View metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.

uk brought to you by CORE

provided by UMP Institutional Repository

STUDY OF FSKKP PORTAL BASED ON SHNEIDERMAN‟S

EIGHT GOLDEN RULES

OOI BOON KHUAN

THESIS SUBMITTED IN FULFILLMENT OF THE DEGREE OF BACHELOR OF

COMPUTER SCIENCE

FACULTY OF COMPUTER SYSTEMS & SOFTWARE ENGINEERING

UNIVERSITI MALAYSIA PAHANG

2013
 vi

ABSTRACT

Shneiderman‟s Eight Golden Rules is the choice of design principle for the
design in this project. This project at the end will produce one prototype web portal for
FSKKP to replace the current portal. The aim of this project is to develop a new web
portal based on the rules by Shneiderman which the web portal produce will met all the
design rules proposed by Shneiderman. Shneiderman‟s Eight Golden Rules is one of the
design principles falls under the scope of Human Computer Interaction. In Human
Computer Interaction, there are different set of design principles proposed by various
researchers worldwide and the Shneiderman‟s rules is aim for the interface design of a
system such as the consistency of the interface, error handling functionality and so on.
In this project, the rules will be studied before any implementation is executed. Then the
current web portal of FSKKP will be taken as the base design of the new portal. The
system function of the web portal and the data will remain the similar, the only
differences is the interface and the responses in term of usability, flexibility, robustness,
etc. After the prototype had been build, survey and testing session will carry out to
obtain the response of the prototype from the users. The expected result from the survey
done will be a positive result where users are happy and welcome the new designed
portal as the main portal for FSKKP. At the end, this research have proven that
Shneiderman‟s Eight Golden Rules is a very suitable set of design rules for design
interface for any systems worldwide and the similar type of research on this rules should
be execute in future to ensure the system build is usable, user-friendly to human and the
environment.
 vii

ABSTRAK

Shneiderman’s Eight Golden Rules merupakan salah satu kaedah di dalam

prinsip merekabentuk antaramuka sistem. Prototaip untuk portal FSKKP ialah hasil
akhir dalam projek ini dan akan menggantikan web portal yang lama. Tujuan projek ini
adalan untuk menghasilkan prototaip web portal menggunakan peraturan daripada
Shneiderman iaitu prototaip itu akan memenuhi semua peraturan yang disediakan.
Shneiderman‟s Eight Golden Rules juga salah satu prinsip design yang ada dalam
Human Computer Interaction. Dalam Human Computer Interaction, terdapat banyak
lagi prinsip reka sistem yang dikemukakan oleh semua penyelidik dalam dunia dengan
tujuan utama prinsip Shneiderman adalah untuk mereka sistem yang mesra pengguna.
Dalam projek ini, prinsip itu akan dikaji secara teliti sebelum pelaksanaan prinsip akan
berlaku. Selepas itu, web portal yang lama akan dijadikan asas reka bentuk untuk web
portal FSKKP yang baru. Fungsi untuk sistem juga tidak akan berubah dalam web
portal yang baru, hanya rekabentuk antarmuka, kebolehgunaan, fleksibiliti, dan lain-
lain akan berubah menjadi lebih mesra pengguna. Selepas prototaip saip dibina, kaji
selidik dan ujian untuk prototaip akan dijalankan untuk mendapatkan respons dari
pengguna. Maklumbalas kajiselidik untuk prototaip ini adalah baik dan pengguna
merasa senang untuk menggunakan web portal prototaip itu dan akan sangat dialu-
alukan untuk menjadikan prototaip sebagai web portal utama FSKKP. Di peringkat
akhir dalam projek ini, Shneiderman Eight Golden Rules akan terbukti
kebolehpengguna prinsip ini dan sangat sesuai untuk digunakan dalam mana mana reka
bentuk antaramuka sistem.
 viii

