February 1997 — Features

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Design Standards for Visual Elements and Interactivity for Courseware

  • Use graphics or animation when a realistic presentation (video) may overburden the audience with too much detail, the conditions or problems to be depicted occur so infrequently that video is not practical, or explicit details are necessary. Video often has lower pixel density than graphics.
  • Graphics help to both reduce the amount of inapplicable details and to highlight key information. One might want to use an animation in conjunction with a video clip (together), for instance, or following a video to focus learners' attention on specific details or content.
  • Avoid the use of biases or stereotypes in graphics or animations (gender, ethnicity, religion, etc.). As a technique, use of biases or stereotypes is distracting; as a social custom, it is debasing.
  • Use humor cautiously. While it can help to increase learner interest and to promote recall, it can also backfire and distract from content.

Text and Titling Considerations

Text and titles are used to present content and/or to highlight certain information. Considerations when including or designing text elements might include:

  • Limit the amount of text on the screen. It is more difficult and takes longer to read text on a screen than in print. People read text on a computer screen at a rate 28% slower than if reading from a book.
  • Position text appropriately. Regular text should be left-justified only. Center headings and titles. Do not hyphenate words at the end of lines.

When formatting screens, the following techniques might be useful:

  • Provide a generous amount of white space to separate blocks of information.
  • Use headings as content summaries and navigation aids.
  • Convert sentences containing serial items to lists.
  • Organize complex information into tables to help learners integrate program content.
  • Reserve the use of all upper case letters for adding emphasis and to titles only.

Attention-getting techniques include: