6.831 User Interface Design and Implementation

MASSACHUSETTS INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY
Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science
Fall Semester, 2004

Site Contents

Handouts

Slides are available the morning before each lecture. Print them out only if you want to take notes on them. Lecture notes are available after the lecture. The lecture notes include pictures of the slides, so you don't need to print both.

Monday

Wednesday

Sep 6 (Labor Day)

Sep 8

L1: Introduction to Usability

Lecture notes with slides

Sep 13

L2: User-Centered Design

Readings:

The 1984 Olympic Message System: a test of behavioral principles of system design by John Gould et al. CACM, v30 n9, 1987.

Sep 15

L3: UI Software Architecture

Readings:

A Description of the Model-View-Controller User Interface Paradigm in the Smalltalk-80 System by Glenn E. Krasner and Stephen T. Pope. JOOP, v1 n3, 1988.

Sep 20

L4: Human Capabilities

Readings:

Semantic pointing: improving target acquisition with control-display ratio adaptation by Renaud Blanch, Yves Guiard, and Michel Beaudouin-Lafon. CHI 2004.
Optional: Chapter 2: "The Human Information Processor", in The Psychology of Human-Computer Interaction, by Stuart Card, Thomas Moran, and Allen Newell, 1983.

Sep 22

L5: Output Models

Readings:

Glyphs: Flyweight Objects for User Interfaces by Paul R. Calder and Mark A. Linton. UIST '90.
Systematic output modification in a 2D user interface toolkit by Keith Edwards, Scott Hudson, Joshua Marinacci, Roy Rodenstein, Thomas Rodriguez, and Ian Smith. UIST '97.

Sep 27

L6: Conceptual Models & Metaphors

Readings:

Optional: The Design of Everyday Things by Donald Norman.

Sep 29

L7: Input Models

Readings:

A new model for handling input by Brad Myers. ACM TOIS, v8 n3, July 1990.

Oct 4

L8: Design Principles

Readings:

First Principles of Interaction Design by Bruce Tognazzini
Ten Usability Heuristics by Jakob Nielsen
The Case Against User Interface Consistency by Jonathan Grudin. CACM, v32 n10, October 1989.
Optional: Chapter 5 in Usability Engineering by Jakob Nielsen.

Oct 6

L9: Paper Prototyping

Readings:

Prototyping for Tiny Fingers by Marc Rettig. CACM, v37 n4, April 1994.

Oct 11 (Holiday)

No class

Oct 13

L10: Constraints & Layout

Readings:

The Rendezvous constraint maintenance system by Ralph Hill. UIST '93.
Ultra-lightweight constraints by Scott Hudson and Ian Smith. UIST '96.

Oct 18

L11: Graphic Design

Readings:

Optional: Designing Visual Interfaces by Kevin Mullet and Darrell Sano. Prentice Hall, 1995.

Oct 20

L12: Computer Prototyping

Readings:

The Perils of Prototyping by Alan Cooper. 1994.

Oct 25

Quiz 1

Oct 27

No class

Nov 1

L13: Toolkits

Lecture notes with slides

Readings:

Past, present, and future of user interface software tools by Brad Myers, Scott Hudson, and Randy Pausch. ACM TOCHI, v7 n1, March 2000.

Nov 3

L14: Heuristic Evaluation

Lecture notes with slides

Readings:

Heuristic Evaluation by Jakob Nielsen. Read the first four pages:

How to conduct a heuristic evaluation
A list of ten recommended heuristics for usable interface design
A more detailed discussion of the characteristics of the usability problems found by heuristic evaluation
How to rate the severity of the usability problems

Describing usability problems: are we sending the right message? by Joseph Dumas, Rolf Molich, and Robin Jeffries. interactions, v11 n4, July/August 2004.

Nov 8

L15: User Testing

Lecture notes with slides

Readings:

Guidelines for user observation by Kathleen Gomoll & Anne Nicol, from User Observation: Guidelines for Apple Developers, January 1990.

Nov 10

L16: Experiment Design

Lecture notes with slides

Readings:

Experimental methods for validating technology by Marvin Zelkowitz and Dolores Wallace. IEEE Computer, v31 n5, May 1998.
Optional: "Methodology matters: doing research in the behavioral and social sciences" by Joseph E. McGrath, in Readings in Human-Computer Interaction: Toward the Year 2000, R. M. Baecker and J. Grudin and W. A. S. Buxton, ed.

Nov 15

L17: Experiment Analysis

Lecture notes with slides

Readings:

None

Nov 17 (Drop Date)

L18: Research Topics: Predictive Evaluation

Readings:

The GOMS family of user interface analysis techniques: comparison and contrast by Bonnie John and David Kieras. ACTM TOCHI, v3 n4, December 1996.

Nov 22

Quiz 2

Nov 24

L19: Research Topics: Information Visualization

Readings:

Visual information seeking: tight coupling of dynamic query filters with starfield displays by Christopher Ahlberg and Ben Shneiderman. CHI '94.
The table lens: merging graphical and symbolic representations in an interactive focus + context visualization for tabular information by Ramana Rao and Stuart Card. CHI '94.

Nov 29

L20: Research Topics: Pen-based UI

Readings:

CrossY: a crossing-based drawing application by Georg Apitz & Francois Guimbretiere. UIST '04.
EdgeWrite: a stylus-based text entry method designed for high accuracy and stability of motion by Jacob Wobbrock, Brad Myers, and John Kembel. UIST '03.

Dec 1

L21: Research Topics: Weird Modalities

Readings:

Gummi: a bendable computer by Carsten Schwesig, Ivan Poupyrev, and Eijiro Mori. CHI '04.
Force-feedback improves performance for steering and combined steering-targeting tasks by Jack Dennerlein, David Martin, and Christopher Hasser. CHI 2000.

Dec 6

L22: Research Topics: Zooming & Transparent UI

Readings:

Toolglass and Magic Lenses: The See-Through Interface by Eric Bier, Maureen Stone, Ken Pier, William Buxton, and Tony DeRose. SIGGRAPH 93.
Jazz: An Extensible Zoomable User Interface Graphics Toolkit in Java by Benjamin Bederson, Jon Meyer, and Lance Good. UIST 2000.

Dec 8

Demo Day

6.831 User Interface Design and Implementation

Lectures & Readings