TABLE OF CONTENTS

PAGE
DECLARATION iii
SUPERVISOR DECLARATION iv
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS v
ABSTRACT vi
ABSTRAK vii
CONTENT viii
LIST OF TABLES x
LIST OF FIGURES xi
LIST OF APPENDICES xii
1.0 INTRODUCTION 1
1.1 Introduction 1
1.2 Problem Statement 3
1.3 Scopes 3
1.4 Objective 4
1.5 Thesis Organization 4
2.0 LITERATURE REVIEW 6
2.1 Introduction 6
2.2 Shneiderman‟s Eight Golden Rules 7
2.3 Norman‟s Seven Principles 10
2.4 Jacob Nielsen Ten Heuristic of Usability 12
2.5 Comparison between all three standard 16
2.5.1 Similarities 18
2.5.2 Differences 22
2.6 Case Studies 25
2.6.1 Case Study 1 25
2.6.2 Case Study 2 26
2.6.3 Summarize of both case studies 27
2.7 Conclusion 28
3.0 METHODOLOGY 29
3.1 Introduction 29
3.2 Methodology 29
3.2.1 Study and Analysis of Human Computer Interaction Rules 31
3.2.2 Study of FSKKP Web Portal 32
3.2.3 Applying Design Rules Into Prototype 33
3.2.4 Preparing Survey Questionnaire 33
3.2.5 Analysis and Summarize of Questionnaire Result 35
3.3 Hardware and Software 36
4.0 DESIGNS 37
4.1 Introduction 37
4.2 Framework and Design Model 37
4.3 Current Design of Web Portal 41
4.4 Prototype Design of Web Portal 43
4.5 Database Design 43
5.0 IMPLEMENTATION 47
 ix

5.1 Introduction 47
5.2 Implementation of Design Rules 47
5.2.1 Strive For Consistency 47
5.2.2 Enable Frequent Users to Use Shortcut 49
5.2.3 Offer Informative Feedback 50
5.2.4 Design Dialogs to Yield Closure 50
5.2.5 Offer Error Prevention and Simple Error Handling 52
5.2.6 Permit Easy Reversal of Action 53
5.2.7 Support Internal Locus of Control 55
5.2.8 Reduce Short-Term Memory Load 55
6.0 RESULT AND DISCUSSION 57
6.1 Introduction 57
6.2 Feedback Survey 57
6.3 Summarize of Questionnaire Result 58
6.4 General Discussion 68
6.5 Research Constraints 68
7.0 CONCLUSIONS 70
7.1 Conclusions 70
7.2 Future Works 72
REFERENCES 72
APPENDICES 74
 x

LIST OF TABLES

Table PAGE
2.1 Attribute allocation summarize for all three discussed guideline 16
2.2 between case studies on the design rules 27
3.1 Hardware and Software Specification 36
 xi

LIST OF FIGURES

Figure PAGE
2.1 Homepage of USM School of Computer Sciences web portal 25
2.2 Homepage of Brown Computer Science web portal 26
3.1 Flow chart of the project 30
3.2 Determining sample size 34
4.1 Framework of the web portal 38
4.2 Context Diagram of the web portal 39
4.3 Data Flow Diagram of the web portal 39
4.4 Use Case diagram of the web portal 40
4.5 Homepage of the current FSKKP web portal 41
4.6 Homepage of the newly design web portal for FSKKP 43
4.7 Database login table 44
4.8 Database staff table 44
4.9 Database subject table 44
4.10 Database forum_question table 45
4.11 Database forum_answer table 45
4.12 Database announcement table 46
5.1 Screenshot of the Homepage of prototype 48
5.2 Screenshot of the Overview page of prototype 48
5.3 Screenshot of the Mini Forum page 49
5.4 Screenshot of register page 50
5.5 Screenshot of complete registering an account 51
5.6 Screenshot of view topic page 51
5.7 Screenshot of register page 52
5.8 Screenshot of register page 53
5.9 Screenshot of update staff page 54
5.10 Screenshot of technical staff page 54
5.11 Screenshot of registering page 55
5.12 Screenshot of posting new announcement page 56
6.1 Overall Results from Survey Questionnaire 59
6.2 Results from Survey Questionnaire Rule 1 60
6.3 Results from Survey Questionnaire Rule 2 61
6.4 Results from Survey Questionnaire Rule 3 62
6.5 Results from Survey Questionnaire Rule 4 63
6.6 Results from Survey Questionnaire Rule 5 64
6.7 Results from Survey Questionnaire Rule 6 65
6.8 Results from Survey Questionnaire Rule 7 66
6.9 Results from Survey Questionnaire Rule 8 67
 xii

