KEY: A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
Select a link in the above key to jump to the alphabetical listing.
aesthetic integrity
A principle that advocates that a design should be visually appealing and should follow common principles of visual design: consistency, a clear identity, a clear visual hierarchy, good alignment, contrast, and proportions, etc. Note that aesthetic integrity is not merely 'attractiveness'. It implies a visual design that is coherent and well-structured.
brand identity
The aspect of a design that establishes a unique look and feel distinct from competing products but consistent within the product and its product line.
design
Often, design is defined only as visual problem solving or communication because of the predominance of graphic designers. At a higher level, design is the field of problem-solving based on understanding user needs to create successful solutions to real problems (within the context of business, economic, environmental, and social requirements).
DHTML
Dynamic HTML: mark-up code that utilizes client-side scripting, such as Javascript to manipulate a web page after it has been loaded by a web browser. Without such code, web pages are static, and cannot be changed after they are loaded by the user. Note: With the advent of other client-side and server side technologies, other methods are now more favoured in web development.
documentation
Manuals, help systems, and other materials used to introduce and explain a system to users. Manuals and help systems typically guide users through step-by-step instructions on specific tasks). A common approach, called 'minimalist documentation', emphasizes the need for direct, concise, and simple language, and careful focus on the most important information to help users in their tasks.
experience design
An approach to creating successful experiences for people in any medium. This approach includes consideration of customer value, personal meaning, and emotional context. Designed experiences can be in any medium, including web pages, print products, hard products, services, spatial/environmental installations, broadcast images and sounds, live performances and events, digital and online media, etc.
‘form follows function’
A design aesthetic that encourages design to be grounded on the functional, useful forms inherent in the application. This avoids gratuitous decoration but elevates the task and the meaning of the object as the principle aesthetic.
front end
The user interface portion of a piece of software; the portion of the software that faces the user; opposite of back end, the underlying functionality of the application.
graphic design
An older term for the field of Visual Design. This term refers specifically to the use of graphic media (such as color, symbol, and type) to communicate a style or expression. In practice, however, Visual Design is a better term since most Graphic Designers are skilled in more than this narrow scope of visuals and graphic elements are only a subset of the possible visual components applicable to visual expression.
HTML
Hypertext Mark-up Language (HTML) is a document mark-up language that defines a set of elements (generally called tags)that describe the layout of content for presentation by Web browsers. A subset of the Standard Generalized Mark-up Language (SGML).
HTTP
Hypertext Transfer Protocol: the set of rules for exchanging files(text, graphic images, sound, video, and other multimedia files) on the World Wide Web. Web browsers and other user agents utilize this protocol most frequently.
human factors
The field that studies the role of humans in human-machine systems and how systems can be designed to work well with people, particularly with regard to safety and efficiency.
human-computer interaction
A diverse scientific and applied field where the focus is on how people use computers and how computers can be designed to help people use them more effectively.
information architecture
The organization of information; the field which studies how to organize information most effectively to help people find and use the information. For instance, how should web sites be organized? What is the best way to design website navigation? How should pages be labeled and identified?
information design
The field of applying traditional and evolving design principles to the process of translating complex, unorganized, or unstructured data into valuable, meaningful information. The practice of information design requires an interdisciplinary approach which combines skills in areas such as graphic design, writing and editing, instructional design, human performance technology, and human factors.
information overload
Aa state of having too much information, such that a person is overwhelmed. When information is available in enormous quantities (as on the web) and not clearly structured, people have difficulty finding relevant information and grasping important principles embedded in the information.
information retrieval
The field of study that examines how people find information and how tools can be constructed (such as search engines and catalogs) to help people find information.
interaction design
An approach to designing interactive experiences. These could be in any medium (such as live events or performances, products, services, etc.) and not only digital media. Interactive Design is concerned with a user, customer, audience, or participant's experience flow and involvement with the action of a system or event.
interactivity
The user being part of the action of a system or performance and not merely watching the action passively.
interoperability
The capacity to transfer and transform information between different technologies.
iterative design
The idea that design should be done in repeated cycles where, in each cycle, the design is elaborated, refined, and tested, and the results of testing at each cycle feed into the design focus of the next cycle.
