Model-Based Design and Evaluation of Interactive Applications

This book covers methods for user interface design and evaluation. It shows how the systematic use of task models can make the design and development of interactive software applications easier and more effective, and how it can lead to improved usability. Useful examples of how to apply the methods will be of interest to application developers. A website containing additional exercises and pointers to relevant freeware will also be available.

Contenu

1. Introduction: Why Model-Based Design and Evaluation of Interactive Applications? Basic Concepts. Structure of the book and intended audience. Other sources of information.- 2. Model-Based Approaches: Task-Oriented Approaches. GOMS. The cycle of Norman. Task Analysis methods UAN. Petri Nets. UML. Exercises.- 3. Task Elicitation: Scenarios. Use Cases. Task Analysis. Support for task identification in informal scenarios. Task and errors. Exercises.- 4. The ConcurTaskTrees Notation: Introduction to ConcurTaskTrees. Task Allocation. Temporal Relationships. Task Types. Additional Information Associated with Tasks. Structuring the Task Model. Example of ConcurTaskTrees Specification. Tool Support. Task Models for Co-operative Applications. Exercises.- 5. Task-Based Design: Approaches to Designing Presentations. Criteria for Designing User Interfaces. Criteria to Group Tasks to be Supported by the Same Presentation. Designing User Interfaces with the Support of the Task Model. An Example. Tasks for Accessing Databases. Task-Oriented Help. Adaptability. Adaptivity. Concluding Remarks. Exercises.- 6. Architectural Models of Interactive Applications: Software Architectures for User Interfaces. The Interactor Model. Composition Operators for Interactors. From the Task Model to the User Interface Architecture Model. The Transformation Algorithm. Creations of Connections among Interactors to Support the Information Flow. Example of Application of the Transformation. Exercises.- 7. Patterns in Interactive Applications: Introduction. Patterns. How to Represent a Task Pattern. An Example of Task Pattern. Architectural Patterns. An Example of Architectural Pattern. Relationships between Tasks and Architectural Patterns. Tool Support for Patterns. Comments on Patterns. Exercises.- 8. Usability Evaluation: Criteria for User Interface Evaluation. Introduction to Approaches to Usability Evaluation. Examples of Methods for Usability Evaluation. Remote Usability Evaluation. The RemUsine Method. Evaluation of RemUsine. Exercises.- 9. Conclusions: Summarising the Results described. Suggestions for Open Areas of Interest. References. Index.