LIST OF APPENDICES

No. Appendices PAGE

A Gantt Chart 74
B Turnitin Plagiarism Result 77
C Sample Questionnaire 79
D Survey Result in Excel 82
 1

CHAPTER 1

INTRODUCTION

1.1 INTRODUCTION

Since words have been introduced in the older age, it carries the role to capture or
keeps information for some time periods. For the older time, information was carves on
the wall, bone of animal, woods and so on. As time passes, papers are invented for the
writing and keeping information purposes. From that on, all the information were kept
in safe for future use in organization or company, to keep track of their businesses
process and progress. But, the information kept using paper is not safe anymore because
paper is disposable and easily catches fire. Furthermore, when there a lot of information
is created, it needs a huge space to store the paper use for the information. Moreover, to
access the information kept on paper is difficult because there is only one single copy
for the information, people have to books for time just for purpose of accessing the
information.

Then computerize paper are invented when computer are invented. These
computerize paper are kept in a database where it safe a lot spaces compare to older
technique to kept information and these database don‟t decay or dispose unless the
hardware is broken. More and more advance technology been created as time passes
that single server database able to stores ten years of information in a company. Then,
when a company get bigger, more branches of company were establishes. So, all the
information from the main company has to share with all the branches in all the places
thus, Local Area Network (LAN), Metropolitan Area Network (MAN) and Wide Area
Network (WAN) is introduced to share the data on different location from one serve
database.
 2

But, to setup all the network required great amount of money. So, to save the costs
for the company, all the information were able to access from the webpage on the
internet when internet is introduced. Until today, webpage is a very common tool for
displaying data and processing data, there are various type of webpage built for different
purposes such as educational, entertainment, political, touring, and so on. A common
build webpage usually use for purpose of information management and displaying the
information store in server database, where it allow certain level of user to access the
data and modify the data without accessing the local server database. The purpose of
having a webpage is to increase the performance and ease for the maintenance services
to carry on, which the administrator staffs do not need to access to the main server to
modify the data.

With time grows, the needed of webpage are increase greatly where users are
demand for better view, functionality, responses, and so on. Hence a term is has came
out to explain the needed which is the Human Computer Interaction. This term mean the
webpage have to have interaction with the user both visible and invisible. When time
passes, specific design rule are created for the interaction purposes where a webpage
programmer have to follow the rule to design the webpage for their customer as part of
the condition in the contract. These design rules are specifically design for the users.
Some of the example of the design rules are increase the performance and responses of
the webpage, some are to provided aided for the disabler, some are for the flexibility of
the design webpage.

When more and more advance rules are being created, some set of rule are combine
together and become standard for designing not only webpage even stand-alone system.
Example of the standard are Shneiderman‟s Eight Golden Rules, Norman‟s Seven
Principles, Jacob Nielsen Ten Heuristic of Usability, and many more. These are the
standards which are well known by the society of computer science as a base for
designing.

For my undergraduate project title, I propose the Study of FSKKP portal based on
Shneiderman‟s Eight Golden Rules to repair, upgrade and enhance the current FSKKP
portal into a better and more user friendly portal. This project will build based on the
previously built source code of the portal. Set of questionnaire will be provided to the
 3

staff and all other users of the webpage and result will be processes. With the complete
result from the questionnaire, a new version of the webpage will be produce.

1.2 PROBLEM STATEMENTS

The websites nowadays are different from the past. From time to time, all the
websites on the internet are upgrade into a better one. These upgrade or enhancement is
taken because the owner of related website wants to create a better interaction with the
customers they deal on the internet and reduce the mistake or error happen on the
websites. The common problem that web page found is inconsistency of design, which
will cause user to lost track. Second is a lot of information or data management website
requires too much input at one time causing user to forget and make mistake.

There are more types of problem found on webpage today such as user lose control
of the webpage where webpage do not function as what the user command to do. Then
sometimes user are not feeling sure when one command is enter to the system which it
do not provided feedback or message to inform command accepted or processing
complete. There are also webpage did not cover with error prevention and error handing
where user not able to undo or cancel the command the entered to the system when
users have made some mistake. This is very important when the information entered is
very critical and able to affected all other system or function, simple error handing will
help to solve the problem for the system.

