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Glossary

  • Facilitated workshops
    Collaborative session that facilitates communication between developers and users to discuss aspects of an impending interface, also known as a Joint Advisory Development (JAD) session.
  • Facilitator
    A researcher role that works with a person or group to moderate a discussion or activity in order to collect feedback and information.
  • Feature-centric
    An approach to technology that favors the complexity or amount of functionality over the user experience.
  • Feedback message
    A message confirming to the user that an action has been completed successfully.
  • Field labeling
    Serves to describe the purpose and function of form elements.
  • First-Click Testing
    A testing method to see what visitors click on first on a website.
  • Fishbone Diagram
    A diagram designed to identify cause-and-effect relationships between factors in a given situation. It is made up of a "head" which states a problem and bones along the spine which represent factors and categories of factors.
  • Fitts' Law
    A mathematical model that predicts how long it will take to point at a target based on target size and proximity, stating the further away and smaller it is the longer it will take for user to interact with it.
  • Fluid layout
    When a page contracts and expands horizontally inside a persons web browser despite the size of the browser window or the resolution of the monitor.
  • Focus Group
    A focus group is a pointed discussion with a group of participants that a moderator leads through a set of questions on a particular topic to obtain feedback about users, products, concepts, prototypes, tasks, strategies, and environments.
  • Fold
    The fold is defined as the lowest point where a Web page is no longer visible on a computer monitor or screen. Where on a Web page the fold falls is a function of the monitor size, the screen resolution, and the font size selection. The information that is visible when a Web page first loads is considered to be "above the fold." Those regions of the same Web page that are visible only by scrolling are considered to be "below the fold."
  • Font
    A particular typeface, size, pitch and spacing.
  • Font color
    The color of the text.
  • Font readability
    How easy or difficult it is to read a collection of words in a specific type style.
  • Font size
    The height of a font measured in points.
  • Forced device jumping (keyboard/mouse switching)
    Unneccesarily forcing users to change input devices to complete tasks.
  • Form elements
    Input elements like text fields, checkboxes, radio-buttons, submit buttons, select lists, textarea, fieldset, legend, and label elements.
  • Formative testing
    Testing the design early in development to inform and verify design decisions. The results are leveraged to further refine and form the interface or product.
  • Forms
    HTML pages used to pass data to a server.
  • Frame
    A feature supported by most browsers that enables the designer to divide the display area into two or more sections (frames). The contents of each frame behave like different Web pages.
  • Free Listing
    A data collection technique to gain user insight for a specific domain or topic by asking people to list all the items they can think of that relate to the topic.
  • Function
    An action or capability which a system or subsystem fulfills.
  • Function Allocation
    In human factors, determining responsibility for performing a given function to humans or technology within a given system.