Designing usable Graphical User Interfaces (GUIs) is a complex process and requires at least two things: knowledge of known GUI design principles and guidelines, and knowledge of structured methods for achieving usability. The purpose of writing this thesis was to investigate whether a GUI standard increases a program's usability or not. In many cases, people who take part in GUI decisions do not consider following a standard and the decisions are often based on what is best for them. Consequently, in most of the cases, programs turn out to be inconsistent and less usable. But following a GUI standard does not necessarily guarantee usability. To carry out the investigation, the GUI of a program was deliberately manipulated. Apart from the original one, two more versions were created; one strictly according to the Microsoft Standard, and one that among other things violated the standard. To be able to compare the three GUI versions, usability testing with four test users was conducted. The result of the entire investigation showed that a GUI standard increased the usability considerably. But the result also showed that the test users found the GUI, that in some aspects violated the standard, more pleasant to use, that is to say, users' satisfaction was higher. This indicates that standards ensure consistency, which provides a sense of stability and makes the GUI familiar and predictable. But GUIs should also be tailored for and validated against the users' requirements, and this is done with structured methods for achieving usability. As a GUI designer, your knowledge of the standards is the absolute minimum requirement for developing GUIs. By knowing and understanding the standards, you will also have the knowledge of how to violate the standards in order to achieve a higher degree of usability.

This thesis provides a baseline study for eye tracking user interface design for controlling a mobile robot. The baseline study is an experiment involving the use of a radio controller (RC) to drive the robot, while gaze data is collected from each subject monitoring the position of robot on the remote screen that displays the view for the turret-mounted video camera on the robot. Initial data from the experiment provides a foundation for interface design of actual control of the mobile robot by gaze interaction. Such an interface may provide Tele-presence for the disable. Patients with motor disability cannot use their hands and legs but only use their eye motions. Such applications of an eye tracking system can provide patients with much flexibility and freedom for search and identification of objects. / Muhammad Asghar Jan (+46-700183140) syedmaji@hotmail.com (+46-736805771)

Visibility aspects of User Interfaces are important; they deal with the crucial phase of human-computer interaction. They allow users to perform and at the same time hide the complexity of the system. Acceptance of new systems depends on how visibility aspects of the User Interfaces are presented. Human eyes make the first contact with the appearance of any system by so it generates the very beginning of the human – application interaction. In this study it is enforced that visibility aspects are essential in application development. Furthermore, it is stressed that with practice of automation, habitual and functional visibility fades and users lose control. Users accept visibility loss only at certain points where it does not impact their skillset and understanding of an application. Although, they prefer control over visibility aspects and automation to strengthen the reception of the User Interface. The environments used in this study are Google Docs, Dropbox and cloudHQ with a case study of collaboration involving five users.

This thesis explores how an Android application that is used in combination with tangible appcessories is capable of facilitating a learning experience for visually impaired students within the specific domain of geometry. This study’s approach illustrates how using an application in combination with a physical appcessory can provide information concerning geometry to the visually impaired. An application, called Invisible Tangible Geometry (ITG), was programmed using Android in conjunction with a 3D printed model. This thesis describes the application, the physical appcessory, as well as early stage user studies. The application enables visually impaired users to explore simple geometric forms displayed on a tablet through sound and vibrotactile feedback. A physical appcessory, that can be manipulated to adopt several forms and is dynamic, is used in addition. Its shape is sensed by the tablet adds an additional tactile layer to the application and experience. Within the thesis a methodological framework, as well as a user-centered design approach was applied. An expert interview and three user engagements with visually impaired individuals serve as early validations of the project and ideas and provide feedback that directs design and development of future work. Current avenues for the future work will include additional interaction modes in the application. For example, the ability to digitize real world forms, and improving the robustness of the tangible appcessory. The plan, for future development, is to establish an autonomous functioning application that enables the visually impaired to be able to explore, participate and interact with geometry smoothly and without the need of aid from others. The correlation of application and appcessory will allow for anything between a quick glance, through feeling the model, and gaining detailed information, by using the application. The application enhances provided information through the use of a model and enriched digital feedback.

