~ ~ Storyboarding is a technique useful for designing the look and feel of a user interface. The result is a hand-drawn picture of what the system's user interface might look like. This picture can be critiqued and revised. As a result, the designer is better able to determine the abilities of the system. These abilities have to be addressed before the system can even be prototyped. In [Shneiderman 1992], many of the concerns that should be taken into account when designing a user interface are discussed. Storyboarding helps focus on those issues early, when changes can be easily made.
The process is begun by developing an overall view of the screen. The major components of the interface are determined. These components are arranged in the desired format to show what the screen will look like at startup time. Then the possible user actions are highlighted and the activation methods are determined. If a button is to offer a specific action, that button must be drawn in at the appropriate place. One action is chosen, and the screen is drawn on a second page to show the differences between the two steps. This process continues until every possible screen picture has been drawn to show how the various user actions affect the look of the system.
Many decisions about the user's abilities must be made during the time spent storyboarding the interface. In SNEAKERS, the effects of choosing agents had to be decided; the changing look of the design decision palette also had to be shown; the options available in menus had to be addressed; the means of entering requirements had to be solidified; and the division of the roles of each part of the interface was determined.
From these hand-drawn sketches of the interface, it is possible to determine the widgets necessary to carry out the desired tasks. These widgets can then be produced using VUIT, or some other tool, and a prototype interface, with most of the surface functionality evident, can be developed in short order.