Designing and Engineering Time or Find Gold in Windows Vista

Designing and Engineering Time: The Psychology of Time Perception in Software

Author: Steven C Seow

Build Applications, Websites, and Software Solutions that Feel Faster, More Efficient, and More Considerate of Users’ Time!

One hidden factor powerfully influences the way users react to your software, hardware, User Interfaces (UI), or web applications: how those systems utilize users’ time. Now, drawing on the nearly 40 years of human computer interaction research –including his own pioneering work –Dr. Steven Seow presents state-of-the-art best practices for reflecting users’ subjective perceptions of time in your applications and hardware.

Seow begins by introducing a simple model that explains how users perceive and expend time as they interact with technology. He offers specific guidance and recommendations related to several key aspects of time and timing–including user tolerance, system responsiveness, progress indicators, completion time estimates, and more. Finally, he brings together proven techniques for impacting users' perception of time drawn from multiple disciplines and industries, ranging from psychology to retail, animal research to entertainment.

·   Discover how time and timing powerfully impact user perception, emotions, and behavior

·   Systematically make your applications more considerate of users’ time

·   Avoid common mistakes that consistently frustrate or infuriate users

·   Manage user perceptions and tolerance, and build systems that are perceived as faster

·   Optimize “flow” to make users feel more productive, empowered, and creative

·   Make reasonable and informed tradeoffs thatmaximize limited development resources

·   Learn how to test usability issues related to time -- including actual vs. perceived task duration

Designing and Engineering Time is for every technology developer, designer, engineer, architect, usability specialist, manager, and marketer. Using its insights and techniques, technical and non-technical professionals can work together to build systems and applications that provide far more value –and create much happier users.

Table of Contents:

Preface

1 Designing and Engineering Time

2 Perception and Tolerance

3 User and System Response Times

4 Responsiveness

5 Detecting Timing Differences

6 Progress Indication

7 Expressing Time

8 User Flow

9 Testing Time

10 Techniques

11 Violations

Go to: Cocina Vegetariana Saludable or Everyone Can Cook Appetizers

Find Gold in Windows Vista

Author: Dan Gookin

Windows Vista represents a major improvement to Windows--one that's been long in coming. Because of that, many readers will be experienced Windows users who have grown accustomed to doing things a certain way. The new version of Windows will present a challenge to them. This book is for that reader.

Getting up to speed on a new version of Windows is a frustrating game called "Where have they buried the bodies?" People know what they want to do; they just don't know the new places to find what they need and the new steps involved to accomplish the task. Find Gold in Windows Vista shows readers the new places and the new steps in the new Windows. This book is different because computer users who already know Windows but are merely concerned with finding where the bodies are buried can use it to find quickly the exact information they need.

While experienced readers can enjoy this book's topical and to-the-point approach, beginners and those intimidated by computers will enjoy the tutorial aspect. This is the "Ask Dan" flavor of the book, where Dan explains in his usual, avuncular style how to do things for folks who are intimidated or perhaps just don't know a better way to get things done.