know what they are. I was ridiculed for saying this once because of using big words, but I'll say it again. The more specific the tool or device, the more you know about its user and the context of use, and thus the more you know about the specialty for which the tool exists in the first place. In this way, there is less amibiguity about the tool and its purpose and you have as a result so clearly defined the morphology of use for the tool that the tool knows what it is and for what purpose it was designed. Why else would there be a reason for me to have seven different pairs of shoes for seven different outdoor activities (diving booties, cycling shoes, climbing shoes, running shoes, hiking boots, ice skates, and fins) than for the reason that each activity requires different tools for my feet?"

How do people prototype? Mostly with visio, it appears. Check out Visio - the interaction designer's nail gun to learn how they do it.

I had lunch with Bob Baxley yesterday. He, Jesse and I are all New Riders authors all writing at about the same pace, so we exchange war stories as we go along, trying to glean insight from each other. And we started to discuss interaction design (the topic of his book), and how very odd it was that it doesn't hae a community the way IA does. I can't think of a single list devoted to it, nor a zine. There are few books and no conferences that I can think of.

Reading Boxes and Arrows: The indie life: Talking with Louis Rosenfeld I was surprised at Lou's assertion that IA is more complex than IntD. Sure, on the web it's still moderately limeted, but once you dig your teeth into even a slightly complex web ap, you really notice what a mess it can be... and software? Fergettaboutit. Interaction design for advanced software is as complex as any million page site. And when you get it right, its invisible, just like IA.

So where is the support group for IntD? Where are the conferences where they exchange their secrets? Or are they unsung heros, alone, caught between usability and engineering, just trying to make a good experience for their users.

Okay, that's hyperbole, but really....

UI Patterns and Techniques: Introduction
Jenifer Tidwell offers a new version of her pattern respository, in hopes of making a more useful tool for design.

As I read through Understanding How Users View Application Preformance one thing was very clear to me. Not all pages are created equal. The article author was attempting to determine how long a page should take to load for a user to be satisfied, and tried to reconcile all the different information on this, from IBM's one second rule for application response to forester's 30 second rule for page load to Spool's studies on perceived load time.

What if they are all right? A page that is an article is not the same as a page that is part of a application process in the eye of the user, even if they are made of the same raw materials--html. When you are in the middle of a process... perhaps setting up an apointment in an online calendar or editing an address in an online mail program... waiting between steps is excrutiating.

But when you are shopping or reading an article, asking for a page of data and waiting for it is far less painful.

In my experience a user would rather wait for a page that holds all they need to know-- fabric swatches, size choices, etc-- than have to click through many small pages to get the same infomartion.

That changes again upon checkout, when you are hoping to speed through the task and the same 20 second wait to see all the chino choices you didn't mind before suddenly seems an eternity as you go from shipping address to billing address.

This obviously has repercussions for design. Multipage tasks should be composed of sleek fast loading pages; information pages are worth waiting and should hold all the information a user seeks.

Go to CS547 Human-Computer Interaction Seminar and watch the first archived talk, Scott Klemmer's. Do not be fooled by the title, he demonstrated a new wall-sized GUI, a smart whiteboard. It blew me out of the water. The attention to understanding the nature of design that allowed this new tool to come into existence... well, that's the way it's supposed to be.

BTW, Terry's Winograd's seminars are open to the public. If you are ever in the area, it's well worth making an effort to attend.

More on Design Outpost project: the chi paper and the overview, with videos, etc.

Anyhow, it's not only a cool product, but a good talk as well for thinking about the nature fo the design process and how tools support modes of thinking. Oh, and it's in english, not academic jargon. At least I could follow it.

Excited!

Action, Interaction, Reaction is a long and thoughtful look at the practice of interaction design.

"Interaction design, the best term we have to describe the skills we have acquired to mediate our interactions with the digital and networked world, will be one of the key practices of our century, and executed well will help realise the potential of the network society that has been tantalisingly hinted at in the past five years."

I really appreciate the presence of ergonomic concerns
“Architecture is about body-sized, furniture about hand-sized, and PCs about finger-sized interactions.”
but I do think the eye is the actor over the finger. Still the body cannot be ignored.

Also explored is the history of interaction design, and its relationship to interface design, brand and business.

Also, gobs fo good links at the end, including this one.

