This chapter looks at the general user interface issues which should be considered when planning the development of an information gateway or when looking at the modification of an existing gateway. Many of the issues discussed apply to all online services and Web sites, so they can be re-used outside the information gateway arena.

The importance of good user interface design:

• information gateways need to be usable
• the user interface to an information gateway is the design employed in the Web pages of the gateway
• good Web page design can significantly increase the ease with which users can complete tasks, i.e. it increases usability
• users who can't complete tasks are frustrated users; frustrated users don't come back
• users who complete tasks are happy users; happy users come back to a Web site and often tell their friends and colleagues about a great site/information gateway

Gateways in context

Information gateways are really just value-added Web sites. This statement is not meant to belittle the importance of information gateways (far from it!); rather it is meant to highlight the fact that they have many similarities with Web sites in general. For all that is said about the Web being an interactive medium and an empowering tool from the user's perspective, there is one small point often overlooked. This is that the only way a user can interact with even the most advanced Web site is via the user interface. The user interface is simply what the user sees on the screen through their browser. If what they see is hard to understand or difficult to use, then the vast majority of users will never make it to the real content or value-added features of the Web site. It doesn't matter how good the information on your Web site is - if the user can't access the information, they will go elsewhere.

Frustrated users

How many times have you visited 'great looking' Web sites and found them difficult to use, often so difficult that you have given up and gone elsewhere?

Poor user interface design can hide even the most powerful and useful Web sites from all but the most advanced and patient users. Web site developers (including information gateway developers) have to consider seriously the issues of user interface implementation. A poor user interface will mean low usage of the site and its ultimate failure. The failure of Web sites is often due to their designers' not considering their users and designing with the assumption of too much technical knowledge.

It should always be remembered that, by being in the position of developing or even just considering the development of an information gateway, you are probably in the category of an advanced user. You may not be as advanced as the system administrator or 'techie' in your organisation, but compared to the average man in the street you are an expert! Never overestimate the skills of your users, unless you have direct evidence on which to base your judgements.

Definitions:

• user interface: the means of communication between a human user and a computer system (in this case a Web site). A wider definition could be the means of interaction between a human being and any object
• usability: the degree of ease with which human beings can interact with an object, in particular a computer system
• accessibility: the characteristics of Web content and whether or not it is accessible to people with disabilities

The science of user interface design, usability and accessibility has its origins in software development and general engineering. Many of the things we take for granted have been through a lengthy process of user interface design and development. Generally we don't notice interface design unless there is a problem, resulting either from poor design or from our attempting to use an object for something other than the purpose for which it was designed.

As mentioned above, most manufactured objects have some degree of user interface evolution and redesign involved in their development. Many household objects have been around for many years and so have the benefit of gradual development (scissors have been with us for hundreds of years). Unfortunately software design and development has been around for a much shorter period of time, and Web site design even less. The end result is that the usability of computer systems and Web sites is not completely understood or, in some cases, even recognised.

However, in order to develop successful information gateways you must consider the user interface design carefully and thoroughly. Without sufficient effort being put into this area you may be set for failure from the outset.

Useful resources The following resources are extremely good and highly recommended as excellent introductions and background information on usability and user interface design (even if they do come from a single source): Differences between print design and Web design How users read on the Web Be succinct! (writing for the Web) The top ten new mistakes of Web site design

So what issues do I need to consider in order to develop a successful user interface?

It may sound obvious, but you can't really start thinking about the design of a user interface until your users have been identified and characterised. User identification is important in other aspects of the development of an information gateway (scope policy, gateway aims and objectives, planning an information gateway project), so that the question of who the target users are should have already been considered.

Different groups of users will vary in their characteristics. Wherever possible, you should try and include as large a range of users as you can, but think carefully about designing for everyone. If your target users have slightly different characteristics from the general public, then you have to prioritise which characteristics you wish to address.

When you are identifying your users, a minimum set of characteristics to consider might be:

• location of users (organisational and geographical)
• subject knowledge (educational level)
• IT literacy/technological experience (do not overestimate)
• access to technology and network connectivity
• physical attributes (colour blindness, age, disabilities)

Some of these characteristics can be obtained from correlation with general population characteristics, while others must be uniquely researched.