Thus, to prevent all this problem and mistake, a new version of FSKKP web portal
will be build and all details of the web page will be build based on Shneiderman‟s Eight
Golden Rules a standard which emphasize every detail on the web page from the
interface until the performance.

1.3 SCOPES

The scopes for the project are listed below.

 Webpage development will be carry out based on Shneiderman‟s Eight Golden

Rules
 4

 A set of questionnaire will be create for the requirement and specification for the
next version of the FSKKP portal

 Respondent only cover in Gambang campus and separate into 2 groups

o Staffs – which will be the academic and non-academic staffs from

FSKKP

o Students – Mainly are FSKKP third year students

1.4 OBJECTIVES

The objectives for the project are stated below.

 To study all three design rule in detail, Shneiderman‟s Eight Golden Rules,
Jacob Nielsen Ten Heuristic of Usability and Norman‟s Seven Principles

 To demonstrate the new version of FSKKP web portal based on Shneiderman‟s

Eight Golden Rules

 To collect and analyze all the feedback result acquire from survey carry out
among all the user which are the lecturer and student of FSKKP

1.5 THESIS ORGANIZATION

This thesis total up consists of five chapters, structure as below.

Chapter 1 is the introduction to the project. In this chapter contain introduction,

problem statement, objective, scope, thesis organization and reference for this chapter.

In Chapter 2 which is literature review will consists of an introduction to this

chapter, main body of the literature review and one conclusion for the literature review.
The purpose of this literature review is to discuss on the title proposed in this thesis, the
literature review will discuss on the different type of design rule which can be found in
context of Human Computer Interaction. These discussion will supported by published
 5

article, thesis, research paper, existing system report, journal or books that study on
design rule and project that uses these design rules.

In chapter 3 consists of methodology uses for the proposed title. This chapter will
describe how the data and result is process. This chapter will also discuss on the
obtained result and conclusion for the result.

In chapter 4 which is the design for the system proposed in the title. This chapter
consists of the design pattern for the system, prototype, interface and description for
each subsystem and function for the system.

Lastly in chapter 5 is the summarize conclusion for the whole project. In this
chapter will consist of discussion and conclusion for the project. This chapter will also
contain future works for this project.
 6

CHAPTER 2

LITERATURE REVIEW

2.1 INTRODUCTION

The word Human Computer Interaction is very common when a software or

computer program was developed. According to John M.Carroll “Human-computer
interaction (HCI) is an area of research and practice that emerged in the early 1980s,
which initially as a specialty area in computer science embracing cognitive science and
human factors engineering”. (John M.Carroll, 2009) This shows that the term Human
Computer Interaction or commonly known as HCI is already a knowledge use in early
1980s. The term HCI means to study the interaction happen between human and
computer or hardware when commencing a program in area of computer science.

According to Fakhreddine, “sometimes called as Man-Machine Interaction or

Interfacing, concept of Human-Computer Interaction/Interfacing (HCI) was
automatically represented with the emerging of computer, or more generally machine,
itself. The reason, in fact, is clear: most sophisticated machines are worthless unless they
can be used properly by men. This basic argument simply presents the main terms that
should be considered in the design of HCI: functionality and usability.” (Fakhreddine,
2008)

Thus, in designing an interface for program, web program, or etc, a set of

guideline or standard will be followed or implemented. Some of the well known
guideline or standard are listed as shown: Shneiderman‟s 8 Golden Rules, Jacob Nielsen
10 Heuristic of Usability, Norman‟s 7 Principles and etc. The content below will
describe each of these guideline or standard and one of these guideline will choose and
implement as the development of next version of FSKKP web portal.
 7

2.2 SHNEIDERMAN’S EIGHT GOLDEN RULES

The guideline Shneiderman‟s Eight Golden Rules of interface design is obtains

from the text designing the User Interface by Ben Shneiderman. These collections of
design principles are derived base on experience by many developers and can be applied
into programs after being refined. Below are the discussions on each single rule found
in Shneiderman‟s Eight Golden Rules.

