Sample table of contents

Outlines and Checklists vii
List of Tables xxxi
Acknowledgments xxxiii

1: Introduction to these notes and ergonomics 1

Using your Notes 3
What is Ergonomics? 7
Exercise 1: Population Stereotypes -- we are preprogrammed, but not all the same way 15

2: The Design Process 19

Guiding Teams to Better Designs 21
Justifying Usability and Performance Efforts 25
Improving the Process 33
Prototyping and Iteration 41
Introducing Change 47
A Usability Plan 49

3: User and Task Analysis 53

The average user is a myth - there just aren't any 55
User Analysis Guidelines 59
Template: for gathering user profiles 63
Task Analysis Guidelines 69
Exercise 2: Task Analysis of a Bank ATM Withdrawal 77
Template: for gathering task details 81

4: Human Information Processing 83

Vision -- handles 85% of our information input 85
Exercise 3: Reading --mixed case saves about 13% 103
Hearing 107
Memory 115
Exercise 4: Miller's Magical Number -- limits to human information processing 123
Exercise 5: Chunking -- reduces errors and improves speed 125
Exercise 6: Association and structure help you remember 127
Exercise 7: Long term memory and design decisions 129
Exercise 8: Fitts' Law -- movement time is a function of distance and target size 131

5: Interaction choices and principles 137

Interaction Techniques Compared 139
Exercise 9: Matching Task and Dialogue Method 151
Exercise 10: Initial Considerations 153
General Guidelines 157
Exercise 11: Designing a Dialogue 169

6: Interaction Techniques 171

Question and Answer Guidelines 173
Menu Guidelines 177
Template: for optimizing menu layouts 192
Function Key Guidelines 195
Template: for gathering task details 205
Exercise 12: Keypad complexity 207
Data Entry Forms Guidelines 209
Exercise 13: Designing a Form 215
Command Language Guidelines 217
Exercise 14: MS-DOS 5.0 Command Language 221
GUI Guidelines 225
Exercise 15: Entering a client 245
Exercise 16: Searching for a client 249
Exercise 17: Deleting a client 253
Icon Guidelines 255
Exercise 18: Icon Design 259
Speech and Sound Guidelines 261

7: Displaying Information 271

Exercise 19: Hick's Law -- decision time is a function of information content 273
Screen Layout Guidelines 277
Table Guidelines 291
Chart Guidelines 297
Report Guidelines 305
Source Code Layout Guidelines 309
Highlighting Guidelines 311
Color Usage Guidelines 317
Exercise 20: Color Exercises 325
Message Guidelines 327
Exercise 21: Message Wording 337
Exercise 22: Message Design 339

8: Error Management 343

Error Reduction Guidelines 345
Reference or Account Number Guidelines 353

9: Tests and Evaluations 359

Evaluation Guidelines 361
Exercise 23: Testing a Workstation 379
User Observation Guidelines 381
Exercise 24: Numerical Skill Test 387

10: Guidance and Assistance 389

Documentation Guidelines 391
Exercise 25: Fog Index -- a simple measure of readability 399
Abbreviation Guidelines 411
On-Line Help Guidelines 419
Characters, Fonts and Monitors 425

11: Applying usability to real problems 433

Web Pages 435
Call Centers 445

Appendices 451

Assignments 453
Demos and Tools 455
Sample International Icons 457
Glossary 459
References 465
Magazines and Journals 489
Video Tapes and Demo Software 491
Puzzles and Lateral Thinking 493
Reply form 511