[pt] A tese realiza um estudo ergonômico das estruturas de navegação e unidades de informação dos sites de entretenimento com conteúdo multimídia. Esta pesquisa é um estudo de caso do site promocional XBOX 360. Nela considera-se a apresentação do conteúdo em uma grade que simula o deslocamento espacial dos elementos de tela e a avaliação da interação permitida pela página segundo a ótica dos usuários.O estudo tem como primeira hipótese a ausência de feedback durante a seleção de um item de conteúdo animado e a difícil compreensão dos controles de na vegação são barreiras que dificultam a interação dos usuários com a estrutura de navegação espacial presente no site XBOX 360. Já a segunda hipótese considera que a estética e a inovação gráfica da interface minimizam a percepção dos usuários com relação aos problemas de usabilidade encontrados na tela ao longo da interação, além de potencializarem o prazer e estimularem a utilização do site. Na primeira parte da pesquisa, são apresentados os referenciais teóricos que contém os seguintes conceitos: design de interação, emoção relacionada ao projeto de tela e a satisfação sob a ótica da usabilidade. Esta pesquisa caracteriza, ainda, na sua revisão bibliográfica o entretenimento como fator relevante para estimular a exploração dos elementos contidos na tela. Ademais, é enfatizado o conceito de flow que contempla satisfação plena decorrente de uma experiência de uso prazerosa. A segunda parte da pesquisa apresenta o delineamento da pesquisa e os métodos, técnicas e procedimentos da pesquisa utilizados no estudo (o Questionário Creating Personas, a Análise de Conteúdo, os Cenários, Teste de usabilidade e o Questionário de Avaliação dos Prazeres). Essas técnicas foram realizadas na pesquisa com o objetivo de colher opiniões, de conhecer hábitos e de descobrir dados sobre a população usuária.Por fim, este trabalho apresentou as principais dificuldades experimentadas pelos usuários durante os testes de usabilidade e a aplicação do QUIS (Questionnaire for User Interaction Satisfaction), que podem ser sintetizadas da seguinte forma: a ausência de feedback textual na seleção dos botões, a posição passiva que a animação de rotação impôs a eles e o aprendizado de recursos que facilitasse o acesso direto ao conteúdo do site. / [en] This thesis conducts an ergonomic study of the browsing structures and information units of entertainment websites with multimedia content. This survey involves a case study of the XBOX 360 promotional website, considering the content´s presentation in a grid that simulates the shift of the screen elements and the interaction evaluation allowed through the page based on the users` point of view. The study has the following hypotheses. The absence of feedback during the selection of an animated content item and the difficulty understanding of the browsing controls are barriers that make it difficult for users to interact with the spatial browsing structure present on the XBOX 360 website. The second hypothesis considers the esthetics and graphic innovation of the interface minimize the users` perception of the usability problems found on the screen during the interaction in addition to maximizing the pleasure and encouraging the use of the site. In the first part of the survey, we present the theoretical references that contain the following concepts: interaction design, emotion associated with the screen design and satisfaction in terms of usability. This survey also considers in its bibliographic revision that entertainment is a relevant factor for stimulating the exploration of the elements contained on the screen. Furthermore, the concept of flow is emphasized as it means full satisfaction from a pleasurable user experience. The second part of the survey presents the survey design and methods, techniques and survey procedures used in the study (the Creating Personas Questionnaire, Content Analysis, Scenarios, Usability Test and Pleasure Evaluation Questionnaire). These techniques were employed in the survey in order to collect opinions, learn habits and find data on the user population. Finally, this work presented the main difficulties reported by users during the usability tests and application of the Questionnaire for User Interaction Satisfaction (QUIS). These difficulties can be summarized as follows: the absence of text feedback in the selection of buttons, the passive position that the rotation animation imposes and the understanding of resources that would facilitate direct access to website content.

