An investigation into the use of guidelines and patterns in the interaction design process
- Authors: Cowley, Niel Lester Orr
- Date: 2009
- Subjects: Human-computer interaction , Web sites -- Design , User interfaces (Computer systems) -- Design
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: vital:10466 , http://hdl.handle.net/10948/1062 , Human-computer interaction , Web sites -- Design , User interfaces (Computer systems) -- Design
- Description: Design guidelines are used in interaction design (IxD) for physical design and for evaluating the usability of designs and interactive products. Guidelines are widely used for physical design and evaluation, but have a number of problems. IxD patterns have been proposed as an alternative to guidelines, as they are claimed to have several advantages over guidelines. A small number of empirical studies provide evidence that patterns are beneficial when used in IxD. Additional research on the usefulness of IxD patterns is required. The primary research question investigated in this thesis was thus: How useful are IxD patterns as physical design and evaluation aids in IxD, as compared to design guidelines? The role of guidelines and patterns as design and evaluation aids in IxD was investigated and a comparison of guidelines and patterns, based on a set of guideline and pattern properties, was conducted. The concept of pattern and guideline usefulness was explored and a research agenda for guidelines and patterns was identified, together with a set of research questions for an empirical study. The empirical study of the use of patterns for evaluation, redesign and new design, as compared to guidelines, was conducted at the Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University in 2004. The participants were a purposive sample of post-graduate Computing students, who were regarded as novice interaction designers. Two equivalent groups were formed, one that used patterns and one that used guidelines. Patterns were found to be as useful as guidelines when used as evaluation aids. Guidelines and patterns were identified as effective tools for identifying and explaining usability issues and design features. Best-effort matched sets of guidelines and patterns produced substantially different result sets when used to identify issues and features, with fairly low overlap. A substantial evaluator effect was observed for the use of guidelines and patterns for evaluation, and the results obtained were similar to those obtained by Molich et al. in their Comparative Usability Evaluation (CUE) studies. There was no statistically significant difference between the effectiveness of guidelines and patterns for evaluation. There was also no statistically significant difference between the perceived efficiency, effectiveness and satisfaction in use of guidelines and patterns for evaluation. Guidelines and patterns were found to be used in similar ways for evaluation. Patterns were found to be more effective than guidelines for redesign. Patterns were found to be as useful as guidelines when used for new design. There was no statistically significant difference between the effectiveness of guidelines and patterns for new design. There was also no statistically significant difference between the perceived efficiency, effectiveness and satisfaction in use of guidelines and patterns for redesign and new design. Guidelines and patterns were found to be used in similar ways for design. There was no statistically significant difference between the perceived usefulness of the format, content, ease of learning, and usefulness as personal and shared design languages, of guidelines and patterns. Both participant groups were equally agreeable to using guidelines and patterns in the future. The perceived usefulness of pattern collections was found to depend on the usability of the collection interface and the content quality of the patterns. The results of the empirical study thus provided empirical evidence that patterns were as useful as guidelines for evaluation and new design, and were perceived as positively as guidelines were. Patterns were found to be superior to guidelines for redesign. Patterns can therefore be used with a measure of confidence as early stage design aids for physical design and evaluation in the future. In addition to these findings, a number of opportunities for further research were identified.
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- Date Issued: 2009
Designing accessible portals in South Africa: a case study
- Authors: Meyer, Shaun
- Date: 2008
- Subjects: Web portals -- South Africa -- Port Elizabeth , Web site development -- South Africa -- Port Elizabeth , Internet programming , Web sites -- Design
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MTech
- Identifier: vital:9782 , http://hdl.handle.net/10948/770 , Web portals -- South Africa -- Port Elizabeth , Web site development -- South Africa -- Port Elizabeth , Internet programming , Web sites -- Design
- Description: Web portals are considered “gateways” to the World Wide Web. These portals are becoming very popular entry points to the Web by offering important services such as email, news, weather reports, course notes and general information. In addition, some portal sites allow users the option of customising the site according to their personal interests. However, disabled and elderly people encounter many accessibility and usability barriers while accessing web portals. A preliminary review of a university portal was conducted to identify some of these accessibility problems. This treatise presents an overview of the processes to be followed when conducting an accessibility and usability evaluation. In addition, it mentions some guidelines to be considered when specifically designing portals for use by many different users from varying backgrounds.
