Guidelines
Guidelines
Guidelines
Ben Shneiderman, an American computer scientist consolidated some implicit facts about
designing and came up with the following eight general guidelines −
Information Display
Information provided by the HCI should not be incomplete or unclear or else the application will
not meet the requirements of the user. To provide better display, the following guidelines are
prepared −
Exhibit only that information that is applicable to the present context.
Don't burden the user with data, use a presentation layout that allows rapid
integration of information.
Use standard labels, standard abbreviations and probable colors.
Permit the user to maintain visual context.
Generate meaningful error messages.
Use upper and lower case, indentation and text grouping to aid in understanding.
Use windows (if available) to classify different types of information.
Use analog displays to characterize information that is more easily integrated with
this form of representation.
Consider the available geography of the display screen and use it efficiently.
Data Entry
The following guidelines focus on data entry that is another important aspect of HCI −
Reduce the number of input actions required of the user.
Uphold steadiness between information display and data input.
Let the user customize the input.
Interaction should be flexible but also tuned to the user's favored mode of input.
Disable commands that are unsuitable in the context of current actions.
Allow the user to control the interactive flow.
Offer help to assist with all input actions.
Remove "mickey mouse" input.
The objective of this chapter is to learn all the aspects of design and development of interactive
systems, which are now an important part of our lives. The design and usability of these systems
leaves an effect on the quality of people’s relationship to technology. Web applications, games,
embedded devices, etc., are all a part of this system, which has become an integral part of our
lives. Let us now discuss on some major components of this system.
Usability Testing
The scientific evaluation of the stated usability parameters as per the user’s requirements,
competences, prospects, safety and satisfaction is known as usability testing.
Acceptance Testing
Acceptance testing also known as User Acceptance Testing (UAT), is a testing procedure that is
performed by the users as a final checkpoint before signing off from a vendor. Let us take an
example of the handheld barcode scanner.
Let us assume that a supermarket has bought barcode scanners from a vendor. The supermarket
gathers a team of counter employees and make them test the device in a mock store setting. By this
procedure, the users would determine if the product is acceptable for their needs. It is required that
the user acceptance testing "pass" before they receive the final product from the vendor.
Software Tools
A software tool is a programmatic software used to create, maintain, or otherwise support other
programs and applications. Some of the commonly used software tools in HCI are as follows −
Specification Methods − The methods used to specify the GUI. Even though
these are lengthy and ambiguous methods, they are easy to understand.
Grammars − Written Instructions or Expressions that a program would
understand. They provide confirmations for completeness and correctness.
Transition Diagram − Set of nodes and links that can be displayed in text, link
frequency, state diagram, etc. They are difficult in evaluating usability, visibility,
modularity and synchronization.
Statecharts − Chart methods developed for simultaneous user activities and
external actions. They provide link-specification with interface building tools.
Interface Building Tools − Design methods that help in designing command
languages, data-entry structures, and widgets.
Interface Mockup Tools − Tools to develop a quick sketch of GUI. E.g.,
Microsoft Visio, Visual Studio .Net, etc.
Software Engineering Tools − Extensive programming tools to provide user
interface management system.
Evaluation Tools − Tools to evaluate the correctness and completeness of
programs.
HCI and Software Engineering
Software engineering is the study of designing, development and preservation of software. It
comes in contact with HCI to make the man and machine interaction more vibrant and
interactive.
Let us see the following model in software engineering for interactive designing.
The Waterfall Method
Interactive System Design
The uni-directional movement of the waterfall model of Software Engineering shows that every
phase depends on the preceding phase and not vice-versa. However, this model is not suitable for
the interactive system design.
The interactive system design shows that every phase depends on each other to serve the purpose
of designing and product creation. It is a continuous process as there is so much to know and
users keep changing all the time. An interactive system designer should recognize this diversity.
Prototyping
Prototyping is another type of software engineering models that can have a complete range of
functionalities of the projected system.
In HCI, prototyping is a trial and partial design that helps users in testing design ideas without
executing a complete system.
Example of a prototype can be Sketches. Sketches of interactive design can later be produced
into graphical interface. See the following diagram.
The above diagram can be considered as a Low Fidelity Prototype as it uses manual procedures
like sketching in a paper.
