William H. Bowers – Specification Techniques Torres 17

William H. Bowers – Topics Needs and Challenges Needs and Challenges Specification Approaches Specification Approaches Minimalist Specifications Minimalist Specifications Levels of Specification Levels of Specification Outline Outline

William H. Bowers – Needs and Challenges Many design decisions required Many design decisions required Potentially 24 aspects of one label/text box pair Potentially 24 aspects of one label/text box pair –Label capitalization, punctuation –Placement on screen –Space between label and text box –Data type, format, size, range, default

William H. Bowers – Text/Label Pair Aspects Input mask Input mask Tab order Tab order Appearance (font, style, size, color, etc) Appearance (font, style, size, color, etc) Enabling/disabling Enabling/disabling Validation Validation

William H. Bowers – Specification Approaches Specification is not implementation Specification is not implementation Specifications can be: Specifications can be: –Large –Complex –Imprecise

William H. Bowers – Minimalist Specifications Focus on immediately required information Focus on immediately required information Brief, straightforward, to the point Brief, straightforward, to the point Task related Task related –Default and dynamic appearance –Independent behavior –User interaction requirements –System interaction –UI results

William H. Bowers – Minimalist Specifications Support for error recognition and recovery Support for error recognition and recovery Focus on avoiding common errors Focus on avoiding common errors Document errors found Document errors found 2-3 pages of specification per screen 2-3 pages of specification per screen Use prototypes and graphics as appropriate Use prototypes and graphics as appropriate

William H. Bowers – Levels of Specification Conceptual Conceptual –Big picture –Architectural view –Executive summary –10 – 12 pages of text and graphics

William H. Bowers – Levels of Specification High-Level High-Level –UI structure –Major screens –Screen behavior

William H. Bowers – Levels of Specification Detailed Detailed –Infrequently used screens –Access keys –Detailed field definitions –Specific messages

William H. Bowers – Levels of Specification Implementation Implementation –Lowest level of specification –Describes how to implement UI –Instructions for programmers

William H. Bowers – Outline Introduction Introduction –High level view –Goals –Users –Tasks –Provides starting point

William H. Bowers – Outline UI Objectives UI Objectives –Criteria –Major usability factors User Description User Description –High level description of intended users –User’s existing UI and domain knowledge Common tasks Common tasks

William H. Bowers – Outline Basic UI features Basic UI features –State access features –State access techniques not used Application UI style Application UI style –Decisions related to consistency of style –Windowing –Toolbars

William H. Bowers – Outline Unique or specialized controls Unique or specialized controls Intended user’s model Intended user’s model Functional overview Functional overview Installation and setup Installation and setup Use scenario Use scenario Desktop behavior Desktop behavior

William H. Bowers – Outline UI flow and structure UI flow and structure Icons used Icons used Pop-up menus Pop-up menus Toolbars and their buttons Toolbars and their buttons Menu bar and pull-downs Menu bar and pull-downs Shortcut keys Shortcut keys

William H. Bowers – Outline Object, action and class definitions Object, action and class definitions Command dialogs Command dialogs Print formats Print formats Status messages Status messages User feedback User feedback Known issues/problems Known issues/problems

William H. Bowers – Questions & Discussion