COMP3092 Group 1

Useability and Accessability

2005-10-17T19:12:00.000+01:00

Usability

From creating good websites – useability at
http://www.leafdigital.com/class/lessons/usability/3.html

List of common problems in usability
Long loading times due to large graphics and “flashy elements” such as flash movies and java elements. Too much information on a single page.
Badly labeled or hard to find navigation controls
Poor readability due to inappropriate design
Poor use of color and fonts being too small.

From Introduction to usability for websites
http://www.becta.org.uk/page_documents/industry/advice/usability.pdf.

Usability can be broken down into 6 areas
Learn ability
Efficiency
Memorability
Error Handling
User responsiveness
Engaging

Accessibility

From The website accessibility initiative
http://www.rnib.org.uk/xpedio/groups/public/documents/PublicWebsite/public_wai.hcsp

The word wide web consortium is trying to develop guidelines to improve the accessibility of website within the world. There 4 main principles for accessible web design are:
Perceivable - all content must be perceivable i.e. provide text for non-text content
Operable - Interface elements in the content must be operable i.e. access via a keyboard or keyboard interface
Understandable - Content and controls must be understandable i.e. text should not be ambiguous
Robust - Content must be robust enough to work with current and future technologies i.e. will work with old, new and future technology

A start....

2005-10-07T17:15:00.000+01:00

Web design principles are guidelines followed to achieve a web design goal, a finished web site. Design principles develop from human-computer interaction research and there are several respected sources offering their own published list of design principles. Such sources include Shneiderman B's Eight Golden Rules, Nielsen J's Ten Heuristics, Tufte E's Information Presentation and Tognazzini B, Toggs First Principles. They all suggest design principles, which if followed, will help achieve the final design goal. Most principles apply whether considering the web site's information architecture, navigation design or its graphic design.

An analysis of each individual design principle in one list will offer a rationale to their inclusion in that list. Thereafter the analysis would justify how each principle could be put into practice and then conclude how the principles complement each other when implemented to facilitate good web site design.

References
Tognazzini B. Ask Tog First Principles of Interaction Design. Available from:
http://www.asktog.com/basics/firstPrinciples.html
Accessed 07.10.05
Shneiderman B. Eight Golden Rules of Interface Design. Available from: http://www.jarnot.com/twiki/bin/view/Public/EightGoldenRulesOfInterfaceDesign.
Accessed 07.10.05
Tufte E. The Work of Edward Tufte. Available from: http://www.edwardtufte.com/tufte/index
Accessed 07.10.05.
Nielsen J. Ten Usability Heuristics. Available from: http://www.useit.com/papers/heuristic/heuristic_list.html
Accessed 07.10.05.

2005-09-26T09:35:00.000+01:00