The purpose of this thesis is to explore and study the usability issues within Technical Data Management Systems (TDMS). The research has been conducted as a single case study at the gardening and landscape maintenance company Husqvarna. The inductive research led to conducting 10 interviews, 2 expert focus groups and a observational study. An artefact was produced during the research to emulate a potential system. During the research, the researchers identified ten heuristic usability issues within TDMS. Fur- thermore the functional and non-functional needs of Husqvarna have been identified. The artefact was created, based on existing usability guidelines, addressing the usability issues and the needs of Husqvarna. The artefact was used to answer if the applied guidelines have solved the identified usability issues. The conclusion was set, that the applied guidelines had solved the identified issues. With the research being conducted with a single case study, the result may lack generalisability. Future researchers are encouraged to conduct a multiple case study to further identify issues within the research area.

Do ponto de vista do usuário, a interface é uma das partes mais importantes dos sistemas computacionais, porque por meio dela o usuário vê, ouve e sente. Essa relevância motiva pesquisadores da área de Interação Humano-Computador a estudarem maneiras de se criarem interfaces com design focado em usabilidade. A avaliação da usabilidade de interfaces visa verificar se elas atendem aos requisitos do usuário de forma que as funcionalidades do sistema sejam realizadas de modo efetivo, eficiente e que satisfaça as expectativas do usuário. Tendo em vista que o ciclo de desenvolvimento de software costuma ser longo, avaliações da usabilidade de diferentes versões de interfaces devem ser realizadas no decorrer do processo, como forma de minimizar erros e reduzir custos de produção do sistema. Uma das avaliações de usabilidade mais conhecidas é a avaliação heurística, criada por Jacob Nielsen, que se destaca pelo baixo custo e rapidez de aplicação. Nela, especialistas avaliam as interfaces e os diálogos do sistema com base em um conjunto de regras gerais, as heurísticas, que lhes permitem identificar problemas de usabilidade. Apesar de respeitadas e amplamente usadas, as heurísticas de Nielsen foram criadas sem foco em interfaces de dispositivos móveis, muito difundidos atualmente. Por meio deste trabalho, verificou-se que as heurísticas de Nielsen têm limitações para encontrarem problemas de usabilidade em interfaces de dispositivos móveis. Por conta disso, propôs-se um conjunto de heurísticas para avaliação de interfaces de dispositivos móveis e se definiu um conjunto de diretrizes para o desenvolvimento dessas interfaces. A validação das heurísticas propostas indicou que elas foram mais efetivas que as de Nielsen para encontrarem problemas de usabilidade considerados pelos especialistas como catastróficos ou de baixa gravidade / From the users point of view, the interface is one the most important part of computer systems, because everything he sees, hears and feels are contained therein. This relevance motivates researchers of Human-Computer Interaction to study ways to create interfaces with design focused on usability. The usability evaluation of interfaces aims to determine whether the interfaces meet the requirements of the system so that its functionalities are carried out effectively, efficiently and satisfying the users expectations. Considering that the software development lifecycle is often long, usability evaluations of different versions of interfaces should be made during the process, in order to minimize errors and reduce production costs of the final system. Heuristic evaluation, created by Jacob Nielsen, is one of the most used usability evaluation methods, because of it low cost and ease of implementation. In this evaluation method, experts evaluate interfaces and systems dialogues based on a set of general rules, called heuristics, which enable them to identify usability problems. Although respected and widely used, Nielsens heuristics were not created having mobile devices interfaces in mind. Through this work, it was verified that Nielsens heuristics have limitations in finding usability problems in mobile devices interfaces. Because of this, we proposed a set of heuristics for evaluating interfaces for mobile devices and defined a set of guidelines for the development of these interfaces. The validation of the proposed heuristics indicated that they were more effective than Nielsens to find usability problems considered by experts as catastrophic or of low gravity

