UI Design Literature Study

Usability Basics for Software Developers Read this paper for a concise but good introduction to usability engineering, including how to perform usability engineering and why it's necessary. This paper breaks down the usability process into three phases: usability analysis, usability design, prototyping, and usability evaluation. Usability analysis includes user analysis (user visits, focus groups, surveys, user feedback studies), task analysis (creating use cases), and usability benchmarks (e.g. quantifying how long it takes a user to perform a task). Prototyping can include paper mock-ups, "Wizard of Oz" studies, scenarios, storyboards, and snapshots. Usability evaluation is user testing, including think-aloud studies, heuristic evaluation, and collaborative usability inspection.

Interaction Techniques for Navigation through and Manipulation of 2D and 3D Data This paper provides an overview of different techniques for manipulating 2D and 3D data. Note that most 3D techniques currently being researched involve non-standard desktop environments, such as props or alternate hardware input or output devices. Sandia analysts tend to prefer working on standard desktops with standard input and output devices (i.e. monitor, keyboard, and mouse). This paper introduced five design guidelines for interaction devices: preference of two-handed interactions, visual feedback, coinciding of action and perception space, minimal use of intrusive devices, and preference of wireless props. The most relevant guideline is the minimal use of intrusive devices (e.g. head-mounted displays). For ParaQ interface design research, we should largely concentrate on standard input and output devices.