User Interface Inspection Methods succinctly covers five inspection methods: heuristic evaluation, perspective-based user interface inspection, cognitive walkthrough, pluralistic walkthrough, and formal usability inspections. Heuristic evaluation is perhaps the best-known inspection method, requiring a group of evaluators to review a product against a set of general principles. The perspective-based user interface inspection is based on the principle that different perspectives will find different problems in a user interface. In the related persona-based inspection, colleagues assume the roles of personas and review the product based on the needs, background, tasks, and pain points of the different personas. The cognitive walkthrough focuses on ease of learning. Most of the inspection methods do not require users; the main exception is the pluralistic walkthrough, in which a user is invited to provide feedback while members of a product team listen, observe the user, and ask questions. After reading this book, you will be able to use these UI inspection methods with confidence and certainty.
The Visualization Handbook provides an overview of the field of visualization by presenting the basic concepts, providing a snapshot of current visualization software systems, and examining research topics that are advancing the field. This text is intended for a broad audience, including not only the visualization expert seeking advanced methods to solve a particular problem, but also the novice looking for general background information on visualization topics. The largest collection of state-of-the-art visualization research yet gathered in a single volume, this book includes articles by a “who’s who” of international scientific visualization researchers covering every aspect of the discipline, including:· Virtual environments for visualization· Basic visualization algorithms· Large-scale data visualization· Scalar data isosurface methods· Visualization software and frameworks· Scalar data volume rendering· Perceptual issues in visualization· Various application topics, including information visualization.
Newnes PC Troubleshooting Pocket Book provides a concise and compact reference that describes, in a clear and straightforward manner, the principles and practice of faultfinding and upgrading PCs and peripherals. The strong practical emphasis is backed up with many illustrations and examples of real-lie problems. The book is aimed at anyone who is involved with the installation, configuration, maintenance, upgrading, repair or support of PC systems. It also provides non-technical users with sufficient background information, charts and checklists to enable the diagnosis of faults and help to carry out simple modifications and repairs. The new edition of PC Troubleshooting will continue to include a number of short cuts that are instrumental in avoiding hours of potential frustration and costly effort. In order to reflect rapid changes in computer technology (both hardware and software) this new edition has been completely revised and rewritten. New and expanded sections on: modern machines (Pentium II, III, IV, AMD); modern buses (FSB, AGP, Cyrix, Chip sets); different RAM chip types and connectors; Win 2000, ME, XP; latest SCSI standards, Ultra DMA, "live" re-partitioning of the disc, FAT16, FAT36, NTFS, performance and compatibility differences; 'famous' viruses and personal firewalls.
Tony Fischer-Cripps is a Project Leader in the Division of Telecommunications and Industrial Physics of the CSIRO (Commonwealth Scientific & Industrial Research Organisation), Australia. He was previously lecturer, University of Technology, Sydney (UTS), Australia, and has also worked for the National Institute of Standards and Technology, USA (NIST, formerly National Bureau of Standards - NBS).
Ian Sinclair's Build Your Own books have established themselves as authoritative and highly practical guides for home PC users and advanced hobbyists alike. All aspects of building and upgrading a PC are covered, making this the book the computer retailers don't want you to read! By getting to grips with the world of PC hardware you can avoid the built-in obsolescence that seems to be part and parcel of the fast moving world of PCs, and escape the need to buy a new PC every year. You can also have a PC that keeps pace with the ever increasing demands that new software applications place on your system.The new edition of this book is based round building and upgrading to the latest systems such as Pentium 4 or AMD Athlon motherboards running Windows 2000 / ME. As well as guiding you round the inside of your PC base unit Ian Sinclair also covers monitors, printers, video capture, DVD drives, USB and parallel port accessories.... By reading this book PC owners will get to grips with the world of PC hardware and can avoid the built-in obsolescence that seems to be part and parcel of the fast moving world of PCs, and escape the need to buy a new PC every year. The new edition of this book is based round building and upgrading to the latest systems such as Pentium 4 or AMD Athlon motherboards running Windows 2000 / ME. As well as guiding users around the inside of their PC base unit. The book also covers monitors, printers, video capture, DVD drives, USB and parallel port accessories, and much more. According to a New York Times article it is estimated that between 2000 and 2007, 500 million computers will become obsolete. The National Safety Council estimates that by 2004 315 million PCs will be obsolete. Two points that highlight how most people are unaware how simple the process of upgrading their own PC is.The third edition has been updated throughout with new and expanded sections including: • Sound capture and editing • Video capture from analog and digital camcorders, and TV / video • New fast motherboards, including RAID and other types with up to eight IDE devices controlled • Very fast processors in the range 1.5 to 2.0+ GHz • Cooling and fan-noise problems • Using large hard drives (60 Gb and more) • The new USB-2 standard
Focusing on feature extraction while also covering issues and techniques such as image acquisition, sampling theory, point operations and low-level feature extraction, the authors have a clear and coherent approach that will appeal to a wide range of students and professionals.
