The WEB Book experiments in electronic textbook design

This paper describes a series of three evaluations of electronic textbooks on the Web, which focused on assessing how appearance and design can affect users' sense of engagement and directness with the material. The EBONI Project's methodology for evaluating electronic textbooks is outlined and each experiment is described, together with an analysis of results. Finally, some recommendations for successful design are suggested, based on an analysis of all experimental data. These recommendations underline the main findings of the evaluations: that users want some features of paper books to be preserved in the electronic medium, while also preferring electronic text to be written in a scannable style

From the visual book to the WEB book : the importance of design

This paper presents the results of two studies into electronic book production. The Visual book study explored the importance of the visual component of the book metaphor for the production of more effective electronic books, while the WEB book study took the findings of the Visual book and applied them to the production of books for publication on the World Wide Web (WWW). Both studies started from an assessment of which kinds of paper book are more suitable for translation into electronic form. Both also identified publications which are meant to be used for reference rather than those which are read sequentially, and usually in their entirety. This group includes scientific publications and textbooks which were both used as the target group for the Visual book and the WEB book experiments. In this paper we discuss the results of the two studies and how they could influence the design and production of more effective electronic books

Exploring orientation cues in both digital and physical books

Electronic books (eBooks) and eReaders are now a commonplace tool in the reading experience for many readers. Yet these have long received mixed reviews. Designing suitable interactions that support successful eReading experiences is a relevant task. This paper reports on an exploration of orientation cue designs for electronic books through consideration of design techniques implemented in both physical books (pBooks) and eBooks. We executed a case study of contemporary pBook and eBook orientation cue designs and report on the results of a heuristic evaluation with a small set of expert evaluators. Our findings identify the need for further investigation of the design of orientation cues for both pBooks and eBooks

Looking for guidelines for the production of electronic textbooks

This paper starts by reporting the results of two studies into electronic book production, the Visual Book and the WEB Book. The Visual Book study (Landoni, 1997) explored the importance of the visual component of the book metaphor for the production of more effective electronic books, while the WEB Book study (Wilson, 1999) took the findings of the Visual Book and applied them to the production of books for publication on the WWW. It was possible to extract from the two experiences a set of recommendations for producing electronic books. These are the starting point for a new project, EBONI (Electronic Books ON-screen Interface). EBONI focuses on the evaluation of electronic resources for teaching and learning in academia and it is going to expand our previous findings with the aim of producing a set of guidelines for publishing educational material on the Web

Guidelines for designing electronic textbooks

This paper presents the guidelines emerging from the EBONI (Electronic Books ON-screen Interface) Project's evaluations of electronic textbooks [1], which describe how e-learning content can be made usable for the UK Higher Education community. The project's on-screen design guidelines are described, including recommendations as to which features of the paper book metaphor should be retained, and how the electronic medium can best be exploited. Advice on hardware design is also provided. Finally, accessibility issues are examined and practical considerations for the creators of digital educational content are discussed

A user-centred approach to ebook design

This paper considers the Electronic Books ON-screen Interface (EBONI) Project's research into the importance of the user when designing electronic textbooks. The results of the Visual Book and the WEB Book experiments, which explored design aspects of e-books and provide a backdrop to EBONI's research, are presented. EBONI's methodology and evaluations, involving over 200 students, lecturers and researchers in UK Higher Education, are described, and the findings discussed. It is proposed that, while aspects of paper books such as tables of contents, indexes and typography should be retained, books delivered electronically should also adapt to fit the new medium through use of hypertext, search engines and multimedia. In terms of the design of e-book hardware, issues such as size and weight, display technology and functionality are of primary importance to users. These findings have been presented to creators of educational digital content in the form of a set of Electronic Textbook Design Guidelines