December 20, 2007

Graduate Degrees in Human Factors

The following North American programs offer graduate training in human-computer interaction or software ergonomics.

BENTLEY COLLEGE
Waltham, Massachusetts
Design and Usability Center
Master of Science in Human Factors in Information Design

CALIFORNIA STATE UNIVERSITY, LONG BEACH
Long Beach, California
Psychology Department
Master of Arts Research: Applied Experimental/Human Factors Track

CALIFORNIA STATE UNIVERSITY, NORTHRIDGE
Northridge, California
Department of Psychology
Human Factors Graduate Program

CARLETON UNIVERSITY
Ottawa, Ontario
Department of Psychology
Graduate and Undergraduate Training in HCI

CARNEGIE MELLON UNIVERSITY
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Human Computer Interaction Institute
Masters and PhD in Human-Computer Interaction

CATHOLIC UNIVERSITY OF AMERICA
Washington, D.C.
Department of Psychology
Applied-Experimental Psychology

CLEMSON UNIVERSITY
Clemson, South Carolina
Psychology Department
Applied Psychology Human Factors

DEPAUL UNIVERSITY
Chicago Illinois
Degrees in Human Computer Interaction

EMBRY-RIDDLE AERONAUTICAL UNIVERSITY
Daytona Beach, Florida
Department of Human Factors and Systems
MS in Human Factors and Systems

FAULKNER UNIVERSITY
Mongomery, Alabama
Department of Computer Sciences
Associate’s and Bachelor’s of Science in Informatics

FLORIDA INTERNATIONAL UNIVERSITY
Miami, Florida
Industrial and Systems Engineering
Human Factors and Ergonomics Concentration

GEORGE MASON UNIVERSITY
Fairfax, Virginia
Department of Psychology
Human Factors and Applied Cognitive Program (HFAC)

GEORGIA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY
Atlanta, Georgia
Master of Science degree program in Human-Computer Interaction
PhD in Human-Centered Computing

INDIANA UNIVERSITY
Bloomington, Indiana
School of Informatics
Masters and PhD in Human-Computer Interaction Design

IOWA STATE UNIVERSITY
Ames, Iowa
Human Computer Interaction Graduate Program
Masters and PhD in Human Computer Interaction

KANSAS STATE UNIVERSITY
Manhattan, Kansas
Department of Psychology
Cognitive and Human Factors Psychology

MISSISSIPPI STATE UNIVERSITY
Mississippi State, MS
Department of Psychology
Applied Cognitive Science

NEW MEXICO STATE UNIVERSITY
Las Cruces, New Mexico
Department of Psychology
Engineering Psychology

NORTH CAROLINA STATE UNIVERSITY
Raleigh, North Carolina
Department of Psychology
Ergonomics

NORTHEASTERN UNIVERSITY
Boston, Massachusetts
Department of Mechanical, Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering
Industrial Engineering with courses in Human Factors

NORTHEASTERN UNIVERSITY
Boston, Massachusetts
Department of Mechanical, Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering
Computer Systems Engineering with courses in Human-Machine Systems

NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY
Evanston, Ilinois
School of Communication / School of Engineering and Applied Science
Technology and Social Behavior

OHIO STATE UNIVERSITY
Columbus, Ohio
Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering
Human Factors Engineering

OHIO STATE UNIVERSITY
Columbus, Ohio
Psychology Department
Cognitive/Experimental Psychology

OLD DOMINION UNIVERSITY
Norfolk, Virginia
Department of Psychology
Human Factors/Industrial/ Assessment

PENNSYLVANIA STATE UNIVERSITY
University Park, Pennsylvania
Department of Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering
Human Factors/Ergonomics Option

PURDUE UNIVERSITY
West Lafayette, Indiana
School of Industrial Engineering
Human Factors Engineering

RENSSELAER POLYTECHNIC INSTITUTE
Troy, New York
Department of Language, Literature, and Communication
M.S. in Human-Computer Interaction (HCI)

RENSSELAER POLYTECHNIC INSTITUTE
Troy, New York
Department of Psychology, Philosophy, and Cognitive Sciences
Human Factors and Engineering

RICE UNIVERSITY
Houston, Texas
Interdisciplinary Graduate Program in Human-Computer Interaction

SAN JOSE STATE UNIVERSITY
San Jose, California
College of Graduate Studies
Human Factors/Ergonomics

STATE UNIVERSITY OF NEW YORK AT BUFFALO
Buffalo, New York
Department of Industrial Engineering
Human Factors Engineering