The first rule is Strive for consistency. The meaning of this rule based on rough
explanation is to achieve or to aim for the consistency of an object. But in terminology
of computer science, this mean to achieve or to aim for the consistency of the program
interface, how the interface looks and detail of the layout of the program. For example,
the banner for all page should be same in term of size, location, color and etc to avoid
confusion. According to Romli,

“Consistency interfaces let user to be familiar with the system thus helps them to
use the system well.” (Cha A.P., Romli A., 2010).

Similar content or layout will assist the user because they will do not feel trouble when
wants to use the system and understand the function of each button or link thus help to
reduce mistake makes.

According to Nielsen, “Consistent systems will make the user dare to explore
the system and learn more, the same info should always be in the same position and
look similar. If the user knows that the same command always has the same effect he
will be more confident when using the system.” (Nielsen, 1993)

The second rule is Enable Frequent Users to Use Shortcut. The reason for using
shortcut is to save time or to improve performance for an expert user. Expert users
usually know to user special key, hot key or hidden commands to speed up performance
of an action thus, this feature is necessary in the system but not mandatory to use
because for a beginner user they might not be familiar with the function available in the
system yet. According to Cha and Romli, “This definitely reduces time and prevents
major error in the system and for user.” (Cha A.P., Romli A., 2010). For a new user,
they are new to the system, thus they will feel lost and worried when using the system.
So simple method should be show on the interface so that they could easily find it and
 8

notice the function they look for. When a user getting use to the system, they will feel
less worried because they already knew what will happen when they click on the
function available on screen. Thus the system should provide with shortcut that enable
to perform the similar function for the experience user.

The similar explanation was quote by Nielsen, “When choosing how many
alternatives there should be for a user interaction, you should make the easiest
alternative visible so new users can use that and do not have to choose between
alternatives. When users become more experienced they can be offered more
alternatives. This way they can choose the most effective way when they are more
confident with the system.” (Neilsen, 1993)

The third rule is Offer Informative Feedback. Feedback is very important as they
will be message from the system need to inform the user. For all action done by the
user, system should prompt with feedback to inform user which state they are in. Thus,
visibility of the feedback and its format are very important so user able to notice the
feedback easily.

“Informative feedback such as when the user did not input the right format, they
will be message box guiding them what to do. This also happens when user click on the
menu, informative feedback is display as they are informed of the current state and user
will know what to do on that state of interface.” (Cha A.P., Romli A., 2010)

One more characteristic of feedback is its response time. An important feedback

need to appear on the screen in very short time and need to be very visible to user, while
for the less important or standard feedback, the time or visibility can be modest.

According to Nielsen, “Response times should always be as fast as possible. The

limit to what is perceived as immediate is 0.1 seconds. The limit for perceiving
something as flowing is one second and after about ten second the user will lose
attention on the current interaction. When something takes more than ten second there
should be a visual feedback showing how much time is remaining and how much work
has been done. For actions that take two to nine seconds there could be some feedback
that is not drawing the attention very much, for example a small number increasing in a
corner of the screen.” (Nielsen, 1993)
 9

The fourth rule is Design Dialogs to Yield Closure. Series of task need to
columned in groups, thus user can continue complete all task require for an action. For
every stage of phases, a feedback is show to user for notify or indicate what the process
is complete and new process is ahead. As refer from Edward, “Create a feeling of
progress and achievement. Immediate feedback allows users to assess whether the
results were what they expected. Previews of coming results should be available where
possible.” (Edward, 2004)

The fifth rule is Offer Error Prevention and Simple Error Handling. The purpose
of this rule is to prevent the error from happening and provide with simple error
handling or recover when an error is happens. System or programs have to be develop
so that it minimize or reduce as many as possible errors by users and when error
happens system offer simple instruction for recovery and the progress of action are
undone to previous state. “Error prevention and error handling is one way that can
prevent user from making mistakes and if they do, they are offered clear and
informative instructions to enable them to recover.” (Cha A.P., Romli A, 2010)

Where according to Backlund, “design the system so that the user cannot make a
serious error. If a user commits an error, the system should detect the error and offer
simple, constructive and specific instructions for recovery. The user should not have to
redo the entire action, only the erroneous part.” (Backlund J., 2001)

