Synopsis
"Can findings from cognitive science enhance the user-computer interaction process?" This book seeks to answer that question, recognizing that user-computer interfaces (UCIs) are often essential parts of an information or decision support system - and often critical components of software-intensive systems of all kinds. From the outset, the authors note that the design, prototyping and evaluation of user-computer interfaces are part of larger systems and are therefore ideally designed, developed and evaluated as part of a larger design and developmental process or "life cycle". The book describes the process by which functional, nonfunctional or display-oriented requirements are converted first into prototypes and then into working systems. It argues that there is a methodology that drives the process which is defined in terms of an adaptive life cycle. There are a number of steps or phrases that comprise the standard life cycle, as well as methods, tools and techniques that permit each step to be taken.
Describing the effort to implement this process to enhance user-computer interaction, this book presents a methodological approach that seeks to identify and apply findings from cognitive science to the design, prototyping and evaluation of user-computer interfaces.
