Designing Effective Wizards

Designing Effective Wizards: A Multidisciplinary Approach outlines a practical set of processes and methods for effective wizard design, identifying key issues and problems encountered during the design process -- and IBM's best solutions. The authors begin by introducing the concept and goals of wizards; then explain how to gather requirements, prototype wizards, and evaluate designs. The book includes specific guidelines for wizard design, as well as techniques for avoiding errors and refining interactivity. The book contains three detailed case studies, as well as practical checklist for planning wizard projects. A four-color insert illustrates a wide range of examples, which may also be found on an accompanying CD-ROM.

For all software developers, interface designers, usability professionals, and Web interface designers.

Contents

Welcome!

What's different about this book?

Is this book for you?

How to use this book

The authors and editor

Acknowledgments

1: Kicking off the project

Why plan your project?

Is a wizard appropriate for the task?

Team skills

Resources and planning

Summary

2: Gathering requirements

Why gather requirements?

Wizard design requirements

User definition-Who will be using your wizard?

Inherent characteristics

Experience and education

Social and cultural characteristics

A technique for creating user definitions-User surveys

Product definition-What will the wizard do?

Purpose and scope of the wizard

Technology and tools used to create the final wizard

A technique for gathering product requirements-Focus groups

Task analysis-What will the user be using the wizard for?

Underlying structure of the task

Aspects of the task that can be simplified

A technique for gathering task requirements-Task analysis

Work environment-Where, when, and how will the users be using the wizard?

Physical environment

Tools used to access the wizard

Social or workflow-related issues

A technique for gathering work environment-related requirements-Observational study

Competitive evaluation-Who else is creating a similar product or wizard?

Aspects and features of competitive products or wizards

A technique for evaluating the competition-Competitive analysis

Summary

3: Applying the iterative design process

Why follow the iterative design process?

Questions to ask before beginning

Overview of the iterative design process

High-level design iterations

High-level design steps

High-level design tests

Low-level design iterations

Low-level design steps

Low-level design tests

Interactive prototype iterations

Interactive prototype design steps

Interactive prototype design tests

Working product iterations

Working product design iteration

Working product design tests

Summary of guidelines discussed in this chapter

4: Evaluating wizard designs

Why evaluate wizard designs?

Questions to ask before beginning

Usability evaluation techniques

Heuristic evaluation

Design exploration

Design evaluation

Competitive benchmark

Beta or post-release evaluations

Tasks to prepare for usability evaluations

Determine what to test

Recruit and schedule test participants

Prepare documents and questionnaires

Create prototypes

Determine what measures to collect

Conduct pilot tests

Guidelines for conducting usability evaluations

Invite the entire team to participate quietly

Videotape the session as backup

Encourage "talking aloud"

Don't assist the test participant

Consider testing multiple test participants at once

Consider performing remote usability testing

Follow-up tasks for after the usability evaluation

Follow up with thank you notes

Write a summary report

Implement design changes based on your results

Summary of guidelines discussed in this chapter

5: General wizard design

Why create wizard design guidelines?

Questions to ask before beginning

General wizard guidelines

Overall goals of the design

Writing style

Page count

Page-specific wizard design guidelines

First page

Last page

Guidelines for launching dialogs from wizards

Guidelines for wizards on the Web

Summary of guidelines discussed in this chapter

6: Navigation

Why optimize your wizard's navigation?

Questions to ask before beginning

Navigation methods

Back and Next buttons only

Tabs

Table of contents

Pull-down menu

Additional navigational options

Methods to help users estimate their progress through the wizard

Where am I now and where can I go?

How do I get to the next page?

Where have I been?

How much do I have left to do?

Summary of guidelines discussed in this chapter

7: Visual design

Why does your wizard need a good visual design?

Questions to ask before beginning

Physical issues

Layout design-Defining your grids

Window size of the wizard

Orientation

Margins

Columns

White space (a divider and a grouping element)

Web layout

Typography

Serif and legibility

Attributes and legibility

Choosing a typeface

Color

Color facts

Color on-screen

Using color in wizards

Color on the Web

Images

Types of images

Resolution and color depth

Compression techniques

Image size

Semantics

Summary of guidelines discussed in this chapter

8: Launchpads and linking wizards

Why link wizards?

Questions to ask before beginning

Methods of linking wizards

Launching one wizard from within another wizard

Launching wizards from launchpads

Design issues for launchpads

The appropriate number of steps for your launchpad

Navigation among wizards, the launchpad, and other supporting dialogs

Dependencies between steps

Progress-related cues

Task progress and dependency cues

Consistency between the launchpad and its wizards

Access to your launchpad

Additional functions that can be supported by a launchpad

Teaching the user the conceptual model of how the product works

Supporting user exploration

Showing users how to do the task without the launchpad

Allowing users to personalize or build their own launchpads

Summary of guidelines discussed in this chapter

9: Interactive feedback

Why provide feedback?