Este estudo buscou identificar variáveis e parâmetros determinantes para a otimização do design da interface dos teclados virtuais de padrão Qwerty no contexto da produção de textos em português. Tendo como fonte principal de dados o usuário final, buscou-se, nesta pesquisa, entender de que maneira os variados sistemas de teclado e as diversas configurações possíveis se adequam aos hábitos e à cultura de uso dos diferentes usuários, considerando-se, neste ponto, as diferenças entre a língua inglesa (condicionante do arranjo Qwerty) e a portuguesa. A pesquisa foi composta de dois experimentos e um questionário e conduzida junto a usuários de dispositivos móveis com telas de 3,5 a seis polegadas, limites que englobam grande parte dos aparelhos equipados com os teclados aqui analisados. No capítulo 1 contextualizou-se o problema estudado e definiu-se espectro da pesquisa. O capítulo 2 apresenta a revisão bibliográfica sobre o tema e trata do uso do teclado desde seu surgimento até sua utilização em smartphones, das especificidades da língua portuguesa e de caminhos, métodos e soluções encontrados em pesquisas correlatas. No capítulo 3 são apresentados os métodos utilizados em cada etapa do estudo: o questionário buscou respostas junto a 302 usuários a respeito de diversos fatores ligados à utilização do teclado virtual em smartphones; os dois experimentos envolveram a gravação em vídeo da interação de 17 participantes com o teclado em diferentes tarefas de inserção de textos em português, o primeiro envolvendo a cópia de textos pré-definidos em diferentes configurações de teclado, e o segundo a análise da produção de textos livres no aparelho do próprio participante, configurado conforme suas preferências pessoais. O capítulo 4 apresenta as análises empreendidas em cada etapa de interação com usuários e o capítulo 5 mostra as conclusões a que se chegou com base nos dados analisados. Os resultados mostraram que em grande parte dos aparelhos o desenho do teclado é pautado pelo arranjo Qwerty, que delimita o tamanho e mapeamento das teclas mais utilizadas para inserção de textos. Observou-se também que os usuários que utilizam seus aparelhos com maior versatilidade têm maior fluência no uso do teclado e acabam por contornar as limitações da interface, vindo a avaliar melhor o sistema. O uso eficiente do teclado estaria ligado não especificamente à velocidade de digitação, mas a um ritmo próprio de cada indivíduo que, quando alterado, contribui para a incidência de erros. Nesse sentido, verificou-se que as tarefas de cópia, por envolver a observação constante do texto a ser reproduzido, tendem a causar pausas no processo de digitação, aumentando a probabilidade da ocorrência de toques em teclas diferentes das pretendidas. Erros deste tipo, mais comuns, mostraram-se estar atrelados à maior utilização das teclas e parecem ser, portanto, inevitáveis. O processo de prevenção e correção de falhas de digitação, desta forma, mostrou-se fator fundamental na utilização deste tipo de teclado, evidenciando a importância dos assistentes de digitação. Estes, no entanto, podem vir a condicionar a maneira como o usuário interage com o teclado e, em alguns casos, contribuir para a ocorrência de erros. / This study seeks to identify, in the context of Portuguese text entry, determinant variables and parameters for the Qwerty keyboard interface design optimization. Considering that the primary data source is the final user, this research attempts to understand how adequate are the various keyboard systems and configurations to users\' habits and culture, taking into account the differences between English (language used to define the Qwerty layout) and Portuguese. In this research, two experiments and one survey were carried out with 3,5\" to 6\" smartphones users, boundaries that encompasses the majority of the devices equipped with the keyboard types targeted to be analyzed. In the first chapter the problem was contextualized and the spectrum of the research was defined. The second chapter presents the history of the Qwerty keyboard, since its development (when the typewriters were being created) to the use in smartphones, shows important singularities of Portuguese language and an overview of related studies. In the third chapter the methods applied in this research were shown: the survey was carried out with 302 participants to find how they cope with different aspects of the use of smartphones; the two experiments involved the recording of 17 users interacting with the keyboard in different kinds of tasks, text transcription with varying device configuration and free text production in the participant\'s own device. The fourth chapter presents the analysis of the data obtained in the different stages of the study that involved interaction with users and the fifth chapter shows the conclusions made base on the data analyzed. Results showed that great part of the devices present the keyboard ruled by the Qwerty layout, which limits the size and the mapping of the keys most used for text insertion. It was also noted that those who use their devices with greater flexibility are more fluent in the use of the keyboard and create shortcuts to cope with limitations imposed by this interface. These users tend to give the keyboard a better evaluation. The results also showed that a efficient use of the interface would not be tied specifically to typing speed, but rather to the individual typing rhythm that, when disturbed, contributes for the occurrence of errors. In this sense, it was noted that copy tasks, because it involves constant monitoring of the text to be copied, tend to produce pauses in the typing process, which increases the probability of touches landing in different keys than intended. This type of error, most common, appeared to be tied to key usage and, thus, seem to be inevitable. Error preventing and correction, this way, are fundamental for the usage of virtual keyboards in small devices. Results showed that the use of typing assistants, however, could modify the way users type and, in some cases, contribute to the increase of error occurrence.

