Software Design and New Media Design
This paper discusses ETAG, a formal model for design representation, and ETAG-based design as a method for user interface design. The paper starts with an introduction of ETAG as a design representation. This is followed by a description of ETAG-based des
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Abstract. This paper discusses ETAG, a formal model for design representation, and ETAG-based design as a method for user interface design. The paper starts with an introduction of ETAG as a design representation. This is followed by a description of ETAG-based design and using the notation to represent relevant aspects of the work context. Next, we discuss the differences between computer software design and media product design, concluding that media design is a much more flexible, iterative process and prototyping-based process in which adaptation of the design of mobile applications extends into the maintenance phase. To cover further developments towards focusing on user needs and wishes by means of co-design practices, and to cover for ubiquitous computing and interaction with sensors and interactive environments, we propose to use sensory labs and to create living labs to move the usability lab into the real world. Keywords: Formal modelling Design tools Design methods
ETAG
Software design
Media design
1 Introduction In this paper we compare a formal design method for user interface design specification (ETAG; Extended Task-Action Grammar; [6, 15]) with examples of the collection of tools that are actually taught at a Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) educational curriculum in Media Technology at the bachelor level. The aim is to investigate the need for formal specification methods for user interface design; in particular to investigate the usefulness of formal modelling tools for modern cf. mobile and ubiquitous applications. Formal methods for user interface design, such as ETAG, were developed in the late eighties when the focus was on structured design methods and design for usability. Presently, as reflected in the Media Technology curriculum, the focus in teaching engineers is on designing creative applications of mobile and ubiquitous technology and services [7]. In this paper, Sect. 2 discusses Extended Task-Action Grammar (ETAG) as an example of a formal modelling approach to user interface design. As a formal A. Ebert et al. (Eds.): HCIV Workshops 2011, LNCS 8345, pp. 175–187, 2014. DOI: 10.1007/978-3-642-54894-9_13, IFIP International Federation for Information Processing 2014
176
G. de Haan
modelling tool, ETAG is a fairly advanced and refined method, based on specifying what a perfectly knowing user would know about a user interface to perform tasks with it. Section 3 discussed ETAG-based design as a design approach which uses ETAG as its main vehicle for specifying a user interface. A main element in ETAG-based design is the formal specification of task- and user interface objects, elements and commands and command-actions with a fairly restricted application of prototyping and testing. In Sect. 4, the paper discusses the general approach to design as taught in a contemporary Human-Computer Interaction curriculum. Among the main characteristics of the Media Technology curriculum are the focus on creativity, user-centredness and the user-experience, and in the application
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