STATE UNIVERSITY OF NEW YORK AT OSWEGO
Oswego, New York
Masters of Arts in Human Computer Interaction

TEXAS TECH UNIVERSITY
Lubbock, Texas
Department of Psychology
Human Factors and Applied Cognitive Psychology

TUFTS UNIVERSITY
Medford, Massachusetts
Department of Mechanical Engineering
AND Department of Psychology

UNIVERSITY OF CALGARY
Calgary, Alberta
Perception, Aging and Cognitive Ergonomics (PACE)

UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA BERKELEY
Berkeley, California
School of Information, Human Computer Interaction program

UNIVERSITY OF CENTRAL FLORIDA
Orlando, Florida
Department of Psychology
Human Factors Psychology

UNIVERSITY OF CENTRAL FLORIDA
Orlando, Florida
Industrial Engineering & Management Systems Department
Master of Science in Human Engineering & Ergonomics Track

UNIVERSITY OF CINCINNATI
Cincinnati, Ohio
Department of Psychology
Human Factors

UNIVERSITY OF DAYTON
Dayton, Ohio
Department of Psychology
M.A. Program in Experimental-Human Factors Psychology

UNIVERSITY OF IDAHO
Moscow, Idaho
Department of Psychology
Psychology with Human Factors Emphasis

UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS AT URBANA-CHAMPAIGN
Champaign, Illinois
Department of Psychology and Department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering
Engineering-Psychology

UNIVERSITY OF IOWA
Iowa City, Iowa
Department of Industrial Engineering
Human Factors/Ergonomics

UNIVERSITY OF LOUISVILLE
Louisville, Kentucky
Department of Industrial Engineering
Industrial Engineering with emphasis in Human Factors Engineering

UNIVERSITY OF MARYLAND
College Park, Maryland
Human-Computer Interaction Lab
Undergraduate and PhD in HCI

UNIVERSITY OF MASSACHUSETTS AT AMHERST
Amherst, Massachusetts
Departments of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering
Human Factors and Ergonomics

UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN
Ann Arbor, Michigan
The School of Information
Masters degree in Human Computer Interaction

UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA
Minneapolis, Minnesota
Graduate Studies
Interdisciplinary Graduate Minor Program in Human Factors/Ergonomics

UNIVERSITY OF MISSOURI - ROLLA
Rolla, Missouri
Information Science and Technology Department
Human-Computer Interaction Programs

UNIVERSITY OF OKLAHOMA
Norman, Oklahoma
School of Industrial Engineering
Ergonomics/Human Factors Engineering

UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH DAKOTA
Vermillion, South Dakota
Department of Psychology
Human Factors Program

UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO
Toronto, Ontario
Department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering
Human Factors Engineering

UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA
Charlottesville, Virginia
Department of Systems Engineering
Cognitive Systems Engineering

UNIVERSITY OF WATERLOO
Waterloo, Ontario
Department of Systems Design Engineering
Human Systems Engineering

UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN-MADISON
Madison, Wisconsin
Department of Industrial Engineering
Human Factors Graduate Program

VIRGINIA POLYTECHNIC INSTITUTE AND STATE UNIVERSITY
Blacksburg, Virginia
Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering
Human Factors Engineering and Ergonomics

WICHITA STATE UNIVERSITY
Wichita, Kansas
Department of Psychology
Human Factors Psychology

WRIGHT STATE UNIVERSITY
Dayton, Ohio
Department of Biomedical, Industrial & Human Factors Engineering
Human Factors Engineering

WRIGHT STATE UNIVERSITY
Dayton, Ohio
Department of Psychology
Human Factors and Industrial/Organizational Psychology

Source : Humanfactors

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November 26, 2007

Steps for WebSite Development

Web designing

Basics

Understanding design

Principles of web design

Design Process

Opinion

Business

Goal-oriented Design

Graphic Design for the Web

Graphic design basics

Page layout

Visual techniques

Case studies

Site Architecture

Usability

Copywriting

Production

HTML

CSS

JavaScript/DHTML

Source - Web Design from scratch

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October 7, 2007

O’Railly publishes book on Facebook API

The Facebook Application Platform

Facebook bet that opening its Application Platform would spur growth and build buzz, giving it an edge in the white-hot social network popularity contest. Four months and nearly 5000 applications later, it looks like that bet is paying off.

