This survey of the research into user interface design and its impact on the development of hypermedia users' mental models discusses various design issues including the functionality of the system, system purpose, differences in user background, and system usability. (Author/AEF)

An interactive multimedia tutorial system that focuses on the "why" aspect of user interface design is described. The system contains a design exercise, three experts for guidance, and a user group that comments on the usability of the design. Testing results indicate that learners consider more possible solutions to design issues. (Author/AEF)

Dynamic discussions have begun to emerge concerning style of presentation on world wide web sites. Some hypertext markup language (HTML) designers seek an intimate and chatty ambience, while others want to project a more professional image. Evaluators see many sites as overdecorated and indecipherable. This paper offers suggestions on selecting…

Describes a Web site that introduces novice Web users to principles of design and navigation of instructional Web sites. Discusses the process involved in designing the site, lessons learned while developing it, and recommendations for further research. Includes a list of research-based guidelines derived from the literature in the areas of screen…

This paper compares and discusses the results from two user studies of interactive television (ITV) with a total of 50 subjects. The interfaces of two different ITV information services were studied: one with a place-like interface rich in graphics, animation and audio, and the other a simple interface with text and still images. In the first…

Introduces a multiagent architecture based on the blackboard system that enables different processes that perform multimodal presentation planning to communicate with each other. Describes a constraint propagation mechanism that transfers plan constraints from one level of the presentation planning process to the next. Discusses the cooperation…

Discussion of the design of effective learning environments focuses on design team interactions. Topics include designer intention and instructor implementation; technology tools and their use; instructional design processes, including computer interfaces and interaction possibilities; learner as actor; multimedia; and interpersonal communication.…

This document chronicles the development of a hypermedia CD-ROM product that offered information on the island of Cyprus. The hypermedia environment was designed for use by students and educators in eleventh grade up to the college level, and it was intended to fill gaps in multicultural knowledge by enabling individualized, self-paced instruction…

The Informedia Project at Carnegie Mellon University has created a multi-terabyte digital video library consisting of thousands of hours of video, segmented into over 50,000 stories, or documents. Since Informedia's inception in 1994, numerous interfaces have been developed and tested for accessing this library, including work on multimedia…

Provides historical background information about multimedia CD-ROM encyclopedias and evaluates 11 recent releases. Discusses access to information, costs, content, technological developments. Rates the text, multimedia, and user interface. A sidebar provides a 10-year chronology of CD-ROM encyclopedias. (AEF)

Explains why metaphors are important design elements in multimedia learning environments. Describes a model developed for levels of metaphor mapping which is oriented toward a cognitive engineering approach for describing aspects of user interfaces. Shows the extent that the didactic dimensions of width and depth of metaphors be taken into account…

Recent studies have emphasized the significant implications of multimedia for the learning process. Even those researchers who take a less enthusiastic stand do not hesitate to assent that when blended with suitable pedagogical techniques and a proper design, the combined use of multiple media for the viewing and study of educational material can…

Presents a World Wide Web page model that reacts to pre-defined events and performs actions like "prefetching" automatically. Discusses the active index, conceptual page model; design of the client system, status of the current implementation, prefetching algorithm, an experiment of the algorithm, experimental results of the active index…

Good human-computer interfaces are essential in multimedia. Discusses methods of organizing information: non-linear versus linear, interactive, meaningful choices, and chunking; principles of interface design: knowing the users and offering options that are distinct, non-ambiguous, from user point of view, and in user terms; and interface…

Discussion of technology integration focuses on the design and development of a multimedia, CD-ROM/Internet-based teacher development tool that was intended to help teachers envision and achieve technology integration. Highlights include software content; videotaping classroom practice; creating digital files; designing the interface; developing…