A Medium Fidelity Prototype involves some but not all procedures of the system. E.g., first
screen of a GUI.
Finally, a Hi Fidelity Prototype simulates all the functionalities of the system in a design. This
prototype requires, time, money and work force.
HCI Analogy
Let us take a known analogy that can be understood by everyone. A film director is a person who
with his/her experience can work on script writing, acting, editing, and cinematography. He/She
can be considered as the only person accountable for all the creative phases of the film.
Similarly, HCI can be considered as the film director whose job is part creative and part
technical. An HCI designer have substantial understanding of all areas of designing. The
following diagram depicts the analogy −
Several interactive devices are used for the human computer interaction. Some of them are
known tools and some are recently developed or are a concept to be developed in the future. In
this chapter, we will discuss on some new and old interactive devices.
Touch Screen
The touch screen concept was prophesized decades ago, however the platform was acquired
recently. Today there are many devices that use touch screen. After vigilant selection of these
devices, developers customize their touch screen experiences.
The cheapest and relatively easy way of manufacturing touch screens are the ones using
electrodes and a voltage association. Other than the hardware differences, software alone can
bring major differences from one touch device to another, even when the same hardware is used.
Along with the innovative designs and new hardware and software, touch screens are likely to
grow in a big way in the future. A further development can be made by making a sync between
the touch and other devices.
In HCI, touch screen can be considered as a new interactive device.
Gesture Recognition
Gesture recognition is a subject in language technology that has the objective of understanding
human movement via mathematical procedures. Hand gesture recognition is currently the field of
focus. This technology is future based.
This new technology magnitudes an advanced association between human and computer where
no mechanical devices are used. This new interactive device might terminate the old devices like
keyboards and is also heavy on new devices like touch screens.
Speech Recognition
The technology of transcribing spoken phrases into written text is Speech Recognition. Such
technologies can be used in advanced control of many devices such as switching on and off the
electrical appliances. Only certain commands are required to be recognized for a complete
transcription. However, this cannot be beneficial for big vocabularies.
This HCI device help the user in hands free movement and keep the instruction based technology
up to date with the users.
Keyboard
A keyboard can be considered as a primitive device known to all of us today. Keyboard uses an
organization of keys/buttons that serves as a mechanical device for a computer. Each key in a
keyboard corresponds to a single written symbol or character.
This is the most effective and ancient interactive device between man and machine that has given
ideas to develop many more interactive devices as well as has made advancements in itself such
as soft screen keyboards for computers and mobile phones.
Response Time
Response time is the time taken by a device to respond to a request. The request can be anything
from a database query to loading a web page. The response time is the sum of the service time
and wait time. Transmission time becomes a part of the response time when the response has to
travel over a network.
In modern HCI devices, there are several applications installed and most of them function
simultaneously or as per the user’s usage. This makes a busier response time. All of that increase
in the response time is caused by increase in the wait time. The wait time is due to the running of
the requests and the queue of requests following it.
So, it is significant that the response time of a device is faster for which advanced processors are
used in modern devices.
HCI Design
HCI design is considered as a problem solving process that has components like planned usage,
target area, resources, cost, and viability. It decides on the requirement of product similarities to
balance trade-offs.
The following points are the four basic activities of interaction design −
Identifying requirements
Building alternative designs
Developing interactive versions of the designs
Evaluating designs
Three principles for user-centered approach are −
Task Analysis
Task Analysis plays an important part in User Requirements Analysis.
Task analysis is the procedure to learn the users and abstract frameworks, the patterns used in
workflows, and the chronological implementation of interaction with the GUI. It analyzes the
ways in which the user partitions the tasks and sequence them.
What is a TASK?
Human actions that contributes to a useful objective, aiming at the system, is a task. Task
analysis defines performance of users, not computers.
Hierarchical Task Analysis
Hierarchical Task Analysis is the procedure of disintegrating tasks into subtasks that could be
analyzed using the logical sequence for execution. This would help in achieving the goal in the
best possible way.
"A hierarchy is an organization of elements that, according to prerequisite relationships, describes the
path of experiences a learner must take to achieve any single behavior that appears higher in the
hierarchy. (Seels & Glasgow, 1990, p. 94)".