Once you have identified who your target users are, you may wish to consider having some degree of user consultation. Ideally, this would have been a part of the general development of the information gateway project/idea. The value of user consultation should not be underestimated. A few relatively simple techniques of user consultation can produce extremely powerful data which can influence the development of a user interface.

In the past, user consultation was often not considered, as it was thought to be time-consuming, difficult and contrary to the prevailing culture of 'we know best'. All these issues can be addressed by adopting a number of techniques that are simple to implement, low cost and able to provide convincing evidence of the power of user consultation.

Questionnaires and surveys

The development and implementation of a simple questionnaire and survey of potential users can also produce important information. Selecting the people to be surveyed is important (so as not to build any bias into data collected), as is the careful wording and development of the questions that are being asked. Again, you would be well advised to consult some of the leading literature or any in-house experts.

Useful resources The following resource is an excellent starting place for further information on conducting questionnaires and surveys: Questionnaire Design, Interviewing and Attitude Measurement. A.N. Oppenheim. 1992

A questionnaire is a good method of sorting and selecting the attendees for the next area of user consultation, focus groups.

Focus groups

The focus group is a simple concept, although easy to implement wrongly. The basic idea is to get some target users in a room, ask them questions about the proposed information gateway and collect their feedback on your questions and ideas. Suggestions and problems can often come to light from a simple focus group discussion. Participants can highlight areas that have never been considered by people too closely involved in the project.

Focus groups do need to be run with care, as they can often produce misleading information and are easy to run badly (for example, it is very easy for the person running the focus group to lead the answers as well as the questions!). The science of focus groups has its own extensive literature and it would be worth consulting one or two of the leading publications in this area.

Useful resources The following resources are excellent starting places for further information on running focus groups: The Focus Group: A Strategic Guide to Organising, Conducting and Analysing the Focus Group Interview. Jane Farley Templeton. 1994 Focus Groups : A Practical Guide for Applied Research. Richard A. Krueger. 1994 Focus Groups: A Step-By-Step Guide. Gloria E Bader, Catherine A. Rossi. 1998 User consultation warning Although user consultation is an essential part of any detailed user interface implementation project, it must be treated with some caution; there can sometimes be a marked difference between what users say they want and what users actually use. This is particularly true when complex features have been developed and implemented; user tracking and logging may show that very few people use the features. Some of the lack of use may be due to usability problems and some may be because users just do not want to use complex features. User consultation should ideally go hand in hand with user tracking and logging of behaviour. Much user behaviour tends to be common across the board and it would be extremely useful if the information gateway community actively shared such information.

The outcome of any user consultation and/or user identification should be an understanding of the needs and requirements of the user community and an idea of what kind of tasks the average user is going to want to be able to perform. The ultimate aim of any user consultation should be to inform the gateway developers about the users' needs. Do the characteristics of the user community mean that they have any unique needs? For example, are they all on very slow network connections and only using text browsers, or are they all based in Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) and therefore have access to fast network connections?

The development of a description of and set of characteristics for a typical user will help to determine a set of user needs. This in turn will provide evidence to feed into a user interface requirements specification.

Information on task analysis can also be obtained from user consultation; getting participants in a focus group to discuss the kinds of tasks they might like to perform while using a gateway may help to decide the level of priority tasks should be given within the overall user interface design. Are the users' requirements, as described by the users, the same as those determined by the gateway developers? They should be similar but it is unlikely that they are the same.

R E M E M B E R Existing gateways: user consultation? If your gateway is already up and running, then user needs analysis and task analysis can significantly help you to improve the user interface design. User consultation and usage log analysis can help to refine an existing gateway, the better to meet user needs and expectations. Are users still using the gateway in the way originally envisaged? Asking them may reveal this, and looking at logs of how they use the current site can provide even more information. If your gateway offers browsing and searching, which one is being most heavily used? If there are significant patterns emerging from any data that you analyse, is a revised user interface called for?

