Human Computer Interaction Lect. Five Fifth weak (31 Oct. to 4 Nov.

2010)

Introduction:
Universality of design is an important element in human-computer interaction. Dix et al (2004) defines universal design as, the process of designing products so that they can be used by as many people as possible in as many situations as possible. The Royal National Institute for the Blind (2004) further adds, without the need for special adaptation or specialized design. In reality, its impossible to ensure that everyone has the same experience in using a product, but universal design aims to at least provide an equivalent experience for all users. Universal design is essentially about attempting to ensure that no-one is excluded through the choices a designer makes; but by giving careful consideration to these issues, the design is invariably made better for everyone (Dix et al. 2004). This lecture addresses issues in HCI that impact on a users experience of a software product, and suggests interface design principles that attempt to take diversity into consideration.

Usability:
Usability is part of a broader scope of what makes a system good enough to be acceptable to the end user and other stakeholders, satisfying the needs and requirements of both. Nielsen & Mack describe usability as, a broad concept that refers to how easy it is for users to learn a system, how efficiently they can use it once they have learned to use it, and how pleasant it is to use.? Nielsen identified five attributes that contribute to usability: 1. Learnability. The user should be able to promptly start performing their tasks with the system. 2. Efficiency. Once the user has learned the system, a high level of productivity should be possible. 3. Memorability. The casual user should be able to return to the system after not having used it for some time, without having to relearn everything.

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4. Errors. Users should not make many errors using the system, and if they do, they should be able to easily recover from them. Catastrophic errors should not occur. 5. Satisfaction. Users should like using the system and should be subjectively satisfied when using it. The system should be pleasant to use. A system that has these attributes is said to be user-friendly. Based on these attributes, Nielsen (1993) also identifies 10 basic usability principles that should be followed in order to make a system user-friendly. These are: 1. Simple and natural dialogue Dialogues should not contain irrelevant or rarely needed information. Every additional item of information competes with and obscures more relevant information. Interfaces should match the users task in as natural a way as possible. Good graphic design is important to present a simple and natural interaction. 2. Speak the users language The dialogue should be expressed clearly in concepts and language that the user is familiar with, instead of using technical jargon. Follow real-world conventions, making information appear in a natural and logical order. Ensure that the conceptual model of the system design matches the users mental model as closely as possible. 3. Minimize user memory load Use recognition rather than recall by making objects, actions and options visible. Users should not have to remember information between parts of the same dialogue. Instructions for using the system should be visible or easily retrievable whenever appropriate. 4. Consistency Users should not have to wonder whether different actions mean the same thing. Users feel more confident in exploring the system if they know that the same command or action will always have the same effect. Follow platform conventions.
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5. Feedback The system should let users know what is happening through appropriate feedback within a reasonable time. 6. Clearly marked exits If a user selects an unwanted function by mistake, there should be a clearly marked exit point without having to go through an extended dialogue. Undo and redo should be supported. 7. Shortcuts Provide accelerators to allow expert users to speed up their interaction. The system should be able to cater for both novice and experienced users. Allow users to customize frequently-accessed options. 8. Good error messages Error messages should be phrased in clear language and avoid obscure codes. Error messages should be precise and not vague or general. Error messages should constructively help the user to solve the problem. Error messages should be polite, and not intimidate or explicitly blame the user. 9. Prevent errors Design carefully to prevent a problem from occurring in the first place. 10. Help and documentation Although the system should be able to be used without documentation, any help and documentation should be easy to search, focused on the users task, list concrete steps to be carried out, and not be too large. Shneiderman (1998), another of the early proponents of usability, also identified 8 Golden Rules of Interface Design, most of which overlap with Nielsens usability principles. These 8 rules are: 1. Strive for consistency. Keep action sequences consistent in similar situations. Use identical terminology in prompts, menus, and help screens. Employ consistent commands throughout.
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2. Enable frequent users to use shortcuts. As the frequency of use increases, so do the user's desires to increase interaction speed. Abbreviations, function keys, hidden commands, and macro facilities are very helpful to an expert user. 3. Offer informative feedback. System feedback should be provided for every operator action. Frequent and minor actions can provide a modest response, while the response should be more substantial for infrequent and major actions. 4. Design dialog to yield closure. Organized sequences of actions into groups with a beginning, middle, and end. Informative feedback when a group of actions is completed, gives the operators a sense of accomplishment and an indication that they can proceed to the next group of actions. 5. Offer simple error handling. The system should be designed so the user cannot make a serious error. If an error is made, the system should be able to detect the error and offer simple, comprehensible ways to recover from the error. 6. Permit easy reversal of actions. If the user knows that errors can be undone, they are encouraged to explore unfamiliar options without undue anxiety. The units of reversibility may be a single action, a data entry, or a complete group of actions. 7. Support internal locus of control. Experienced operators like to sense that they are in control of the system and that the system responds to their actions. Design the system to make users the initiators of actions rather than the responders.