Vid skapandet av ett användargränssnitt bör en utvecklare utgå från en rad designprinciper. Detta möjliggör ett effektivt användarflöde, där användaren navigerar genom systemet utan svårigheter. Därigenom kan användaren till fullo absorbera informationen som systemet erbjuder.   Designprinciperna ligger till grund för det praktiska arbetet som utfördes för denna rapport. Syftet var att utveckla en webbportal som användes av ett företag för samarbete med dess underleverantörer. Genom att utgå från principerna, samt intervjuer med användarna, skulle förbättringar göras på det nuvarande systemet. Detta skulle resultera i en bättre användarupplevelse och en optimal effektivitet för systemet.   Det praktiska arbetet delades upp i två steg. Det första steget innefattade konkreta ändringar på det nuvarande systemet, där mindre justeringar introducerades som enkelt kunde implementeras på den nuvarande webbportalen. Det andra steget handlade om en analys av marknadens främsta designlösningar, vilket skulle visa på existerande smarta och trendanpassade lösningar som kunde användas vid förbättring av systemet. Dessa steg utgjorde processen för det förbättringsarbete som skulle utföras på webbportalen.   Resultatet blev ett användargränssnitt som tillfredsställer majoriteten av användare. Genom de objektiva designprinciperna skapades ett användarvänligt system med ett effektivt användarflöde. / When creating a user interface, a developer should base their work on a number of design principles. This enables an effective user flow, where the user navigates through the system without difficulties. Thereby the user can absorb the information that the system provides to the fullest.   These design principles form the basis of the practical work that was carried out for this report. The purpose was to develop a web portal, which was used by a company for collaboration with its suppliers. By basing the development on the principles, as well as interviews with the users, improvements were to be made on the current system. This should result in a better user experience and an optimal efficiency of the system.   The practical work was divided into two stages. The first stage involved concrete changes on the current system, where smaller adjustments were introduced that could easily be implemented on the current web portal. The second stage was about an analysis of the market's leading design solutions, which should show existing smart and up-to-date solutions that could be used to improve the system. These steps constituted the process of improvement work that was to be carried out on the web portal.   The result was a user interface that satisfies the majority of users. Through the objective design principles a user friendly system with an efficient user flow was created.

This study has been carried out as a part of the EC funded project, SMARTDOC IST-2000-28137, with the objective of developing application components that provide highly interactive visualization and collaboration functionalities. The low-level components from the graphics library AVS OpenViz 2.0 are used as the development basis. The application components can be inserted into electronic documents that allow embedded controls such as web documents or Microsoft Word or PowerPoint documents. Instead of displaying results as static images, a SMARTDOC component provides the ability to visualize data and interact with it inside the document. Although the principal goal of the SMARTDOC project is to create components in a number of different application domains this study concentrates on developing a medical imaging application component in collaboration with the project partners AETmed and professor Alan Jackson at the University of Manchester. By incorporating the application component into patient reports, the clinicians are provided the ability to interact with the 3D data that is described in the reports. To improve the usability of the component, it makes use of a visual user interface (VUI), which gives the user the ability to interact and change parameters directly in the visualization process. Collaborative work over geographical distances is an area that is becoming increasingly common and thus more interesting. As the availability of bandwidth has increased and the communication technologies have advanced, many companies express their interest for this new practical method of work. A company with offices in different countries would benefit from collaborative techniques providing closer cooperation within the company. Specialized institutions and laboratories could gather much experience and information through collaborative research. Medical imaging and visualization technique are areas where distinct disciplines such as networking, user interfaces and 3D visualization naturally can be fused together in order to develop collaborative environments. The visualization components developed within the SMARTDOC project will be the foundation for collaborative application components integrated with the Microsoft DirectX® multimedia library. In the medical imaging area, collaborative work can be used to improve diagnoses, journaling and teaching. This study focuses on developing a prototype of an interactive visualization component for 3D medical imaging and creating a collaborative environment using a multimedia library originally meant for network gaming.