Usability and accessibility often go hand in hand; if a Web site is difficult to use then it may become inaccessible, as users cannot get to the information that they want. Making something more accessible often makes it more usable for all users. Designing for maximum accessibility helps designers to focus on users and content rather than on 'flashy' design issues.

But accessibility also needs to be considered with regard to people with disabilities and giving equality of access to a Web site or information gateway. By making sure that a Web site is accessible to as wide an audience as possible you also necessarily increase the usability of the site. Catering for disabled accessibility may be something that a gateway would like to do or something that it is legally required to do (Hotwired 'Sites Must Retool for Disabled'). In either case the issues need to be looked at and carefully considered. More detailed information on accessibility is contained in the Usability and Accessibility chapter.

Accessibility and usability

Web design is a science in itself and there are countless books and online resources that offer extensive advice in this area. A few key issues should be considered when designing:

• always design for your users and not the person running/funding the project
• be aware of and implement some degree of usability and accessibility standards
• avoid proprietary technologies, unless a significant proportion of your user community demand them
• try to use innovative and exciting Web design but don't overdo things

Before any implementation of a user interface begins, a detailed user interface requirements specification should be developed. The document should state the characteristics of the target users and for which tasks they are going to use the information gateway. There should also be a list of user interface priorities, with clear indications as to what is an essential requirement and what is desirable. Without such a prioritised list, it is difficult to decide where staff effort should be spent in user interface development. Unless there is an order of priority, if only some things are implemented, there will be no guarantee that they will be important in terms of usability and accessibility.

A good example of a well structured and well planned requirements specification is the W3C Web Accessibility Initiative Standard (WAI) and in particular the List of Checkpoints for Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 1.0.

The document is useful in that it provides an excellent example of how to present a requirements specification document in an easy to understand and usable format. Additionally, it presents the definitive set of guidelines on how to implement a Web site of any description which has accessibility at its core. The document should be consulted by developers of all information gateways, current and planned.

Accessibility - the characteristics of Web content and whether or not it is accessible to people with disabilities
Guerrilla HCI - Term coined by Jacob Nielsen to describe the rationale behind discount usability engineering and how to put it into practice. Further information can be found at http://www.useit.com/papers/guerrilla_hci.html
HCI - Human Computer Interaction
HEI - Higher Education Institution
Heuristic evaluation - Heuristic evaluation is a discount usability engineering method for quick, cheap and easy evaluation of a user interface design. Further information is available at http://www.useit.com/papers/heuristic/
Usability - the degree of ease with which human beings can interact with an object, in particular a computer system
WAI - Web Accessibility Initiative Standard

Biz/ed,
http://www.bized.ac.uk/

G. E. Bader & C. A. Rossi, Focus Groups: A Step-By-Step Guide (1998).

R. A. Krueger, Focus Groups : A Practical Guide for Applied Research (1994).

J. Nielsen, Cost of user testing a Website
http://www.useit.com/alertbox/980503.html

J. Nielsen,Guerrilla HCI
http://www.useit.com/papers/guerrilla_hci.html

J. Nielsen,Differences between print design and Web design
http://www.useit.com/alertbox/990124.html

J. Nielsen,How users read on the Web
http://www.useit.com/alertbox/9710a.html

J. Nielsen,Be succinct! (writing for the Web)
http://www.useit.com/alertbox/9703b.html

J. Nielsen,The top ten new mistakes of Web site design
http://www.useit.com/alertbox/990530.html

A.N. Oppenheim, Questionnaire Design, Interviewing and Attitude Measurement (1992).

J. F. Templeton, The Focus Group: A Strategic Guide to Organising, Conducting and Analysing the Focus Group Interview (1994).

W3C, List of Checkpoints for Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 1.0
http://www.w3.org/TR/WAI-WEBCONTENT/checkpoint-list.html

W3C, Web Accessibility Initiative Standard (WAI)
http://www.w3.org/TR/WAI-WEBCONTENT/

Chapter author: Martin Belcher, Phil Cross

With contributions from: Jan Chipchase