essential ux skills for technical communicators (stc summit 2010)

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Essential User Experience Skills forTechnical CommunicatorsSummit 2010 • May 5, 2010

Will SansburyInteraction DesignerPracticeWorks Systems

Yina LiTechnical WriterHorizon Software

Rachel PetersSr. Analyst, UXThe Home Depot

1. Card Sorting

2. Heuristic Evaluation

3. Usability Testing

What isuser-centered

design?

User-centered design is an approach to design that grounds the process in information about the people who will use the product.

What is User-Centered Design? Usability Professionals Associationhttp://www.upassoc.org/usability_resources/about_usability/what_is_ucd.html

User-centered design looks like this.

Phase 1Analysis

Phase 2Design

Phase 3Evaluation

Phase 4 Deployment

User-centered designis common sense.

Image by malias (flickr)

Phase 1: AnalysisHow would you like your hair cut?

Phase 2: DesignSnip, snip.

Phase 3: EvaluationHere’s a mirror. What do you think?

Phase 4: Deployment Have a great day!

Essential Skill #1

Card Sorting

What aisle is hot dog chili on?

With the hot dog buns?

Chili’s kind of like a soup…

Chili has beans…

Nah, that’s too easy!

Is hot dog chili a condiment?

Card Sorting 101: It’s easy and fun.

about the

local chapter

competitions

eventsscholarship

job listings

conference information

Typical card sort instructions

• How would you organize the STC Atlanta site?• Group the cards into categories.– Is something missing? Use a blank card to add it.– Something doesn’t belong? Put the card aside.– Card belongs in more than one group? Be creative.

• Label the categories– Use a blank card to name each category.– Category names are up to you.

Card sorts reveal patterns (usually).

What’s your goal?Card sorts aren’t just for designing menus or tables of content.

What are these?

Image by Flickr user Swami Stream

My wordsflowersdaisiespetalsspringpurplepinkgreenyellowhappyprettyphoto

Photographer’s wordsfarmers marketflowerssan franciscocaliforniacannonoutstanding shots

Your words?

Classification is ultimately an imperfect and messy undertaking; don’t let yourself get caught up in the false goal of getting it “right.”

Donna Spencer, Card Sorting: Designing Usable Categories

Classification ≠ Findability

Everything you want to know…

Card Sorting: Designing Usable Categories

Donna Spencer

Available from Rosenfeld Media: http://www.rosenfeldmedia.com/books/cardsorting/

Essential Skill #2

Heuristic Evaluation

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How do you counter bubble bursters?

Heuristic evaluation involves having a small set of evaluators examine the interface and judge its compliance with recognized usability principles.

—Jakob Nielsen

Nielsen’s heuristics for user interface designhttp://www.useit.com/papers/heuristic/heuristic_list.html

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Nielsen’s heuristics for user interface designhttp://www.useit.com/papers/heuristic/heuristic_list.html

Recognized by whom?

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Louis Rosenfeld’s Heuristics for IA

• Accommodate behaviors of repeat users who know what they’re looking for.

• Labels and headings should be clear and meaningful.

• Provide clear calls-to-action for what a user might want to do next.

Complete list available on Lou’s blog at http://louisrosenfeld.com/home/bloug_archive/000286.html

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Heuristics…

• ground your feedback in industry best practices.

• lend the voices of experts to your cause.• give you a means of structuring your

feedback in a consistent, digestible format.

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Narrative report

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Visual report

A common misperception of the evaluation of content quality is that its scope is limited to the correction of typos and grammatical errors.

—Colleen JonesFounder, Content Science

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Jones’ heuristics for content http://uxmatters.com/mt/archives/2009/04/toward-content-quality.php

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Colleen Jones’ Heuristics for Content

Usefulness & Relevance• Does the content meet user needs, goals, and interests?• Does the content meet business goals?• For how long will the content be useful? When should it expire?

Has its usefulness already expired?• Is the content timely and relevant?Clarity & Accuracy• Is the content understandable to customers?• Is the content organized logically and coherently?• Is the content correct?• Does the content contain factual errors, typos, or grammatical errors?• Do images, video, and audio meet technical standards, so they are clear?Jones’ heuristics for content http://uxmatters.com/mt/archives/2009/04/toward-content-quality.php

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=47LCLoidJh4

Essential Skill #3

Usability Testing

What is usability testing?

38Image by Seattle Miles - http://www.flickr.com/photos/denemiles/3970279665/

Time to explore!

Is this your first Summit?

Your local chapter won the Award of Distinction this year. You would like to go to the Award Banquet. Find out what you need to do to attend.

What did we learn?

How to run a usability test?

1. Define your goals2. Create the test3. Find people4. Run the test5. Analyze the results6. Report the findings

You do not have to be perfect.

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Still interested? STC Usability SIG: http://www.stcsig.org/usability

Usability Professionals’ Associationhttp://www.usabilityprofessionals.org/

SIG CHI of ACMhttp://www.sigchi.org/

IxDAhttp://www.ixda.org/

Jakob Nielsen’s Alert Boxhttp://www.useit.com/

UX Mattershttp://www.uxmatters.com/

Any questions?Rachel PetersSr. Analyst, User ExperienceThe Home Depot

Will SansburyInteraction DesignerPracticeWorks Systems, LLC

Yina LiTechnical WriterHorizon Software International