The sixth rule is Permit Easy Reversal of Action. In this rule, user are provided
with undo feature which they able to undone all action they made so user can recover
quickly from error. “This feature relieves anxiety, since the user knows that errors can
be undone thus encourages exploration of unfamiliar options.” (Cha A.P., Romli A.,
2010)

The seventh rule is Support Internal Locus of Control. This rule is to make sure
that the user are the one who in charge to the system but not the system who controlling.
This is important because user can do anything as they want while not being control by
the system. Unpredictable system functionality, difficulty in data processing, large
amount of time delay for complete action, and etc lead to dissatisfaction of user.

“Place the user in control and provide proactive assistance. Enable users to
accomplish tasks using any sequence of steps they would naturally use. Current state
 10

and possible actions should be obvious. You can leave the system and return later and
the system is in the same state.” (Edward, 2004)

The eighth rule is Reduce Short-Term Memory Load. In terminology of

memory, a normal human are only able to remember around 7 things for a short periods.
System required information for data processing should be kept in simple and straight
forward. Thus, all system developed have to be consider for all type of user. According
to Cha and Romli, “the display of an interface should be simple to reduce short-term
memory load. Interfaces are design as simple as possible, but still promote positive
responses from user…” (Cha A.P., Romli A., 2010)

2.3 NORMAN’S SEVEN PRINCIPLES

The first rule of Norman‟s Seven Principles is Use Both Knowledge in the
World and Knowledge in the Head. The rule means to aid the user of the system by
including the factor of knowledge both easily available in daily life and came from
experience. This way user able to adepts into the system more quickly because the
knowledge needed to operate the system is available in daily life and from experience
from the pass.

According to Fischer, “Norman argues that a task is more easily learned when
the needed information is available in the world. This information is only useful when it
is presented in a „natural easily‟ interpreted way. When a user becomes experienced less
knowledge has to be extracted from external sources and more will be in the head. The
offered information in the world may never interfere with the use of experienced users.”
(Fischer, 1999)

The second rule is Simplify the Structure of the Task. Structure of task that
available in the system should be as simplify as possible and easily understand by all
range of user. Problematic, critical thinking process should be kept away from the
structure to increase the performance speed.

According to Neerincx, “This is where the designer should pay attention to

psychological aspects of the user. The offered stimuli should not result in an overload
situation of the workload of the user. It is however also important that a minimum level
 11

of challenge is guaranteed because the user might easily make errors based on
inattention and boredom.” (Neerincx, 1995).

The third rule is Make Things Visible: Bridge the Gulfs of Execution and
Evaluation. The rule means all actions, feedback, process and etc available in the system
have to be clearly shown it information, expected result and provided visible step to
user so that user can see what is the result and how to operate the action. Confirmation
message, system message, task completion message and other have to be shown clear to
the user to make sure user is notified with the action they made.

As refer from Fischer, “The user-interface should provide the user with
information, feed-forward, to decide which actions he should undertake. The right side
of the schema with the stages: perceiving the state of the world, interpreting the
perception, and evaluation of the perception; is the evaluation side. The user-interface
should give feedback that can be understood. Thus the user can see what can be done
and what the results are.” (Fischer, 1999)

The fourth rule is Get the Mapping Right. This specific principle means the
designer of the system need to assign all the control to the correct button or notation so
it carries its purpose of the particular control. The control provides to the user are also
need to be logical to the control we see in daily life and easily can understand the
meaning of the control. For example in Microsoft word, save button display as a
diskette icon, close button display as cross icon and etc. This logo represent it meaning
as in the real world, thus even user without any experience to the system they will
slightly understand the meaning for certain button or icon.

According to Fischer, “to get the mappings 'right' a „natural‟ mapping should be
used. A natural mapping is a mapping that leads to immediate understanding because
the representation of the functionality in the controls is made considering physical
analogies and cultural standards.” (Fischer, 1999)

The fifth rule is Use Exploit the Power of Constraints both Natural and
Artificial. This rule means to user the constraints as the thing to direct user to perform
the correct action in the correct manner. According to Fischer, “design the product in
such a way that only one action is possible or logical in any given situation.” (Fischer,
1999)
 12

The sixth rule is Design for Error. Sometimes user makes error, so this rule is to
make sure designer always prepare an alternative for user whenever an error is found
and able to recover from the error. Error prevention, recoverability is requires for all
system in the world due to the human nature for making mistake. Human are easily
commit mistake when they confront with unfamiliar object or problem, thus prevention
method and recover method have to prepare.

