|
Texts:
Texts have so quickly
gotten so expensive. We do rely on the Kostelnick book for
assignments. We need to know something about usability testing, but
there are no assignments that require you to have the Barnum text. |
|
1. |
Charles
Kostelnick & David D. Roberts. Designing Visual
Language: Strategies for Professional Communicators.
Allyn
& Bacon. isbn 0-205-20022-2.
Amazon
(list $72.58, used $31). Required. |
|
2. |
Carol
M. Barnum. Usability Testing & Research.
Allyn
& Bacon.
isbn
0-205-31519-4.
Amazon
(list $59.27, used $50).
Recommended,
not required. |
|
3. |
Robin
Williams. The Non-Designer's Design Book.
Peachpit
Press. isbn 1-56609-159-4.
Amazon
(list $15, Amazon $10.47, used $9).
Recommended,
not required. |
 |
 |
|
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You may have these
texts sent to you from the NAU Bookstore. See:
Statewide
Orders at the NAU Bookstore. |
|
Recommended:
This is a simple
book marketed for a commercial rather than academic market. Students who
have never before thought about document design, printing, and font
choices often report that they find this 144 page book very helpful.
The 2nd edition can
be bought used through
Amazon for $12. |
 |
Publisher's site for
Carol Barnum's
Usability Testing.
The
Books:
Kostelnick: This text is most concerned with designing print documents. Many
of the principles are applicable to Web design, but Kosterlnick is only
secondarily interested in Web documents. One of the reasons for this is
that Kostelnick's book is not a "how to do it" manual.
Kosterlnick's assumption (& that of most academic texts in the field of
technical writing) is that if you
know document design theory, you can learn how to use PageMaker or FrameMaker
or another desktop publishing program, either in a commercial training class or at a
worksite that uses one of these programs.
There are 10
chapters (455 pp.). We will study through a chapter for
each of the 10 lessons that comprise the course. There will be multiple choice quizzes on
the chapter for each lesson. You will also do some of the
exercises defined in the text.
Barnum: This book does what Kostelnick's book avoids. Even
though it is an academic book, Barnum goes about half-way in specifying "how
to do it," i.e., how to construct usability tests for e-commerce Web sites. This would obviously be useful if our class focused solely on usability
testing. Instead, usability testing is a secondary interest for us.
Barnum's book is sometimes more detailed than we need. We will not do
formal usability tests of any Websites.
Usability testing is a recent technique that arose from Website
design for e-commerce. Barnum's concern is almost exclusively with the
Web rather than print documents. Our first concern in this course is
defined by the Kosterlnick text -- designing print documents. We will
use Barnum's book to support & augment that emphasis.
Williams: This is a simple & popular book. Williams was
thinking about print documents when she wrote her book, but her principles are
also useful for Web design.
What we do in the
course
Course Lessons:
each lesson parallels chapters in the 2 major texts. So, unit 1
treats chapter 1 in Kostelnick & chapter 1 in Barnum.
|
Unit |
Activities |
|
01 |
Kostelnick: the rhetorical situation
Barnum: what is usability testing? |
|
02 |
K: Perception &
Design
B: Feedback about product usability
Williams: Design principles for printed documents |
|
03 |
K: Visual Analysis
B: User &
task analysis
Williams: Designing with type |
|
04 |
K: Linear Components (text,
space, graphics)
B: Iterative testing for user-centered design |
|
05 |
K: Text fields ("boxes," tables, text "chunks")
B: Planning for usability testing |
|
06 |
K: Nonlinear components (tables)
B: Preparing for usability testing |
|
07 |
K: Data Displays (bar charts, graphs)
B: Conducting the usability test |
|
08 |
K: Pictures
B: Analyzing &
reporting results |
|
09 |
K: Icos, logos, symbols
B: Web usability |
|
10 |
K: Supra-level elements (binding, physical appearance)
B: Making it work as a team |
Computer
skills: Several
assignments require you to use an HTML editor to create files with
integrated visuals. Blackboard Vista
offers its own internal HTML editor. But, every so often a misguided student wanders into the course to become
incensed that an English class might require computer skills. If you don't enjoy
working on a computer ... you might think again about prof. & tech writing. I spend every day in front of a
monitor.
Grades:
A: 90%
B: 80%
C: 65%
Assignments: Each unit has several components.
Here are the assignments for unit 06:
- Read Kostelnick &
Roberts, Nonlinear Components, ch. 6: pp. 218-59.
- Read the associated
Webpage, kostelnick 06 from the
Table of Contents page (Course Lessons).
- Do these exercises in
Kostelnick:
- p. 255, #3. Send it as email
(20
points total).
- p. 257, #3. Save as an htm
file & upload using the presentation tool (35
points total).
- Do quiz 06,
accessible using the Evaluation tool from the course homepage (10
points).
- Read Barnum, ch. 6, pp.
188-229.
- Read the associated
Webpage on Barnum from the Course Lessons page.
- In Barnum, p. 137, #4. (15
points). Present your short test & results in the discussion for this
unit.
There are
80 points available in
unit 06:
|
Submission Deadlines:
A day or two late is acceptable
with no explanation required.
Watch the calendar. I will not accept material from lessons two units
prior to the one we are studying. If the calendar says we are working on
unit 5, I will accept late work from units 4 and 3, but not earlier. The
grade for work submitted a week late is reduced by 10%; two weeks late
by 20%. Work submitted more than
two weeks late is not accepted.
Please follow the calendar. Discussion are only meaningful when we are
involved in the activity being discussed.