Recent research in the usability engineering field tends to emphasize, somewhat neglected, the need of incorporating the joy-of-use factor (the hedonic dimension of usability) into the design of user interfaces. However such design decisions have to be applied with care and proper modesty as they may diminish the product’s overall quality of use. Notions of pleasure and joy are non-task related and partially incompatible with pragmatic usability qualities hence achieving a proper balance is essential. The thesis explores the question of how to establish a balance between pragmatic and hedonic dimensions of usability and whether it is possible to design a user interface which is both highly usable and enjoyable. In order to address these questions a case study was performed, which required further development of an existing prototype, the Zenterio Halfpipe Desktop; an innovative, patented, cross-platform user interface. To achieve high product usability, principles of Human-Computer Interaction and User-Centered Design were applied. The results of the study suggest that ensuring a high level of both aspects of usability: the pragmatic values (such as simplicity or controllability) as well as the hedonic values (such as originality or innovativeness), can result in a product which is perceived as highly usable and fun-to-use. The practical application of involving the joy-of-use factor shows a significant increase in the perceived software appeal. Finally, shortcomings and limitations of the study are discussed followed by future work proposals.

This diploma work has been done as a part of the EC funded projects, MUSIC VK1- CT-2000-00058 and SmartDoc IST-2000-28137. The objective was to create an intuitive and easy to use visualization of flood forecasting data provided in the MUSIC project. This visualization is focused on the Visual User Interface and is built on small, reusable components. The visualization, FloodViewer, is small enough to ensure the possibility of distribution via the Internet, yet capable of enabling collaboration possibilities and embedment in electronic documents of the entire visualization. Thus, FloodViewer has been developed in three versions for different purposes. Analysis and report generation (FloodViewer ) Collaborative analysis (FloodViewerNet ) Presentation and documentation (FloodViewerX).

Denna rapport är en beskrivning av ett examensarbete utfört vid SPM Instrument AB i Strängnäs. SPM Instrument utvecklar och tillverkar produkter för konditionsmätning av maskiner. Målet var att skapa en cd-presentation i redigeringsprogrammet Macromedia Flash 5.0, som på ett enkelt sätt med rörliga bilder förklarar en konditionsmätningsmetod som kallas för Stöt Puls Metoden. Uppgiften löstes genom att först inhämta information om Stöt Puls Metoden, sedan utformades Flash-filmen och slutligen testades och utvecklades filmen tills dess att jag och SPM Instrument var nöjda. / This report describes a final-year project performed at SPM Instrument AB in Strängnäs. The company develop and manufacture products for condition monitoring of machinery equipment. The goal was to create a cd-presentation in the computer software Macromedia Flash 5.0, with moving pictures which explains a condition monitoring method that is called the Shoke Pulse Method. The task was solved by first finding out information about the Shoke Pulse Method, then the Flash-movie was created and finally the movie was tested and developed until both I and SPM Instrument was satisfied.

Boverket har huvudansvar för att skapa en portal för samhällsplanering som ska kunna förse kommuner, landsting, företag och privatpersoner med olika typer av kartinformation. Denna portal kallas Planeringsportalen och som ett led i dess utveckling hölls ett designmöte i april 2007. Inför mötet gjordes en analys av diverse förebilder för att beskriva de goda designlösningar som finns i genren WebGIS, enligt förlaga från Lundberg, Holmlid och Arvolas (2007) arbete. Uppsatsen beskriver hur dessa designlösningar kan användas i designen av Planeringsportalen tillsammans med en redogörelse för hur förebilder kan bidra till en bättre designprocess. Genren representeras i arbetet av webbplatserna Eniro, Norge digitalt, RATP samt Mapquest som alla studerats enligt ett formaliserat förfarande. Analysen identifierade ett stort antal goda designlösningar varav en del ansågs passa in i Planeringsportalens designsituation.