This thesis investigates embedded databases and graphical interfaces for the MicroBaseJ project. The project aim is the development of an integrated database and GUI user interface for a typical 3G, or 2.5G, mobile phone with Java MIDP2 capability. This includes methods for data acquisition, mobile data and information communication, data management, and remote user interface. Support of phone delivered informatics will require integrated server and networking infrastructure research and development to support effective and timely delivery of data for incorporation in mobile device-based informatics applications. A key research and development (R&D) challenge is to support effective and timely delivery of data for incorporation in mobile device-based informatics applications. Another important aspect of the project is determining how to develop efficient graphics for the small mobile screen. The research investigates and analyses the architecture of a mobile monitoring system. The project developed a generic solution that can be implemented in a number of commercial sectors, such as horticulture, building management and pollution/water management. The developed concept is tested using data relevant to the horticultural area of application. The system also addresses the main issues related to mobile monitoring, including real-time response, data integrity, solution cost, graphical presentation, and persistent storage capabilities of modern mobile devices. Four embedded databases based on J2ME have been investigated. Two of the four have been evaluated and analysed. The Insert function, Sequence Search, and Random Search of Perst List and RMS (Record Management System) databases have been tested. The size of the processed data was limited to 20,000 records when using the wireless toolkit simulator, and 11,000 records when using a mobile phone. Perst Lite reflects good performance and has out-performed RMS in all tests. User interface software such as J2ME Polish for mobile phones has been investigated. Custom J2ME class for graphical interface is developed. This provides the graphical presentation of the data collected from the sensors; including temperature, wind speed, wind direction, moisture, and leaf wetness. The graphical interface, bar charts, and line charts with trace ball for collected data have been designed and implemented. The embedded database performance and project performance have been investigated and analysed. The performances of Perst Lite and RMS are evaluated in terms of the insert, sequence search, and random search functions based on simulation and real devices. The record numbers vary from 1,000 to 20,000. The project performance contains data receiving and storage, and data presentation and configuration. The performance of data storage and configuration can be negated due to the running mode and the response time. Thus, data presenting performance is the key focus in this project. This performance was divided into the categories of initial, data search, data selection, and charting. The initial performance includes the initialisation of the project parameters, and the reaching of the welcome interface. Data search performance refers to the retrieval of the specified data from the embedded database, measured on 48 data points, which only can be presented on the mobile screen from the retrieved data. These four performance types are measured in thousands of record numbers, varying from 1,000 to 18,000 record numbers, with the retrieved data range varying from 1 day to 30 days.

<p>The aim of this thesis project is to create a user interface for a web based film production project management portal. This implies creating a site map and a functionality specification based on the needs of the people working in the film production industry. The project was made on account of The Chimney Pot, a post production company in Stockholm. For the scope of this project, the research was concentrated on the part of film production that concerns The Chimney Pot, i.e. the procedures that take place after a film has been recorded. The research also focused on people working in the area of Stockholm, even if their clients and customers in other areas of Sweden and abroad were indirectly included in order for the project portal to be a usable tool in projects where these people are involved. </p><p>Before any visible results can be seen in a web production project, a range of preparation steps needs to be taken. Planning is essential if the final product shall work properly. Extensive research has to be done into the industry. In order to make the product usable, the intended users, their requirements, work procedures and environment need to be examined. Only when there are substantial results and enough knowledge about the industry, the actual implementation can start. The first step is to make a functionality specification, next a site map should be produced and the technical architecture should be specified. These are the areas that are covered in this project, but there are also recommendations about how the further development should be made. Important aspects in the next phase are to create a budget, to put together a development team and to create a graphic user interface. In the whole process the issues of usability need to be considered, i.e. efficiency, flexibility, learnability and satisfaction. </p><p>The key requirements for the project portal turned out to be speed and effectiveness. The user interface was designed to be intuitive and to be shallow, which means that the user should be able to perform any task with the least amount of mouse clicks possible. Another intention with the produced user interface is for it to be clearly divided into the four main areas that could be extracted from the user requirements. They are planning, project details, communication and file sharing. Directly after logging on to the project portal, the user should get an overview of all these areas. Other important considerations were security, version control and seamlessness. These issues demand a thorough planning of the technical architecture and this thesis provides some useful tips for the further development of the technical specification.</p>