Michal Kay pointed out this hilarious article: Menus Behaving Badly

While driving the new BMW 745i "My beagle, whose job description is "scan roadsides for squirrels," is in the back, moving from one side window to the other. Each time he shifts, sensors in the seat take note, and the right rear headrest whirrs up as the left one whirrs down. For the next two hours, the headrests dance in tandem, as if trying to provide comfort for restless spirits."

All the fuss over findability resulting from Peter's article and the many insightful comments led me to think about this new concept until I saw this diagram in a dream.

Structural Design Components

Unfortunately my skills fall mostly in two of the three circles, so this draft is pretty rough looking. This one is a bit fancier. I'll be browsing Information Graphics for inspiration later...

The key concepts should be apparent, though. An IA strives toward the goal of findability, an interaction designer toward the goal of usability and the information designer toward understandability.

Obviously there are overlapping points. I had originally thought to put something in them, but then realized many items could go there. Between IA and InD, browse structures, between IfD and IA you get navigation design, between InD and IfD you get interface (GUI) design and so on. Most websites (and most software) fall neatly in the middle.

This is definitely a draft, so I'd love to get feedback from folks. Cheers!

I really adore this article: Boxes and Arrows: Taking the "you" out of user: My experience using personas

"Like a recovering substance abuser, it's a constant challenge for me to refrain-- can always imagine that I'm the user. "

Exactly. for a year I had "You are not the user" taped to my monitor and I still backslide.

An Amazon search for Interaction design turned up these ten books, most of which I do not have. Any thoughts? What is *the* best book on interaction design, in your opinion.

1. GUI Bloopers: Don'ts and Do's for Software Developers and Web Designers
by Jeff Johnson (Paperback - March 2000)
I saw Jeff talk at Bay0CHi and he was very funny and charming. i'm sure I'd enjoy this book-- but what would I learn?

2. The Humane Interface: New Directions for Designing Interactive Systems
by Jef Raskin (Paperback)
Yes I've read it, yes it's great. A must on all our shelves.

3. Information Visualization : Perception for Design (Morgan Kaufmann Interactive Technologies Series)
by Colin Ware (Hardcover - January 2000)
I've almost bought this several times. Almost.

4. Shaping Web Usability: Interaction Design in Context
by Albert N. Badre, Jim Foley (Paperback)
Avg. Customer Rating:
This is hte one I'm most likely to buy next. I've been thinking hard about the relation of design and usability and how they don't sufficiantly intertwine.

5. Interaction Design
by Jenny Pree

no clue.

6. Information Appliances and Beyond
by Eric Bergman (Editor) (Paperback)

I dunno-- I enjoyed "invisible computer" but do I need to go further?

7. Online Communities: Designing Usability and Supporting Sociability
by Jenny Preece (Paperback)

I didn't think I cared much one way or another about "web communities" but Derek Powazek's book has definately changed my mind. This might be good. (his definately is)

8. Coordinating User Interfaces for Consistency
by Jakob Nielsen (Editor) (Paperback)

Um, reissue.. is it really still relevent? And if so, just how relevent?

9. Interactivity By Design
by Ray Kristof, Amy Satran (Paperback)

I just got this at a book swap-- it's really a coffee table book. Very pretty, lots of pictures, and well written but nto that much content, and surprisignly little on interaction design. it's more of a web design overview. But yum, meta-design.

10. Contextual Design : A Customer-Centered Approach to Systems Designs
by Hugh Beyer, Karen Holtzblatt (Paperback - August 1997)

got it, love it. Guess I never did write a proper review. must remedy that.

Anyhow, what do you think?

North Bay Multimedia Association - Events Calendar shows two cool looking events. Adventures in Interactive Sound Design: A Case Study and Interactionary: A Design Competition. If you are local, check it out.

An interview with Kent Beck, father of "extreme programming" and Alan Cooper, most vocal proponent of interaction design go at it in Extreme Programming vs. Interaction Design.

Thanks, martha!

The Rowing Vortal uses a zoom tool to navigate the hierarchy. Beware of sea-sickness.

