Articulating a metaphor through user-centered design

Abstract

TabWorks book metaphor enhances the standard Windows user interface, providing an alternative way to organize applications and documents in a familiar, easy to use environment. The TabWorks interface was designed collaboratively by IDEO and XSoft and was based on a concept developed at Xerox PARC. This briefing describes how a user-centered approach affected the design of the TabWorks user interface: how the metaphor's visualization evolved and how interaction mechanisms were selected and designed.