本研究之目的在了解台灣地區幼教網站的設計理念與相關的網路特性，分析網站介面要素的設計與呈現方式，並探討網站如何呈現幼兒父母的教養形象。 研究方法採用內容分析法，以台灣地區幼教網站共十八家為分析對象，並輔以個案訪談，並取得三家網站之訪談資料。 研究結果包括：(1)在幼教網站中，女性被視為主要的使用族群，且科技能力較低；(2)網站的色彩運用偏向暖色系(如粉紅、黃、橘等)，將網站風格營造為溫馨、可愛或熱鬧；而網站的圖像運用，以嬰/幼兒、娃娃圖像較多，且常與母親一同出現，從事的活動包括遊戲、閱讀、學習、表達親密等；(3)幼教網站呈現的父母親教養形象有所不同，母親被視為是幼兒的飲食營養、疾病防治與安全的主要負責人，且只有母親需面臨是否要放棄工作照顧幼兒的壓力；而父親則扮演了幼兒的玩伴、家計負擔者，以及學習作為「現代」父親等形象。 最後，研究者基於研究結果，對實務工作及未來研究提出相關反思與建議。

Museums can be perceived as stuffy and forbidding; web technologies can enable museums to expand access to their collections and counterbalance these perceptions. Museums are searching for new ways to communicate with the public to better make a case for their continued relevance in the digital information age. With the emergence of multitouch computing, other diverse forms of digital access and the popularization of the user experience, challenge museum design professionals to synthesize the information seeking experience that occurs on multiple computing platforms. As a means of addressing these issues, this Master’s Report summarizes the One Butterfly design project. The project's goal was to create a design for a multitouch interface for federated search of Smithsonian collections. This report describes the project’s three major phases. First, an idea for an interface was developed and designs based on that idea were captured and clarified. Second, a formal review of related research was undertaken to ground these designs in the museum informatics, user interface design, and multitouch interaction design literatures. Finally, the report concludes with a review and reflection on the designs and their underlying ideas in light of things learned in the previous phases. / text

The field of computer user interface design is rapidly changing and diversifying as new devices are developed every day. Technology has risen to become an integral part of life for people of all ages around the world. Modern life as we know it depends on computers, and understanding the interfaces through which we communicate with them is critically important in an increasingly digital age. The first part of this paper examines the technological origins and historical background driving the development of graphical user interfaces from its earliest incarnations to today. Hardware advancements and key turning points are presented and discussed. In the second part of this paper, skeuomorphism and flat design, two of the most common design trends today, are analyzed and explained. Finally, the future course of user interface is predicted based off of emergent technologies such as the Apple Watch, Google Glass, Microsoft HoloLens, and Microsoft PixelSense. Through understanding the roots and current state of computer user interface design, engineers, designers, and scientists can help us get the most out of our ever-changing world of advanced technology as it becomes further intertwined with our existence.

The creation of interactive computer-controlled characters in interactive media is a challenging and multi-faceted task requiring the skills and effort of professionals from many fields. This work addresses authoring the interactive aspect of these characters’ behaviors – how characters act automatically in response to a dynamic user-controlled character. We present PaintBoard, a system that enables users to prototype and test discrete, real-time, interactive movements in a 2D grid environment simply by digitally painting a storyboard. We designed and developed a novel authoring technique for creating behaviors (painting storyboards) and a novel algorithm based on machine-learning, that analyzes a storyboard to create a behavior that works beyond situations provided in the input storyboard. We conducted two exploratory studies that grounded the prototype design, and present the results of a proof-of-concept workshop with game developers. Finally, we performed a comparison of machine learning algorithms’ performance on our storyboard data.