| |
18 Chapter
2. State of the Art of Application Development Processes
break current boundaries and to re-think established work-practices
is not a goal, focus on the users task is proposed to be su
cient. Mediation between user and developer is part of the methodologies, such as rapid prototyping, where evaluation
sessions with the user require cooperation. This also leaves room for exploration of
the proposed solution, which, however, does not depart from established thinking
patterns and only validates the matching of users and developers minds. Cycles
and rapid developments are suggested by most methodologies. The use of toolboxes
is most actively promoted by the task-centered design process methodology.
2.2.3 Principles and Guidelines
from Human-Computer
Interaction HCI research has collected and summarized humans limitations in information pro-
cessing and decision taking from the fields of cognitive psychology and ergonomics.
Adapting systems to various human capabilities is a challenge for designers. Re-
search stemming from automotive and aircraft industries, from type-writers etc.
has produced results also applicable for HCI design. Basic data on human dimen-
sions is revealed by anthropometry
[ Dreyfus 1967
] [ Roebuck et
al. 1975 ]
. Thou- sands of measurements have been conducted to produce average values for head,
mouth, nose, neck, shoulders, chest, arm, hand, leg, and foot. Furthermore, dy-
namic actions have been classified, such as action radius during sitting, speed of
finger pressing, and force required for lifting fingers
[ Bailey 1996
] . Moreover, un-
derstanding of cognitive and perceptual capabilities
[ Kantowitz and Sorkin 1983,
Wickens 1992
] of users is another important issue for designing interactive systems:
users recognize minimal changes on a computer screen in milli-seconds and execute
a sequence of commands accordingly. Insights about the users personality (some
dislike computers, are afraid of them, others are attracted and use them with joy)
can tell about di erent preferences of computer interaction regarding interaction
speed, graphical versus spread-sheet representations, and step-by-step versus global
view. In return, a variety of guidelines and principles have been developed tackling those
issues at least to a certain extend.
Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI).
[ Shneiderman 1980
] presents a tech-
nique based on the theory of personalities of C.G. Jung. The theory of MBTI
relates professions to personality types. It can provide general guidelines for de-
signers. Furthermore there has been research on cultural diversities, how the eyes
of users with Chinese education move di
erently than those of users with English
background [
Fernandes 1995
] , elderly users
[ Furlong and Kearsley 1995
] or users
with disabilities [
Alistair 1995
] [ Glinert et
al. 1992 ]
.
|  |
|
| |
|
|