Interface design makes the New York Times. Interface Design Is Trickier Than It Seems

"Here's good interface design: A Palm organizer's Address Book screen has a New button?but the Delete command is hidden in a menu, because you add names much more frequently than you delete them. Here's bad design: Cell phones that make you dive into menus just to turn off the ringer.
"

He goes on to tell an anecdote that illustrates the complexities of designing a robust interface for a number of different scenarios... proving interface design is indeed tricky. And perhaps left up to people who are trained in it?

via vanderwal

from my latest odd quest: What is Interaction Design and What Does It Mean to Information Designers - by Craig Marion

"In 1988, Alexander Associates sponsored INtertainment, the first annual conference bringing together people from all corners of the interactive entertainment business. People came from such diverse industries as personal computers, video games, broadcast and cable television, optical media, museums, and amusement parks. Over the course of the two days, a debate about the meaning of the word "interactive" raged through every session, disrupting carefully planned panels and presentations. People seemed to regard "interactivity" as the unique cultural discovery of the electronic age, and they demanded a coherent definition. Several speakers tried to oblige, but no one succeeded.""

I've been thinking a lot about interaction design as a part of good information architecture design, and also as an art in itself. Why is it such a quiet practice? Where is the noisy community, where is its Jared Spools and Lou Rosenfelds... of course there is always Cooper but that is so mingled in with his methodology of personas, one can hardly think of him as a proponent of the craft in itself.

Anyhow, all this prompted a search on google, which led me to The Interaction Design Patterns Home Page

So You Want To Be An Interaction Designer

and not a lot more...yet....

read Navigating isn't fun, Alan Cooper's latest article.

I have one thing to say: I am soooo sick and tired of people writing "The web is all about X" It's a medium, people. it's like saying paper is all about writing term papers, and pictures just waste ink. Even weblications have a wide user base and have wide user needs-- power users can take a page full of data, some people are more uncertain, and prefer wizards: one-task/one-page.

Cooper's article was full of oversimplification to a Nielsen-esque level and I was disappointed in him. The articles that have been coming in the newsletters have mostly been outstanding, and this issue was rather poor, I thought.

Then again, he's getting Nielsen-esque attention for it.

good discussion on CHI-WEB about it.

While shopping for a birthday gift for a birthday i missed (dang!) I tripped over Amazon.com's new product page. They now have tabs within tabs-- these new tabs are more like lenses, allowing different ways to view the product-- read reviews, peek in side, find items like it, etc. It's remarkably pleasent, and cleans up the page quite a bit. I wish yahoo would take a hint and do somethign aobut their tangled mess.... evolution is fine, but every so often you do have to take a leap forward....

Goal-Oriented Navigation Design

"The role of an information architect often isn't fully understood, even within software and web development organizations. At one company I was sometimes introduced to teams as "our navigation guy." I'm actually okay with "navigation guy" as an informal working title, provided it comes with the understanding that navigation isn't something that can just be slapped onto a system, but rather one aspect of a broader user-centered design approach."

While seeking a screen shot of the old cnet yellow left nav, I came across this very nice guide to website navigation design/IA principles. W. Eugene Tiller, Phillip Green -- Web Navigation:How to make your Web site fast and usable

InteractionArchitect.com
An excellent resource site on interaction design, user experience, and the value of user testing.

and quite a few other tasty treats.

from the article Alan Cooper of Cooper Interaction Design sees planning as key to downstream dividends

"It's inevitable that there will rise up in programming a separate but equal profession known as interaction design. These people will act as the bridge between business viability and technical capability. They will act like architects. "

hmm.. I could swear there was a title kinda like this.

So You Want To Be An Interaction Designer shhh.. don't tell them!

at least I think it's IAish...

Functional Spec Tutorial What and Why

Lou is heading cross country. Okay, this is only tangentially IA, but Lou is a good writer. The polar bear didn't suck...

Been thinking a lot about rules put forth by gurus. A woman recently put forth a post on the SIGIA list about how some higher-ups came back from a conference with a bag full of rules she was now expected to live by. They included:

1. "3 goals of a site have to be identified to determine the direction and voice for the site"

2. "There should only be a maximum of seven links on each page, more than that and we lose the user. It's just too many choices."

3. "Users won't click on items they believe are advertisements. Banner ads only work if they appear on the right side of the page."

4. "Users are trained to respond to "blue" or underlined items on a site to get somewhere else.

5. "There is no need for a button and a text click through (to the same page) on the same page."

Each of these "rules" is derived from a larger, smarter principal that someone has apparently determined is too complex for the idiots building websites.

