December 2003 - Posts

• I'm moving...

  From now on, instead of posting on blogs.gotdotnet.com , I'll be posting to weblogs.asp.net/stevencl instead. If anyone is interested in catching up on the series of postings on how to use the Cognitive Dimensions to evaluate your own API, I've added Read More... Posted Monday, December 22, 2003 12:29 PM by stevencl | 0 Comments

• Using the Cognitive Dimensions - Progressive Evaluation

  Here's the next in the series of posts for using the Cognitive Dimensions framework... For each user goal that the API supports, describe the tasks that the user has to implement to accomplish that goal. For example, in the System.IO namespace one goal Read More... Posted Monday, December 22, 2003 9:24 AM by stevencl | 0 Comments

• Using the Cognitive Dimensions - Work Step Unit

  Continuing my series of posts on using the cognitive dimensions framework. I have a few to catch up on...here's the next on how to evaluate the work step unit for your API. For each user goal that the API supports, describe the tasks that the user has Read More... Posted Monday, December 22, 2003 9:22 AM by stevencl | 0 Comments

• Should collection based properties be read only?

  An interesting question came up today on the issue of making all collection based properties read only. In the usability studies we’ve done up to now, we’ve primarily focused on collection based properties where the class exposing the property can truly Read More... Posted Monday, December 08, 2003 2:19 PM by stevencl | 3 Comments Filed under: API Usability

• Using the cognitive dimensions - working framework

  The next installment in using the cognitive dimensions... For each user goal that the API supports, describe the minimum amount of information that the user needs to maintain while working with the API. This is different to the learning style which Read More... Posted Wednesday, December 03, 2003 7:12 PM by stevencl | 2 Comments Filed under: API Usability

• System.Xml or System.XML?

  Brad Abrams recently asked me if I knew of any research that investigated whether or not mixed case words (WebClient) are easier to recognize than all upper case words (WEBCLIENT).   I wasn t immediately aware of any research on this issue so I turned Read More... Posted Wednesday, December 03, 2003 5:53 PM by stevencl | 25 Comments Filed under: API Usability