Re: Automated Vending/Ticket Machines

Subject: Re: Automated Vending/Ticket Machines
From: "Chuck Martin" <cm -at- writeforyou -dot- com>
To: "TECHWR-L" <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com>
Date: Mon, 8 Dec 2003 10:12:42 -0800


Read Alan Cooper's "The Inmates are Running the Asylum." (Then give it to
your project manager to read after you're finished." There's a great case
study about how his team redesigned the interface of a touch screen
in-flight entertainment system, a system that originally caused so many
passengers to ring flight attendants for assistance that the flight
attendants began deliberately diabling the system before takoff, than
announcing that the system was not working.

Big ol' bottom line: do not, under any circumstances, let programmers push
any facet of the system model to be user facing.

If you're "testing, testing, testing," then you're probably already going
down the wrong path, because too much time has probably already been
invested in coding, time that will appear to bean counters as being wasted
if the work is tossed. Before even one line of code is written, develop a
couple of good personas, then make design decisions based on how well the
personas would manage. Then prototype--preferably without coding--and test.


--
--
Chuck Martin
User Assistance & Experience Engineer
twriter "at" sonic "dot" net www.writeforyou.com

"I see in your eyes the same fear that would take the heart of me. The day
may come when the courage of Men fail, when we forsake our friends and break
all bonds of fellowship. But it is not this day! This day, we fight!"
- Aragorn

"All you have to decide is what to do with the time that is given you."
- Gandalf

"Denise Cusano" <denisecusano -at- usa -dot- net> wrote in message
news:221904 -at- techwr-l -dot- -dot- -dot-

Greetings Whirlers,

I am helping a colleague gather some information. She is working on a
project
for a transit agency. They are putting in automated
ticket vending machines with a CRT touch screen user interface, and she
wants
to help them develop a good script for the screens.

Does anyone know of any good studies or "best practices" reviews about
developing friendly, usable screen prompt sequences for people using
automated vending machines (or any step by step thing, like on the web,
where it branches based on customer choices)?

I've searched the archives, but only came up with a thread on basic
terminology.




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