Web users frequently get lost because applications have a model of navigation that is different from what they are used to. These differences cause confusion. To overcome the problem, designers have to adapt familiar design rules to the Web. This paper discusses some of these problems and how to avoid them in designing Web applications and Web sites. It is based on observations during usability testing, design, and writing projects. The focus is on applications, with which users perform actions, rather than informational sites, which exist to inform. (There is a lot of overlap-for example, the task of signing up for a mailing list while at an information site. The guidelines in this paper can apply to any type of site.) 13 i n t e r a c t i o n s . . . n o v e m b e r + d e c e m b e r 1 9 9 7 The World Wide Web is a new application development platform. For better or worse, people come to it with expectations based on their experience with other platforms, such as Windows, Macintosh, and Unix. This experience makes up a user's conceptual model. Unfortunately, that model conflicts with the model of navigation on the Web.

The need for effective search for television content is growing as the number of choices for TV viewing and/or recording explodes. In this paper we describe a preliminary prototype of a multimodal Speech-In List-Out (SILO) interface in which users' input is unrestricted by vocabulary or grammar. We report on usability testing with a sample of six users. The prototype enables search through video content metadata download from an electronic program guide (EPG) service. Our setup for testing included adding a microphone to a TV remote control and running an application on a PC whose visual interface was displayed on a TV. ACM Advanced Visual Interfaces, May 2006This work may not be copied or reproduced in whole or in part for any commercial purpose. Permission to copy in whole or in part without payment of fee is granted for nonprofit educational and research purposes provided that all such whole or partial copies include the following: a notice that such copying is by permission of Mitsubishi Electric Research Laboratories, Inc.; an acknowledgment of the authors and individual contributions to the work; and all applicable portions of the copyright notice. Copying, reproduction, or republishing for any other purpose shall require a license with payment of fee to Mitsubishi Electric Research Laboratories, Inc. All rights reserved. ABSTRACTThe need for effective search for television content is growing as the number of choices for TV viewing and/or recording explodes.In this paper we describe a preliminary prototype of a multimodal Speech-In List-Out (SILO) interface in which users' input is unrestricted by vocabulary or grammar. We report on usability testing with a sample of six users. The prototype enables search through video content metadata downloaded from an electronic program guide (EPG) service. Our setup for testing included adding a microphone to a TV remote control and running an application on a PC whose visual interface was displayed on a TV.

If one says "Red" (the name of a color)and there are 50 people listening, it can be expected that there will be 50 reds in their minds.And one can be sure that all these reds will be very different. --Josef Albers, Interaction of Color Exploring COLOR in InterfaceDesign "C olor is the most relative medium in art," said Josef Albers, one of the 20th century's great abstract painters whose teaching profoundly changed and shaped art education in America. Perhaps most famous for his book, The Interaction of Color, he pointed out the changeable nature of colors, whose "behavior," like that of human beings, is always relative to their context. This quality of color was the focus of his painting and of the empirical color studies made by his students. "To open eyes" was Albers's primary educational goal. This meant an increase of perception and awareness, rather than a reliance on rules. The ultimate aims of his teaching were to release the potential of a medium and to use the medium creatively.There is a lot to understand about color in user interface design. Topics include the differences between color in light and pigment and techniques for using particular software tools. However, this article, like Albers's writing and his classes, is about the pleasure of choosing and combining colors to experience their potential and learn about their interactions.

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KeywordsWorld Wide Web, navigation, user model, conceptual model pages already seen. This is due to the separation of the browser and the application, which contradicts what users have learned on other platforms.