The report:

  • Sizes up the Facebook opportunity–who’s making money, and how?
  • Lays out best practices of marketing with Facebook Applications, aka Social Media Optimization (SMO)
  • Identifies the top 200 Facebook applications and plots their growth rates
  • Goes beyond Facebook, and scopes out the emerging widget economy

Content:

Index

by Tim O’Reilly and the O’Reilly Radar Team, with Niall Kennedy & Dave McClure
October 2007, Download Excerpt
$149.00, PDF + 2 updates

Source: O’reilly.com

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September 26, 2007

Create Your 1st Facebook API

From Members perspective:

  • They use them to dress up their profile pages with everything from maps showing what countries they’ve visited to outfits from a retail site to favorite YouTube videos.
  • They send virtual cocktails and gifts to each other, share reviews of favorite books and movies, and play poker together among numerous other things.

From Developers perspective:

  • Many of the developers of these applications are entrepreneurs looking to start new businesses while others are expanding existing ones.
  • The applications, which are inexpensive to create, have the potential to become a large source of revenue and customers for those companies that can successfully mine Facebook’s 30-million-strong community.
  • Companies are using a host of business models. Some, for instance, are selling advertising around the applications, while others promote their own products and services on Web pages shown to users of their applications.
  • New entrepreneurs entering the arena are bringing with them applications that are more sophisticated and can engage users more often and for longer periods of time.

These two sites serve completely different purposes:

developers.facebook.com is for news, documentation, resources and tools. It’s the official home of all Facebook development reference material, and you don’t need a Facebook account to access this site.

facebook.com/developers could be considered a “control panel” for developers. It looks a lot like a page for a Facebook group - there’s a “latest news” panel, a discussion board and a list of members - and it’s where you manage the applications that you are creating. You need a Facebook account to access this site, and you need to access this site to create Facebook applications.

http://apps.facebook.com/wikimono/page?page_gid=9 - Knowledge base API created by one of the developers.

Facebook applications don’t live on Facebook’s server. Instead, they live on their developers’ servers and are called by Facebook whenever a user enters them.

Procedure of creating an application:

To get started, following is required:

A Facebook account

  • A server running PHP 5 that can be accessed from the outside world via URLs
  • Facebook’s client library code, which you can download from the Facebook Developers Resources page.

Initial three steps are:

  • Enter the name of your application into the “Application Name” field. This will be the display name of your application.
  • Read the terms and conditions and check the checkbox to indicate that you have read and agree to the terms and conditions.
  • Click the “Optional Fields” link.


Optional Fields:

Support Email - This will be automatically filled in with the email address that you use to log into Facebook. This is also an email address that will be made available to your users for support calls.

Callback URL - the code for your Facebook app doesn’t live on Facebook’s server; it lives on your server. Fill this field with the URL for the directory in which your app will reside.Your server name - XYZ.com
Name of the directory created on server - facebook
Application name - Test-app

example of Callback URL - http://xyz.com/facebook/Test-app.

Canvas Page URL - Within Facebook’s navigation system, your app will be accessible from some subdirectory of apps.facebook.com/XXX. You need to provide a unique name for that directory.
Only letters, dashes and underscore is allowed for the directory name. No numbers allowed.
For example: http://apps.facebook.com/XXX

Use FBML Vs. Use iframe -

These are the Pros

1. For FBML pages, Facebook sometimes does not call your server and displays an error message blaming it on you. For IFRAME, if the outside Facebook page gets called, your IFRAME page will always be called. (Common issue - server timed out error)

2. Within an Iframe, developer can use any JavaScript, CSS, AJAX, and Flash you like. You can even make the Flash auto-play.

3. If you have existing code, it will be easier to go with IFRAME (although it may not match Facebook’s look & feel)

These are the cons

1. You can’t use any FBML tags. To display a thumbnail of a friend becomes much more complex (you have to get the name and image file yourself, instead of just passing in the uid in a tag). In short, development using FBML is far simpler than Iframe.

2. If your IFRAME page is longer than the browser, it will display the scrollbar in the frame. However, FBML pages place the scrollbar on the overall page, which is more intuitive for users.

3. There are many more bugs with IFRAME because less developers are using it.

4. Facebook gives you a choice for canvas pages: either FBML or IFRAME. But the profile page can only be FBML.
New window will open

5. One advantage of FBML could be that the page would load faster, the browser doesn’t need to download all the duplicate css and javascript to do collapse and auto-complete.

Application type - Website or Desktop app

IP Addresses of Servers Making Requests - Requests from IP addresses other than the ones listed in this field will be rejected.