Let's take a look:

1. "3 goals of a site have to be identified to determine the direction and voice for the site"

Let's translate this one: determine the goals of the site before you start building it. Goals need to come form multiple sources:

What are the business goals? (customer loyalty? investor excitement?)
What are the engineering goals? (easy to maintain? extensible?)
What are the sales goals? (more banner space? Customized pages for cobranding opportunities?)
What are the marketing goals? (reinforced branding?)
What are the user's goals?(I want to learn? find? buy? I need it to load fast? Work on my 3.0 browser?)

It's called requirements gathering, and no site should be built without it.

New rule: Do requirements gathering before you start designing a site

2. "There should only be a maximum of seven links on each page, more than that and we lose the user. It's just too many choices."

A better way to look at this would be "not everything can be the most important thing on a page" A page has to have a visual hierarchy and organization to make sense. Which means somebody gets to have their stuff in the top left corner of the homepage, and someone gets be below the fold. It is important to understand user tolerance of information but people can take a lot more than one might suppose if it is designed well. And sites with only seven links often look empty (I've seen this in user testing) belying the wealth of content that lies below.

New rule: Prioritize your page elements. Design a clear page hiearchy.

3. "Users won't click on items they believe are advertisements. Banner ads only work if they appear on the right side of the page."

It doesn't matter where you put the ads, if people think they are worthless they won't click it. I found the eyetracking study very interesting-- it showed people's eyes were looking at banners. yet Neilsen's banner blindness study showed people have no memory of seeing ads. To me that suggests that some lovely tiny bit of people's brains is quickly taking everything in, deciding what is valuable and trashing what isn't.

What is quite more valuable is designing ads that show the value of whatever is being offered and place them where they have meaning. So ads for a credit card don't make much sense on a greeting card site, but ads for flowers, chocolate, etc do. especially when placed at that important "susceptible moment"-- you've just sent a card.. don't you want to send a present too?

People don't want to be offered stuff they don't want. it's as simple as that.

New rule: Make ads contextual and meaningful whenever possible

4. "Users are trained to respond to "blue" or underlined items on a site to get somewhere else."

They were. and then every site on the web changed the rules (except maybe Jakob).

They key principal here is "make a link look clickable" make it a different color, make it a button, underline it-- do something to say "click me."

I've been in a lot of tests recently where people used "Braille" to find links-- they ran their mouse across the page and watched for the hand to show up. Kinda of a cruel thing to force users to do, no?
see earlier post on links

New rule: make links look clickable. Don't make non-links look like links

5. "There is no need for a button and a text click through (to the same page) on the same page."

I'm going with a flat "no" on this one: I think the real issue is "Should you have multiple ways to get to the same page on the same page." In a recent usability test of a large entertainment site, you could get to each piece of content by clicking on the thumbnail, the headline or the "click here" link that appeared after a short description. Some users used the image, some the title and some the "click here" link. None of them hesitated or were confused as to where to link-- I believe because each found a link they recognized would work for them.

I recently was shopping for a cd, and couldn't figure out how to purchase it. There was no "buy now" button. However the price was linked to the shopping cart. I didn't know that, and I started clicking randomly on things until I managed to hit the price link. Bah.

Why did I put up with this frustration? Honestly, it was the cheapest price on this particular cd. If it wasn't, I would have just bought it from Amazon.

New rule: support different people's ways of doing things (support different mental models)

Got an expert's pronouncement you need debunked or re-interpreted? write me

Hungry for more? IBM has a terrific article that goes after "the rules" of software design: Debunking the myths of UI design.

User and Task Analysis for Interface Design An important book for interaction designers. Task analysis provides a way to think attentively about all the tiny considerations it takes to complete a task, and design to assure user success at that task.

The Inmates Are Running the Asylum : Why High Tech Products Drive Us Crazy and How To Restore The Sanity An introduction to why software makes us batty and the fine technique of personas. The first half is a fierce and entertaining rant against current design; the second half presents an effective solution to the problem of designing technology for humans.

Follow with a chaser of About Face for understanding interface and interaction conventions from a software development point of view.

User and Task Analysis for Interface Design An important book for interaction designers. Task analysis provides a way to think attentively about all the tiny considerations it takes to complete a task, and design to assure user success at that task.

UI guidelines for the palm pilot.

• User Interface
• Good Design Practices

offtopic...anyone else love Kawabata's palm of hand stories? Are they available for the palm?