Interfacing with C is about interfacing personal computers using C. Anyone who is interested in ports, transducer interfacing, analog to digital conversion, convolution, filters or digital/analog conversion will benefit from reading Interfacing with C. Students will also find this a practical introduction to real-time programming with a generous collection of tried and tested programs.The pace of the book is such that the reader is encouraged to run the programs and experiment with C. The principles precede the applications in most cases in an attempt to provide genuine understanding and encourage further development. Readers will gain much from the hands-on experience the authors' approach provides, an approach designed to enable readers to climb steep learning curves with the minimum amount of assistance. The many programs included in the text provide the essential hands-on experience. Some of the programs inevitably become rather lengthy, so the source code used is available as a free download from the Newnes website. The aim of the book, however, is to give the reader enough confidence to rewrite and improve these programs.In the second edition Mike James has thoroughly updated all aspects relating to software, operating systems and graphical interfaces. He has also increased the scope of the book to include current forms of C++. Material on data acquisition has been thoroughly updated and the section on peripherals increased.
A practical guide to programming for data acquisition and measurement - must-have info in just the right amount of depth for engineers who are not programming specialists. This book offers a complete guide to the programming and interfacing techniques involved in data collection and the subsequent measurement and control systems using an IBM compatible PC. It is an essential guide for electronic engineers and technicians involved in measurement and instrumentation, DA&C programmers and students aiming to gain a working knowledge of the industrial applications of computer interfacing. A basic working knowledge of programming in a high-level language is assumed, but analytical mathematics is kept to a minimum. Sample listings are given in C and can be downloaded from the Newnes website.
Multifunction devices combine the essentials of a fax machine, printer, scanner, and copier into one peripheral for small and home offices. As the market for this equipment grows, the need for skilled repair and maintenance increases. Unfortunately the service documentation supplied by the manufacturers is completely inadequate making the repair jobs even harder and more expensive. Marvin Hobbs teaches you how multifunction peripherals work in theory and in practice with lots of hands-on examples and important troubleshooting and repair tips you don't want to miss. This book fills a gap in the literature, and will be a welcome addition to the library of any technician or do-it-yourselfer.
The main links with your PC and the outside world are the centronic port, used for connecting the printer, the RS232 port, used for the mouse, and the games port for a joystick. This book explores how these input/output (I/O) ports can be put to use through a range of other interfacing applications. This is especially useful for laptop and palmtop PCs which cannot be fitted with internal I/O cards. A novel approach is taken by this book, combining the hardware through which the ports can be explored, and the software programming needed to carry out a range of experiments.Circuits are provided for simple testing tools, and three experimental boards - which can also be purchased ready-made.A huge range of applications are considered, turning the PC into a flexible core of a variety of systems. External devices considered include opto-isolator drivers, power drivers, LED drivers, relay drivers, special driver ICs, and methods of driving opto-isolated zero-crossing solid state relays, stepper motors, sound generating devices and displays. Ways of gathering information from the outside world are given, as well as connection to digital devices, remote control and digital communication. As well as teaching in this field, Pei An has written numerous articles for magazines such as Electronics World and Electronics Today International.