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.

Nowadays, the advent of the wireless Internet and the rapid expanding of novel technologies on the mass market have represented a tremendous stimulus for pushing the development of interactive systems able to encompass support for a larger and larger variety of users, tasks, devices and contexts. In this thesis we present the benefits of using task models in the various steps of the lifecycle of an interactive application. Indeed, we show how they can play an important role in the requirements elicitation phase for example, by requiring precise definition of temporal relationships between the different activities that should be performed, so avoiding any ambiguities. Furthermore, we describe how task models may be exploited in software development beyond early analysis as they can provide valuable information for the design of interactive applications through a number of criteria specifying how to use the data contained in task models to drive the design of the user interface. Additionally, we analyse how they can be used for verification purposes, in order to check some properties of the modelled system (in combination with other models), so improving the level of confidence towards the system, which can be relevant especially in safety-critical contexts. Lastly, we show the benefits that can be gained from using task models in the usability evaluation phase, through a systematic analysis of the impact that the deviations from an expected task plan could have on the quality of the overall system.

This book covers the proceedings of INTERACT 2001 held in Tokyo, Japan, July 2001. The conference covers human-computer interaction and topics presented include: interaction design, usability, novel interface devices, computer supported co-operative works, visualization, and virtual reality. The papers presented in this book should appeal to students and professionals who wish to understand multimedia technologies and human-computer interaction.

The 3-volume set LNCS 8510, 8511 and 8512 constitutes the refereed proceedings of the 16th International Conference on Human-Computer Interaction, HCII 2014, held in Heraklion, Crete, Greece in June 2014. The total of 1476 papers and 220 posters presented at the HCII 2014 conferences was carefully reviewed and selected from 4766 submissions. These papers address the latest research and development efforts and highlight the human aspects of design and use of computing systems. The papers thoroughly cover the entire field of human-computer interaction, addressing major advances in knowledge and effective use of computers in a variety of application areas.

This four-volume set LNCS 6761-6764 constitutes the refereed proceedings of the 14th International Conference on Human-Computer Interaction, HCII 2011, held in Orlando, FL, USA in July 2011, jointly with 8 other thematically similar conferences. The revised papers presented were carefully reviewed and selected from numerous submissions. The papers accepted for presentation thoroughly cover the entire field of Human-Computer Interaction, addressing major advances in knowledge and effective use of computers in a variety of application areas. The papers of this first volume are organized in topical sections on HCI design, model-based and patterns-based design and development, cognitive, psychological and behavioural issues in HCI, development methods, algorithms, tools and environments, and image processing and retrieval in HCI.

User Interface Design and Evaluation provides an overview of the user-centered design field. It illustrates the benefits of a user-centered approach to the design of software, computer systems, and websites. The book provides clear and practical discussions of requirements gathering, developing interaction design from user requirements, and user interface evaluation. The book's coverage includes established HCI topics—for example, visibility, affordance, feedback, metaphors, mental models, and the like—combined with practical guidelines for contemporary designs and current trends, which makes for a winning combination. It provides a clear presentation of ideas, illustrations of concepts, using real-world applications. This book will help readers develop all the skills necessary for iterative user-centered design, and provides a firm foundation for user interface design and evaluation on which to build. It is ideal for seasoned professionals in user interface design and usability engineering (looking for new tools with which to expand their knowledge); new people who enter the HCI field with no prior educational experience; and software developers, web application developers, and information appliance designers who need to know more about interaction design and evaluation. Co-published by the Open University, UK. Covers the design of graphical user interfaces, web sites, and interfaces for embedded systems. Full color production, with activities, projects, hundreds of illustrations, and industrial applications.