Powerpoint. Macht und Einfluss eines Präsentationsprogramms

  Powerpoint. Macht und Einfluss eines Präsentationsprogramms. Herausgegeben von Claus Pias und Wolfgang Coy im Fischer Verlag, 2009

Remote TV A11Y

This article is about reducing complexity with a knife, scissors, and some tape. These tools already indicate that I am talking about RL! Well, in fact you can cut all the wires of your power adaptors to simplify your life, but I do recommending this right now. The problem at hand is a TV remote -- I can hear your aahs! Too many remote controls with too many functions, too tiny buttons, too easy to get lost, confusing labels and to sum it up: not suited to the task. My user population is an 80-yrs old lady with a telly hooked up to the cable; no special equipment like VCR, DVD, AUX 1-3 or SAT. Not to mention HD recorders, or TiVO with timeshift functionality. In my opinion it is even difficult for an educated engineer to use any remote control properly, but at 80 years you come from a totally different background to say the least, and your mental abilities are no longer at 100%. Usage errors are frequent -- and the concept of Undo or Home is not available.

As said, my approach reduces the likelihood of user errors by making dangerous actions impossible to trigger:

http://www.23hq.com/mprove/photo/4903842

I find my design also superior to the competition because in terms of robustness you cannot remove the paper shield by accident.

(also http://om.ly/Ipvj)

Other special remote controls aim to address a limited eyesight of the user by making everything larger:

http://www.23hq.com/mprove/photo/4903784
They shouldn't have stopped here. Clear wording is preferred. But this is no news if you are familiar with accessibility guidelines. On the other hand, this is the first remote that offers a function to call a taxi -- I call that a unique selling point!
I think different shapes of the buttons is also a good idea, because touch becomes more important if you cannot see so well anymore; or if it's quite dark in your living room with the home entertainment system. Though in the example above, channel and volume controls are too similar to get used to them without taking a look all the time.

[originally published as a User Experience Forum Newsletter #28 | Join Xing]

Impress Task Pain

Each and every time I open an Impress window I have to close the task pane. No, I don't want it. I don't need it. It just consumes screen space. If I need it I want to be in control and open it myself and close it afterwards when no longer needed.
RFE: The state of the task pane should become a persistent Impress setting.
ISSUE# 95600

C. /IBM says: Indeed, this has annoyed me for years already; in search of the hidden option to turn off this "feature", I came across your post. Thanks for raising this!

Handbook of Usability Testing, 2nd ed.

From Dana:

Hi!

I’m tingling, I’m so excited. I like to think that this is a special event in the user experience world. But every book author probably thinks that.

Handbook of Usability Testing, Second Edition by Jeff Rubin and Dana Chisnell ships on Monday, April 28.

This is not your mother’s HUT. Well, of course not. The first edition was published in 1994. Technology isn’t special anymore, it’s everywhere. (There were DOS examples, for heaven’s sake!) For HUT 2.0, Jeff and I

• Simplified the organization of the main sections
• Reordered many chapters to more closely reflect the flow of planning and conducting a test
• Updated dozens and dozens of examples, samples, and stories
• Expanded and updated discussions about recruiting participants, whether you need a lab, working with observers, analyzing testing data, and (we think) the best way to make recommendations
• Added a chapter on variations on the basic method
• Populated www.wiley.com/go/usabilitytesting with
• • electronic versions of many of the deliverables used as examples used in the book
  • updated references
  • a (we hope) comprehensive list of other resources such as conferences and seminars, other books, blogs, and podcasts.

The drawings and diagrams are have been freshened and improved. The layout and format promise to be less nerdy and more accessible, too.

Oh, and we benefited from sage reviews from Janice James, founder of the Usability Professionals’ Association as our technical editor (brava!), and a foreword by Jared Spool. [...]

Hope your experience with HUT 2.0 is good.

Dana

P.S. Here’s the official cite:

Rubin and Chisnell, Handbook of Usability Testing, Second Edition: How to Plan, Design, and Conduct Effective Tests (Wiley, 0470185481, 450 pages, April 28, 2008).

Dana’s blog: usabilitytestinghowto.blogspot.com