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- Date Issued: 2008
The impact of cultural context on web design for e-Government in South Africa
- Authors: Yeratziotis, Alexandros
- Date: 2008
- Subjects: Internet in public administration -- South Africa , Web sites -- Design , Culture
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MTech
- Identifier: vital:9741 , http://hdl.handle.net/10948/2116 , Internet in public administration -- South Africa , Web sites -- Design , Culture
- Description: The role and power of ICT today, particularly the Internet, cannot be underestimated. The Internet has a great impact on the business environment, where a large majority of companies and organisations have made substantial investments in an online presence in the form of websites, as well as the IT infrastructure needed to improve business processes. In terms of websites, research has shown that it is critical to identify the target market of the site and the actual users, and to construct the site according to their specific needs and preferences. This is to a large extent the focus of the field of Human Computer Interaction. It therefore makes perfect sense that many software products and websites fail to meet the users‟ needs, as they are designed mainly by Western designers for Eastern and African users. In essence, the failure is due to the fact that the design does not accommodate the cultural behaviours, understandings and preferences of the intended users, thus making it difficult for them to use and adopt them. This has been confirmed by many researchers who have studied various culture dimensions and their relation to Web design. As mentioned, the role of the Internet in terms of its effect in the business world is becoming increasingly important. However, the Internet could prove to play an influential role in the public sector as well and could therefore be used as a critical tool by government in the form of e-Government. Many countries are adopting e-Government initiatives in an attempt to improve their relations within government itself and with their citizens and businesses. This would help them to render better service delivery and at the same time empower the citizens to also participate in the governance of the country itself. The concept for this dissertation was formulated in terms of three key ingredients: e-Government, culture dimensions and Web design. The purpose of this dissertation is to examine the way a specific culture dimension, referred to as the cultural-context dimension, which focuses on the communication process, can impact in Web design. Once this is achieved, it will be possible to determine how this can positively affect the design of the South African e-Government website so that the overall usability of the site may be improved. The improvements will be justified because the site would then match the cultural behaviours, perceptions and Web design preferences of South African users. In short, the goal of this III dissertation is to provide guidelines and recommendations that will improve the South African e-Government website (www.gov.za) by examining anthropologist Edward Hall‟s cultural-context dimension and its role in the Web design process.
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- Date Issued: 2008
Development of a web-based interface for a wireless sensor network monitoring system
- Authors: Gumbo, Sibukele
- Date: 2007
- Subjects: Wireless LAN , Sensor networks , Wireless communication systems , Web sites -- Design , User interfaces (Computer systems)
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MSc (Computer Science)
- Identifier: vital:11372 , http://hdl.handle.net/10353/68 , Wireless LAN , Sensor networks , Wireless communication systems , Web sites -- Design , User interfaces (Computer systems)
- Description: In the recent past, wireless sensor technology has undergone advancements in its autonomous data collecting aspects, and has become an area worth investigating in relation to structural monitoring applications. The system described in this thesis aims at acquiring, storing and displaying overhead transmission line related data collected from a wireless sensor network. Open source tools were used in its development and implementation. The inherent linearly aligned topology of transmission line monitoring devices is not without shortcomings; hence analysis of linear node placement, hardware and software components was carried out to determine the feasibility of the system. Their limited data processing capabilities has motivated the development of a post processing wireless sensor application in order to present any collected structural data in an understandable format.
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- Date Issued: 2007
A model for information architecture of government web sites in Southern Africa
- Authors: Bernardo, Tomás
- Date: 2006
- Subjects: Information storage and retrieval systems , Web sites -- Design , Government information -- South Africa
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MSc
- Identifier: vital:10479 , http://hdl.handle.net/10948/459 , Information storage and retrieval systems , Web sites -- Design , Government information -- South Africa
- Description: The main purpose of this research is to investigate the Information Architecture (IA) of government web sites in Southern Africa. The government web sites of Mozambique and South Africa were selected for the purpose of this research. A further aim of this research was to derive a model for the IA of government web sites. The model was based on IA components and guidelines as well as on web site components and E-government requirements. The IA guidelines in the model were derived from general design guidelines and guidelines for government web sites. The IA guidelines in the proposed model were used to conduct an analytical and empirical evaluation of the selected sites. The selection of the sites was based on similarities in the Information and Communication Technology (ICT) strategies and policies, the annual Internet growth rates, the Internet user profiles and the Egovernment initiatives in both countries. Differences between the sites also contributed to their selection. Mozambique is one of the least developed countries in the world, while South Africa is one of the most developed countries in Africa. Heuristic evaluation was used for the analytical evaluation while questionnaires and user testing were used for the empirical evaluation. Some of the usability problems identified in the heuristic evaluation, such as incorrect organisation of information and navigation issues, were also identified in the empirical evaluation, confirming to the existence of these usability problems. The results of this research show that the IA of government web sites has an impact on user performance and satisfaction and that the proposed model can be used to design and evaluate the IA of government web sites in Southern Africa.
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- Date Issued: 2006
An investigation into tools and protocols for commercial audio web-site creation
- Authors: Ndinga, S'busiso Simon
- Date: 2000
- Subjects: Web sites -- Design , Digital libraries , Internet -- Security measures
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MSc
- Identifier: vital:4621 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1006488 , Web sites -- Design , Digital libraries , Internet -- Security measures
- Description: This thesis presents a feasibility study of a Web-based digital music library and purchasing system. It investigates the current status of the enabling technologies for developing such a system. An analysis of various Internet audio codecs, streaming audio protocols, Internet credit card payment security methods, and ways for accessing remote Web databases is presented. The objective of the analysis is to determine the viability and the economic benefits of using these technologies when developing systems that facilitate music distribution over the Internet. A prototype of a distributed digital music library and purchasing system named WAPS (for Web-based Audio Purchasing System) was developed and implemented in the Java programming language. In this thesis both the physical and the logical component elements of WAPS are explored in depth so as to provide an insight into the inherent problems of creating such a system, as well as the overriding benefits derived from the creation of such a system.
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- Date Issued: 2000