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8. Reduce short-term memory load. Displays should be kept simple and sufficient training time should be allotted for codes, mnemonics, and sequences of actions. Usability Engineering Traditional software engineering methodologies focus on modeling the functional requirements of a system. User-centered design has been used to describe a methodology that supplements the software design process to better suit the design of interactive systems. One approach to user-centered design has been to introduce explicit usability engineering goals into the design process, with an emphasis on knowing exactly what criteria will be used to judge the success of a product in terms of its usability. Usability engineering includes application of usability principles as part of the software engineering lifecycle. However, there must also, at some point, be some avenue to test the user interface. Most quantitative analytical techniques that have been developed to specifically address usability, centre on calculating the times spent on specific tasks] (Raymond 2004). However, the majority of user interface testing is done through qualitative analysis. Some of these techniques are listed below. Usability Inspection Methods: Usability inspection is defined by Nielsen & Mack as, the generic name for a set of methods based on having evaluators inspect or examine usabilityrelated aspects of a user interface. Usability inspections are informal methods based on rules of thumb and the general skills, knowledge and experience of the evaluators. Nielsen & Mack (1994) describe three major reasons for performing usability inspections: 1. Usability inspection methods are inexpensive to use and do not require special equipment or lab facilities. 2. They represent a low hurdle to practitioners, who can start using simple inspection after a few hours into the development process. Similarly, inspection methods can be used at any stage of the system development cycle. 3. There is no need to change the way in which projects are planned or managed in order to realize substantial gain from usability inspections, because they can be integrated easily into established system development practices.
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Although each method has slightly different goals, they are all used as ways of evaluating the usability of existing user interface designs, and rely on judgment calls from the inspector as a source of evaluative feedback. Usability problems are identified, and recommendations are made to fix the problems and improve the usability of the interface design. However, usability inspection methods are better at finding problems than at driving the design for improved interfaces (Nielsen & Mack 1994).

Heuristic Evaluation:
Heuristic evaluation involves judging whether each dialogue element conforms to established usability principles (Nielsen & Mack 1994). The list of heuristics should related to the usability principles mentioned above.

Guideline Review
Guideline reviews can be considered as a cross between heuristic evaluation and standards inspection, and check an interface against a comprehensive list of around 1000 usability guidelines. They are not often used in practice because they require a high degree of expertise.

Pluralistic Walkthrough
Pluralistic walkthroughs are meetings where users, developers and human factors specialists step through a scenario, discussing associated usability issues.

Consistency Inspections
Consistency inspections are aimed at evaluating consistency across a family of products. An interface is inspected by designers representing multiple projects to see whether it is consistent with their own designs.

Standards Inspections
Standards are aimed at increasing the degree to which a given interface is in the range of other systems on the market that follow the same standards. An expert inspects the interface for compliance with some interface standard.

Cognitive Walkthroughs
A detailed procedure is used to simulate a users problem-solving process at each step in the human-computer interaction. The aim is to check that the simulated users goals and memory for actions can be assumed to lead to the next correct action.

Formal Usability Inspections

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A moderator manages both individual and focused inspections as well as the full team inspection meeting. A design owner is responsible for design and redesigns. Inspectors find the problems. A scribe records all defects and issues identified during the meeting.

Feature Inspections
Feature inspections focus on a function delivered in the software system. Feature inspections can involve not only the evaluation of a function itself, but also whether the design of the function meets the needs of intended end users. They should focus on the usefulness of interface function and not just the usability of the interface as distinct from the underlying program architecture. Summary The field of usability engineering, which came into prominence with the rise of the Internet, continues to receive widespread attention as a result of the increasing number of web applications that have found their way into the corporate mainstream. Aside from the informal inspection methods mentioned previously, various formal methods are also used to quantify user behavior and investigate ways in which the user experience of using a website or software can be improved. This lecture has covered the main theories and guidelines regarding usability engineering, but there are many more than those listed here. It is particularly interesting to note the similarities between accessibility principles and usability principles. Though the two fields developed somewhat independently of each other, their goals are similar in that each discipline seeks to improve the interface of a software product to suit the needs of the user.

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