According to Fischer, “assume that any error will be made. A user will make
errors so the system should be designed to anticipate all possible errors and allow the
user to correct them.” (Fischer, 1999)

The seventh rule is When All Else Fails, Standardize. A lot of information and
type of design need to be implement, sometime there are certain information which are
very difficult to explain, thus one type of standard need to be follow for all the
encounter which similar.

As quoting from Fischer, “when something cannot be explained in any way

completely logical or culturally determined, make sure a universal standard is followed.
When standards are followed rigorously they may well become part of a cultural
stereotype and change into a natural mapping. Things like that have happened with the
analogue clock, type writer keyboards, and the side of the road people drives on.”
(Fischer, 1999)

2.4 JACOB NIELSEN TEN HEURISTIC OF USABILITY

The first rule is Visibility of System Status. In this rule mention that the system
needs to keep the users informed of what they are doing with a highly visible
notification. System status and error message have to shown clearly to user so that they
are notify with their position in the system progress.

According to Grobschmidt, “Making it clear where the user is benefits everyone,

whether disabled or not. Proper use of titles, headings and sub-headings help those
using assistive technology devices such as screen readers, which provide easy methods
of calling out what those headers are. Clear-cut way finders in extensive processes are
 13

particularly useful for those with cognitive disabilities, keeping them focused on what
they are seeing.” (Grobschmidt, 2012)

The second rule is Match between system and the Real World. This rule
specifically mention on the language, words, or concept that use to display on the screen
to the user. Always consider to the range of users proposed in the system, the system
also need to organize all the information in such way that suit the users view making
information as natural as possible.

According to Cha A.P. and Romli A., “The phrases and instruction or test
questions are easy to understand. Same goes to dialog boxes, which uses normal and
familiar phrases, without using computer jargon that might be hard to understand by
user.” (Cha A.P., Romli A., 2010)

The third rule is User Control and Freedom. The availability of control by user is
very important because it will make user feel in control to the system but not controlling
by the system. User able to make emergency action in all phase of the progress making
them able to restore and recover before any error is happens.

According to Grobschmidt, “don‟t set your users down paths they can‟t easily
get out of. If they get themselves stuck in some location or process they didn‟t mean to,
make it really easy to climb out and back on their way.” (Grobschmidt, 2012)

The fourth rule is Consistency and Standard. This rule carries meaning of
creating all interfaces in one specific style, using similar font type, font size, and even
location of information have to be allocated in an orderly manner so that user will not
feel lost when using the system. Consistent layout of any interfaces will help user to
recognize certain function or action available based on previous action done on the
similar interface.

According to Grobschmidt, “call things by the same name everywhere on your

web site or application. Switching around terminology will throw people off. This
includes being consistent with links, buttons…all calls to action. You never know who
is getting to your site or application on what page, so make sure it feels like a unified
experience everywhere.” (Grobschmidt, 2012)
 14

The fifth rule is Error Prevention. Error prevention is essential for all system
because all people will makes mistake sometimes, thus error prevention is necessary to
reduce the chances of getting an error. The term prevention is better than cure can be
applied in all system because system able to prevent user for committing error and
provided them with alternative solution, in certain circumstances when an error is
happen all the information key into the system is lost due to one small error happen,
thus increase user dissatisfaction.

According to Grobschmidt, “even better than good error messages is a careful

design which prevents a problem from occurring in the first place. Either eliminate
error-prone conditions or check for them and present users with a confirmation option
before they commit to the action.” (Grobschmidt, 2012)

The sixth rule is Recognition rather Than Recall. This rule is to make sure when
some information is needed in any phase of a progress, user do not need to memorize
from the beginning of the progress. All other require information should somewhat
display or notify the user in the system.

