Exam Review

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Exam Review

• WHEN Thursday, Oct. 25
• FORMAT Multiple Choice, Matching, Ordering
  Closed book and closed notes.
• BONUS Submit up to 5 questions (along with
  correct answers) by Wednesday, October 24 at
  1000PM to earn up to 5 bonus points to be
  applied to your final exam grade. (5)
• BONUS Part Deux Exam will be taken via MyCourses
  during class time. When you submit your exam, you
  will get immediate feedback as to your score (but
  not which questions you got wrong or right). You
  may take the exam up to three times within the
  allotted class time. Best score will be the one
  graded.

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Topics Covered

• Top 10 Usability Heuristics
• Usability LifeCycle
• Design Considerations
• HTAs
• User Personas
• Problem Scenario
• Task Scenario
• Evaluation Types
• Evaluation Methods
• Usability Testing Process

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THE USABILITY ENGINEERING LIFECYCLE
1. REQUIREMENTS ANALYSIS
User Profile Contextual Task Analysis Platform
Capabilities Constraints General Design
Principles
Usability Goals
2. DESIGN, TESTING DEVELOPMENT
Level 1 Work Reengineering Conceptual Model
Design Conceptual Model Mock-ups Iterative
Conceptual Model Evaluation
Level 2 Screen Design Standards Screen Design
Prototyping Iterative Screen Design Standards
Evaluation Style Guide Development
Level 3 Detailed User Interface
Design Iterative Detailed User Interface Design
Evaluation
3. Installation
User Feedback
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Phase 1
REQUIREMENTS ANALYSIS
User Profile Contextual Task Analysis Platform
Capabilities Constraints General Design
Principles
Usability Goals
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THE USABILITY ENGINEERING LIFECYCLE
2. DESIGN, TESTING DEVELOPMENT
Level 1 Work Reengineering Conceptual Model
Design Conceptual Model Mock-ups Iterative
Conceptual Model Evaluation
Level 2 Screen Design Standards Screen Design
Prototyping Iterative Screen Design Standards
Evaluation Style Guide Development
Level 3 Detailed User Interface
Design Iterative Detailed User Interface Design
Evaluation
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5 Usability Attributes

• Learnability
• Efficiency
• Memorability
• Errors
• Satisfaction

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The top 10 recommended usability heuristics

• Visibility of system status
• Match between system and the real world
• User control and freedom
• Consistency and standards
• Error prevention
• Recognition rather than recall
• Flexibility and efficiency of use
• Aesthetic and minimalist design
• Help users recognize, diagnose, and recover from
  errors
• Help and documentation

according to Nielsen
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1. Visibility of system status

• The system should always keep users informed
  about what is going on, through appropriate
  feedback within reasonable time.

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1.1 Feedback

• What user is doing
• How input being interpreted
• Restate user input
• Remove when operation is completed
• Response time
• Latency Reduction
• Use indicatorsstatus mechanisms
• System failure
• Graceful degradation

1. Visibility of system status
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2. Match between system and the real world

• The system should speak the users' language, with
  words, phrases and concepts familiar to the user,
  rather than system-oriented terms. Follow
  real-world conventions, making information appear
  in a natural and logical order.

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2.1 Speak the users language

• Use users native language
• Mappings and metaphors
• Use user task language
• Metaphors
• making the abstract seem familiar

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2.2 Simple and natural dialog

• Anticipate users wants and needs
• Match the user task
• Less is more reduce complexity
• use defaults
• templates, etc
• Present info only when needed for task

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2.3 What is a metaphor?

• Examples
• Electronic Mail (Email)
• Desktops
• Notebooks
• Cards

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2.31 Three Basic Metaphors

• Manipulation/physical objects
• Navigation
• Conversational

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2.32 Using metaphors

• Must correlate well with the abstract concept
• Models should suggest how to use an object.

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3. User control and freedom

• Users often choose system functions by mistake
  and will need a clearly marked "emergency exit"
  to leave the unwanted state without having to go
  through an extended dialogue. Support undo and
  redo.

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4. Consistency and standards

• Users should not have to wonder whether different
  words, situations, or actions mean the same
  thing. Follow platform conventions.

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4.1 Consistency

• Internal and external consistency
• Levels
• shortcut keys
• small visible structures
• overall look
• suite of products
• in-house consistency
• platform consistency

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4.2 Grids

• Focus
• readability
• higher-level structure

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5. Error prevention

• Even better than good error messages is a careful
  design which prevents a problem from occurring in
  the first place.

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6. Recognition rather than recall

• 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.

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6.1 Minimize the users memory load

• Display dialogue
• Use multi-modal displays
• Choose from items generated
• Provide formats
• Give examples

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7. Flexibility and efficiency of use

• Accelerators -- unseen by the novice user -- may
  often speed up the interaction for the expert
  user such that the system can cater to both
  inexperienced and experienced users. Allow users
  to tailor frequent actions.

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7.1 Flexibility

• Flexibility
• dealing with unanticipated situations
• support for dynamic layouts (resize)

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7.2 Consistency

• Consistent application
• corporate logo
• look and feel
• placement, appearance, meaning
• layout of dialog boxes

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7.3 Shortcuts

• Support efficiency of the user
• Help experienced users
• Type-ahead
• Jump directly to where user wants to go
• Reuse interaction history

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8. Aesthetic and minimalist design

• Dialogues should not contain information which is
  irrelevant or rarely needed. Every extra unit of
  information in a dialogue competes with the
  relevant units of information and diminishes
  their relative visibility.

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• Graphic layout structure
• Fitts Law the time to acquire a target is a
  function of the distance to and size of the
  target.
• Grids

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9. Help users recognize, diagnose, and recover
from errors

• Error messages should be expressed in plain
  language (no codes), precisely indicate the
  problem, and constructively suggest a solution.

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9.1 Good error messages

• Use clear language and avoid codes
• Be precise not vague
• Be constructive and help user
• Be polite and not intimidate
• Multi-level messages
• Give shorter message first, click for more

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9.2 Prevent errors

• Protect users work
• Ask for confirmation
• Designers avoid modes
• Status indicators
• Avoid invisible navigation

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9.3 Common errors

• Arbitrary component positions
• Arbitrary component dimensions
• button sizes
• Random window sizes and layouts
• dialog boxes
• Unrelated icon sizes and imagery
• Inconsistent control presentations
• Inconsistent visual language

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10. Help and documentation

• 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.

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Hierarchical Task Analysis (HTA)

• Task decomposition
• Split into subtasks - subdivision no longer
  needed
• Plans to describe order and conditions
• Text and diagrams

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Plans

• Explanation for each step
• Fixed sequence - parts always done
• Choice
• Waiting for events
• Cycles - repetition
• Time-sharing - done at same time
• Discretionary - optional
• Mixture of all above
• Start and stop rule

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What Is a Task Scenario?

• Example for a customer support page for a
  computer retailer
• Who it is
• A 20 year old college student
• What they want to do
• Find out how to fix her HP printer that wont
  print
• When they want to do it
• At 11pm at night
• Where they are
• In a dorm room using her laptop
• Why they want to do it
• For a term paper due tomorrow

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Types of Tasks Critical Tasks

• New concepts or features
• E.g., new search capabilities
• New mechanisms for users
• E.g., drop down lists, roll-overs
• Critical features to success of interface
• E.g., ordering or communication

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Task Scenarios Type of Tasks

• Navigational/informational tasks
• Find out more detail about Acme product
• Search tasks
• Can I find out about a product from this
  country?
• Transactional tasks
• How do you buy the product?
• When will you receive your order?
• Register for the class.
• Communication tasks
• How do I change my order?
• When will my vendor be shipping?

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User Interaction Scenario

• A story about people and their activities
• Also called Activity Design Scenario
• Example
• An accountant wishes to open a folder displayed
  on his screen in order to open and read a memo.
  However, the folder is covered by a budget
  spreadsheet that he also needs to see while
  reading the memo. The spreadsheet is so large
  that it nearly fills the display. The accountant
  pauses for several seconds, then resizes the
  spreadsheet, moves it partially out of the
  display, opens the folder, opens the memo,
  resizes and repositions the memo, and continues
  working.

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Root Concept

• High-level Vision may come from management,
  client, marketing, open-ended discussions about
  new technologies
• Rationale why do we want to do this?
• Starting assumptions these constrain or
  otherwise guide the development process
• Stakeholders (users) identification of the
  people who will have a vested interest (or stake)
  in the project outcome

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Using User/Customer Personas and Task Scenarios

• Usage
• Match specific tasks with the individuals
• Use in both design and evaluation
• In design, used as a target and communication
  tool
• In evaluation, the tasks are used to illuminate
  the expected experience
• Repeat the task, approaching it as if you were
  one of the other personas

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Stakeholders The Users

• Determined from the observations and interviews
  for each group
• Organize into profiles
• Include general characteristics

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Scenario-based Design and Evaluation

• Who is the user?
• Develop user personas
• What are they supposed to do?
• Develop some task descriptions

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Scenario

• A story about people carrying out an activity
• Problem scenario a story about the problem
  domain as it exists prior to technology
  introduction
• Good at raising questions
• Design scenario conveys a new vision for the
  project

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User Personas

• Build a profile of a user with enough richness
  for a designer to get into their shoes
• Who
• Age, gender, education, experience (internet and
  computer), occupation, language and
  nationality(?)
• Context
• When, where (work, home, other), computer (speed,
  browser, monitor, etc.), connection (ISP, modem,
  etc.)

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Four basic graphic design principles

• Contrast
• Repetition
• