Instant Prototyping Using HyperCard® on the Macintosh®

Abstract

Rapid interface prototyping (RIP) involves the simulation of potential user-interface designs for demonstrating and evaluating design concepts and iteratively modifying the interface designs without the burden of labor-intensive code generation and modification. In the past few years, many interface designers have had to use expensive equipment to help them perform RIP. Well, thanks to Bill Atkinson and the folks at Apple Computer Inc., you can purchase HyperCard® ¹ software for your Macintosh® ² for $49 and use it right out of the box for many of your RIP projects, without need of additional hardware (just add a cup of creativity). A special feature of HyperCard® allows the designer to create software-controlled buttons which, along with the graphics capabilities and the layering properties, permit the dynamic simulation of virtually any control panel that can be operated by discrete user inputs. Changes to the prototype can be made very rapidly (almost instantly) by an experienced HyperCard® user, making it possible to modify an existing prototype “on-line” in a design meeting. This paper will describe this serendipitous application of HyperCard®, its potential as an equipment-interface design tool, and describe how it was used to simulate the user interface for a weapons field tester, designed at Sandia.