Can your application be added on Facebook? - Application can be added to a user’s Facebook account.

Terms of Service URL - This is an URL on your server where the “Terms of Service” page for your app lives.

Developers/ Co-developers name - Logged in developers name is displayed by default. Friends can be added as co-developers.

Icon - Displayed in the left menu of Facebook if the application has been added in the user’s profile.

On click ‘Yes’, in response to ‘Can your app be added on facebook?’ two new areas appear on the screen.

Installation Options:

Installation

Post-add URL - This is the URL that the user is redirected to after installing your application. Enter your full Canvas Page URL. For example, http://apps.facebook.com/Test-app.

Application Description: You can put a brief description of your app here for the benefit of users who are considering adding it.

Post-Remove URL: This is the URL that the user is redirected to after removing your application

Default FBML: This is the default content of the application if it hasn’t been set by your app

Default Profile Box Column: This specifies which column of the page your app should live in when first added by the user.

Developer Mode: This specifies whether only developers of the application are allowed to add this app.

Integration Points:

Integration

 

Side Nav URL: This is the URL for the app if a link to it is to appear in the side navigation.

Privacy URL: This lets you specify a link for a privacy configuration page for your application.

Help URL: This lets you specify a link for a help page for your application

Private Installation: Checking this box disables News Feed and Mini-Feed installation stories for your application.

After you click the Submit button on the New Application page, My Applications page will be displayed as shown below:

Downloads: Once the application is created, developer should download platform client library.

Platform Components:

FBML V1.0 (Facebook markup language): Evolved subset of HTML with modified elements for FB API. Valid HTML elements are also predefined by FBK.

FBML tags

  • User/Groups
  • Profile Specific
  • Embedded media
  • Tools
  • Visibility on profile
  • Deprecated tags
  • Misc
  • Forums
  • Message/ Wall attachment
  • Notifications and alerts
  • Status messages
  • Editor display
  • Page navigation
  • Dialog
  • Wall
  • Dynamic FBML attributes
    1. Visibility
    2. Mock AJAX
    3. Forms
    4. Require Login
    5. FBJS
    6. FBJS DOM object

More info @ http://wiki.developers.facebook.com/index.php/FBML


FQL (Facebook Query Language): FQL is a way to query the same Facebook data you can access through the other API functions, but with a SQL-style interface.

More info @ http://developers.facebook.com/documentation.php?doc=fql
Facebook API structure/ Integration points for API:

  • Product Directory - Application name and description
  • About - Application details page
  • Left Nav - Applications can have their icon and name added to the left hand Facebook navigation. This will link to that application’s homepage.
  • Facebook Canvas Pages - Facebook Canvas pages are presented within the Facebook frame and can either be FBML or an external html site presented within an iframe. Home - An application’s homepage is accessed from the Facebook Left Nav.User Dashboard - This is where users manage their own content within an application or see information about another user’s content within that application.Settings - User settings for a particular application.
  • Profile - Members Facebook profile Profile Box - Shows most recently updated information.Profile Action Links - Quick links to added applications.
  • Privacy Settings - Member will be able to set who can see your application’s profile box from Facebook’s privacy page. Any other privacy settings you wish to incorporate should be built into your application’s privacy/settings page.
  • News Feed - Applications can access News Feed and post stories to it.
  • Alerts - Applications can send notifications to a user through email. The user of the application who triggers this action must approve of the email, and users can opt out of receiving the email for any application that has ever sent them emails.
  • Message Attachments - Members can send a message with an attachment for any one of their added applications.
  • Requests - Applications can create requests that show up at the top right of a user’s homepage. These requests are usually initiated by a user’s friend and often require the user to take some form of action.

Points of API integration to Members profile:
Just before adding any application, the following options are displayed,

Allow this application to…

  • Know who I am and access my information (Mandatory to add any application)
  • Put a box in my profile
  • Place a link in my left-hand navigation
  • Publish stories in my News Feed and Mini-Feed
  • Place a link below the profile picture on any profile

Measurement criteria for Facebook applications:

Apps


Facebook Application Directory limitations:

Registration can take anywhere from a few hours to a few days

  • The search engine doesn’t work, or seems to be refreshed only every few days (e.g., your newest application might not be fetched by the search engine even though it is already in the directory)
  • The “Recently popular” applications, which is the default tab any user sees first, are chosen following a popularity algorithm that is not fully published yet.
  • ‘Daily active users’ is actually the no. of unique visitors from the previous day.
  • Check the Top 100 apps on Appsaholic

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September 1, 2007

GUI Widgets

In computer programming, a widget (or control) is an interface element that a computer user interacts with, such as a window or a text box. Widgets are often packaged together in widget toolkits. Programmers use widgets to build graphical user interfaces (GUIs).