Questions to ask before beginning

General feedback guidelines

Auditory feedback

Feedback while interacting with the wizard

Feedback for controls

Feedback for subtasks related to the wizard

Feedback at the completion of the wizard

Progress indicators

Billboards

Status line

Confirmation dialogs

Displaying the object that your wizard created

Summary of guidelines discussed in this chapter

10: Error prevention and recovery

Why predict, prevent, and recover from errors?

Questions to ask before beginning

Predicting errors

Preventing and reducing errors

All categories of user error

Data entry errors

Missing data errors

Misinterpretations of wizard choices

User-is-stuck errors

User-is-mistaken errors

Incorrect wizard assumptions

Other system errors

Recovering from errors

Inform the user that an error occurred

Help the user fix the error

Avoid all destructive actions

Allow users to cancel and reverse actions

Summary of guidelines discussed in this chapter

11: On-line help

Why provide help?

Questions to ask before beginning

Should you provide help for your wizard?

Types of help

Control-level help

Conceptual help

Task help

Implementing help

Pop-up help

Smartfields

Help dialogs

On-line books

Summary of guidelines discussed in this chapter

12: Experts and novices

Why design wizards for both experts and novices?

Questions to ask before beginning

Designs that support experts and novices

Integrating expert and novice functions in wizards

Separating expert and novice functions in wizards

Guidelines for supporting experts

Provide access keys and shortcut keys

Show expert commands

Summary of guidelines discussed in this chapter

13: Accessibility

Why design for accessibility?

Questions to ask before beginning

Types of disabilities

Mobility limitations and limited hand use

Cognitive disabilities

Deaf and hard of hearing

Vision impairments

Speech or language disabilities

Combinations

Understanding users with disabilities

Assistive technologies

Screen readers and Web page readers

Screen magnifiers

Speech recognition systems

Specialized keyboards and keyboard aids

Accessibility guidelines

Implement accessibility APIs

Provide accessible names and descriptions

Support easy keyboard and mouse navigation

Provide equivalent alternatives to auditory and visual content

Use redundant cues in your display

Avoid blinking text and flashing objects

Supply orientation and contextual information

Allow user personalization and customization

Design screens that resize cleanly and support older technologies

Provide accessible documentation

Additional sources for guidelines and information

Summary of guidelines discussed in this chapter

14: Worldwide audiences

Why design for a worldwide audience?

Questions to ask before beginning

Localization versus internationalization

Content translation

Write text that is easily translatable into other languages

Support different word orders across languages

Allow the user to select and change the default language for your wizard

Ensure that your first wizard page is well-translated

Consider providing links to another language version

Account for regional differences in the wizard task

Layout translation

Leave room on the wizard pages for expansion

Provide scroll bars and resizable panes

Input translation

Take advantage of the operating system's resource base

Account for regional differences in names and other words

Use unambiguous controls for date and time formats

Support flexible formatting for numbers, monetary formats, and currency symbols

Account for differences in other data

Graphics for worldwide audiences

Create graphics that are understandable across cultures

Use representative populations

Use checkmarks instead of Xs in check boxes

Limit the file size and color depth of your graphics

Choose colors carefully

Practical concerns

Installation and packaging

Schedule

Sending files for translation

Summary of guidelines discussed in this chapter

15: Multiple platforms

Why design for multiple platforms?

Questions to ask before beginning

Visual and interface design-Product consistency versus platform consistency

Option 1: Build a unique design

Option 2: Use the features provided by an off-the-shelf solution

Option 3: Emulate an existing platform design

Option 4: Work with a Web browser

Appearance and behavior differences across platforms

Platform and environment nuances

JavaScript in different browsers and browser versions

Text across platforms

Summary of guidelines discussed in this chapter

16: Case study: Installation wizard

Gathering requirements

User definition

Product definition

Task analysis

Design considerations

General design

Navigation

Launchpads

Feedback

Error prevention and recovery

On-line help

Worldwide audiences

Iterative design and evaluation

Launchpad: Welcome

Message 1: Missing prerequisites

Software License Agreement

Select Installation Language

Page 1: Select Installation Type

Page 2: Select Components

Message 2: Previous version of product detected

Page 3: Choose Destination Location

Page 4: "Up and running"

Page 5: Summary

Progress indicator: Installing products

Billboards

Confirmation window: Setup Complete

Appendix A: Worksheet for gathering requirements

Appendix B: Sample design checklist

Appendix C: Sample screener questionnaire

Appendix D: Sample usability participant agreement

Appendix E: Sample participant instructions

Appendix F: Sample scenarios for an installation wizard

Appendix G: Sample post-evaluation questionnaire

Bibliography

Index