According to Grobschmidt, “make objects, actions, and options visible. The user
should not have to remember information from one part of the dialogue to another.
Instructions for use of the system should be visible or easily retrievable whenever
appropriate.” (Grobschmidt, 2012)

The seventh rule is Flexibility and Efficiency of Use. Any systems that develop
need to cater for both experience and inexperience users. This is because the system is
understandable by inexperience users and not too directive for an experience user. In all,
one similar action is able to perform both easily by an inexperience user and quickly by
an experience user.

Referring to Grobschmidt, “in creating a good experience, you shouldn‟t cater

only to the newbies. Find ways to provide shortcuts for experienced users, so that they
don‟t have to go through unnecessary steps every time they try to do something they
routinely are coming back to do.” (Grobschmidt, 2012)

The eighth rule is Aesthetic and Minimalist Design. Unnecessary information,

irrelevant points should not show to user. This is because the more information
 15

available, the more confuse the user will be. Users tend to read and implement
everything display to them whether they understand or not, thus the chance of an error
to happen is very high. So, all message box, popup menu have to be as simple as
possible.

According to Grobschmidt, “keep things simple and straightforward. Much like

a good writer eliminates unnecessary words to build a concise, impactful piece of work,
you should ask yourself with every element you put on a web site or in an application,
“Is this really necessary?” Boil it down to the most critical information. Anything else is
probably just noise.” (Grobschmidt, 2012)

The ninth rule is Help Users Recognize, Diagnose and Recover from Error.
When an error happens, error message is prompt to users in order to aid user to recover
from the error. Thus, the language use needs to be simple, easy to understand, and keep
away from giving nonsense information. When an error is happen, system able to
recognize the error and then provide the user with alternative solution to correct the
error. Then system should recover from the error and able to proceed with previous state
without removing any input data from user.

According to Cha A.P. and Romli A., “ESPBSM provides error messages that
helps user to recover from error by expressing them in a simple, understandable to
indicate the problem and constructively suggest a solution. Every error messages is vital
to help user to understand the current status of ESPBSM.” (Cha A.P., Romli A., 2010)

The tenth rule is Help and Documentation. The last rule of Nielsen Ten Usability
Heuristic is to provide with help or document that contain of way to operate, diagnose,
recover from error, and all the system functionality. This is a very important aspect
since the developer cannot aid the user from time to time, so the document is consider
as a first level of solution to user when they encounter with problems.

According to Grobschmidt, “Even though it is better if the system can be used

without documentation, it may be necessary to provide help and documentation. Any
such information should be easy to search, focused on the user‟s task, list concrete steps
to be carried out, and not be too large.” (Grobschmidt, 2012)
 16

2.5 COMPARISON BETWEEN ALL THREE STANDARD

The guideline proposed by Shneiderman, Norman, and Jacob Nielsen all have its
own strength and focus design principle. So, based on all the discussion between
guideline as shown above, one of the guideline will be selected for the main guideline
for designing the next version of FSKKP web portal that suit to the range of user of
FSKKP web portal and standard. Comparison between all three guideline will be done
and the most suitable guideline will be selected.

Table 2.1 show the attribute allocation of all three guideline for specific design
principle which very crucial for any development of system.

Table 2.1 Attribute point allocation summarize for all three discussed guidelines

Sources Shneiderman Norman Jacob Nielsen

Consistency x x x
User Control x x
Appropriate Presentation x x x
Error Handling and Recovery x x x
Memory-Load Reduction x x x
Task Match x x
Flexibility x x x
Guidance, Help x

According to Keinonen, “table 2.1 (above) presents the most frequently

mentioned principles and the guidelines that address them (marked as x). Different
references arrange the same aspects in different ways. Some dimensions that seem to be
lacking in a guideline are included as sub dimensions or even as items in a checklist.
For some principles it is difficult to decide whether a guideline mentions them or not.
Some themes are made explicit, while some are only implied. Sometimes the same
principles are illuminated from the point of view of system design and sometimes from
that of user behavior. Thus, the table cannot be interpreted as absolutely exact. Neither
does the comparison aim at suggesting some definitive set of principles as better or
more comprehensive than another. The differences are due to the varying scopes of the
different guidelines. The table is presented to illustrate the agreement between the