Various widgets

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August 30, 2007

Apple Human Interface Guidelines

Index of Apple Human Interface Guidelines

Human Interface Design Principles

Keep Your Users in Mind

Extending the Interface

Source:

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August 22, 2007

Don’t Make Me Think!

A Common Sense Approach to Web Usability

If you’ve ever sat through one of those stomach-turning meetings in which the Web team is arguing for the umpteenth time whether or not to use a drop-down menu, Steve Krug has got a way to help you settle the debate. This book provides an introductory overview of why Web usability is important, explores principles for assessing a site’s usability yourself, and explains how to start actually testing users without breaking the bank.

The author is a usability consultant with over 10 years experience and an impressive history with companies ranging from Apple to AOL. The book is easily digestible, and I found myself chuckling at his offbeat sense of humor. It’s also highly practical and includes well-illustrated examples and specific techniques that you can start using right away.

As an information architect, I found this book valuable because it distills and collects much of the best current thinking on Web usability in one place. Seasoned Web design professionals may not find much in this book that they don’t already know, but may want to buy copies for their bosses. Krug tends to demystify issues that other writers make sound like doctoral theses. One substantial chunk of the book describes his guiding principles for assessing Web usability. As you might guess, his central message is that navigation systems, main pages, labels, buttons, etc. can either make using a site obvious or they can discourage users by making them think too much. Along the way, Krug covers a spectrum of topics that range from information architecture to visual design. He includes analysis of various design conventions, such as tabs, as well as his heuristics for evaluating pages. For example, he provides a series of stress test questions to use to evaluate your site’s navigation system (p. 87).

It is refreshing that although Krug offers many strong opinions, he exhorts his readers to think for themselves. Unlike some usability gurus, he leaves room for exceptions to his pronouncements and encourages people to learn methods for making their own judgments.

According to Krug, just about anyone can conduct a user test. The last third of the book provides a succinct introduction to testing, including sample questions to ask users. He even includes a transcript from a session he conducted. His approach to testing is very informal and centers on questions to determine if users “get it” and if they can perform key tasks. Instead of doing one final expensive scientific test, he strongly suggests conducting many simple affordable tests from beginning to end.

Some of his pronouncements, such as “the importance of recruiting representative users is overrated,” may make some professionals cringe. Krug is more than willing to bend and break the traditional rules of user testing to make sure that people actually do it without fear of the time and cost. He contends that the value of testing is not collecting quantitative data, but rather gathering qualitative information for making better design decisions.

For the past year I’ve been incorporating informal user research into my information architecture methodology, and sometimes it’s a challenge to get clients to understand its value. It is great to have a resource to recommend to clients that explains why these methods are valuable even though they aren’t quantitative and statistical. I really appreciate this book for justifying informal qualitative testing and giving me new ideas about how to include it in my work.


By Steve Krug

Buy This Book

Quotes from the Text

On designing for the way users really use the Web (p. 29):
“If your audience is going to act like you’re designing billboards, then design great billboards.”

On writing for the web (p. 47):
“Your objective should always be to eliminate instructions entirely by making everything self-explanatory, or as close to it as possible. When instructions are absolutely necessary, cut them back to the bare minimum.”

On low level navigation (p. 71):
“…Users usually end up spending as much time on lower-level pages as they do at the top. And unless you’ve worked out top-to-bottom navigation from the beginning, it’s very hard to graft it on later and come up with something consistent.”

On the need for user testing (p. 137):
“Where debates about what people like waste time and drain the team’s energy, testing tends to defuse arguments and break impasses by moving the discussion away from the realm of what’s right or wrong and into the realm of what works or doesn’t work.”

On “lost our lease, going-out-of-business-sale usability testing” (p. 144):
“The idea of discount usability testing was a huge step forward. The only problem is that a decade later most people still perceive testing as a big deal… [You can] do your own testing when you have no money and no time.”

On designing home pages (p. 101):
“As quickly and clearly as possible, the Home page needs to answer the four questions I have in my head when I enter a new site for the first time:

* What is this?
* What do they have here?
* What can I do here?
* Why should I be here - and not somewhere else?”

Source: Argus Center for IA

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