Design
The best way to ensure usability is to design it into a product or web site from the beginning. User-centered design involves translating user and business needs into solutions that meet those needs.
This section of the BoK presents patterns, principles, and guidelines on interaction design, information design, graphical design, and interface design, which have evolved over time from foundations in HCI and other design disciplines. Usability professionals apply these patterns, principles, and guidelines whenever they define how a system must behave, arrange interface elements in a way that enables users to interact successfully, and present information in a way that facilitates understanding.
Samples of Content
- What is Design?
- Principles for Usable Design
- Design Patterns
- Internationalization
- Design for Web Applications
Some Future Subjects
- Error Prevention
- Speaking the User’s Language
- Mental Models
- Metaphors and Idioms
- Affordances
- Consistency
- Direct Manipulation
- Wizards
- How to Use Controls (e.g. radio buttons, drop-down lists, tabs)
- User Interface Standards