navigation
For finding things in large or complex information spaces, such as on web sites. Common ways to help people navigate web sites include showing navigation bars ('navbars') with categories and subcategories, and providing overviews or sitemaps.
prototyping
An element of an iterative design approach, where designs are created, evaluated, and refined until the desired performance or usability is achieved. Prototypes can range from extremely simple sketches (low-fidelity prototypes) to full systems that contain nearly all the functionality of the final system (high-fidelity prototypes).
readability
The degree to which the meaning of text is accessible, based on the complexity of sentences and the difficulty of the vocabulary that is used. Readability indexes usually rank usability by the age or grade level required for someone to be able to readily understand a reading passage. Note that readability should be contrasted with legibility, which indicates how clear the text is visually.
RSVP
A mnemonic for Requirements analysis - Structural design - Visual design - Production, the main steps in a design process. In the spirit of iterative design, each stage would have an evaluation component to ensure that the design was proceeding according to the goals that were set.
80/20 rule
A principle for setting priorities: users will use 20% of the features of your product 80% of the time. Focus the majority of your design and development effort (80%) on the most important 20% of the product.
script
In relation to software - a program written in a scripting language. Usually a scripting language is a simple programming language whose primary purpose is to control the operating system environment or an application, as opposed to developing an application from scratch. Typical scripting languages include JavaScript (for web pages), AppleScript (for Mac applications), and Unix shell scripts.
style guide
A reference that establishes the look-and-feel of a user interface by clearly defining the standards and conventions of that user interface. Style guides usually include the principles that guide the design of the interface, graphic layout grids, exact size and spacing of elements in the interface, fonts, colors, interactive behavior, standard text messages (such as error messages), and labelling standards.
stylesheet
A document that defines how information should be rendered (printed or displayed).
thesaurus
Usually, a thesaurus is designed for indexing and searching, particularly in a specific subject or business area. A device for vocabulary control, indicating preferred terms, non-preferred terms, and semantic relations between terms; the terms are in ordinary human language. Examples of subject areas covered by thesauri are education, science, art and architecture.
usability
The characteristic of being easy to use, usually applied to software, but relevant to almost any product or service. Broadly, something is ‘easy to us’e to the extent that it effectively performs the task for which it is being used. Ease of use can be measured by how quickly a task is performed, how many mistakes are made, how quickly the system is learned and how satisfied people are who perform the task.
usefulness
The extent to which software actually helps to solve users’ real, practical problems. A system may be easy to use but not relevant to the actual needs of a user.
user interface design
The overall process of designing how a user will be able to interact with a software application. User interface designers may require skills in many areas, including: graphic design, information design, software engineering, cognitive modeling, technical writing, and a wide variety of data collection and testing techniques.
user interface toolkit
A collection of software routines to help build user interfaces, typically including routines for input-handling, graphics, widgets, error-handling, window management, and so forth. These may be built on type of lower-level software platforms such as window managers and layout managers.
visual design
Visual Design spans the fields of Graphic Design, Illustration, Typography, Layout, Color Theory, Iconography, Signage, Photography, etc. and any medium, including online, broadcast, print, outdoor, etc. Visual Design is concerned with the elements of visual expression and style. It is often an integral step in Information Design and other communication design disciplines.
XHTML
eXtensibleHTML combines XML and HTML 4 to provide developers with a language that conforms to the newer XML format.
XML
eXtensible Markup Language (XML) is a framework for defining document markup languages and is predicted to become the primary approach to document exchange over the Internet. In simple terms, a document markup language is a set of elements (frequently called tags) that support one or more of the following document characteristics: structure, content, rendering. XML [XML] is a simple dialect of the earlier SGML and has been designed for ease of implementation and interoperability.
XSL
eXtensible Stylesheet Language, or XSL, is a language that describes how XML content is to be formatted. XSL stylesheets can manipulate XML content in order to present different material to different users in different forms. For example, an auto parts catalog can be presented to a shopper as a view that includes the prices, descriptions, and order numbers for parts. The catalog view for the auto mechanic could include the information available to shoppers plus schematics that show the position of the installed part. The manufacturer's view could include information about subcomponents and materials.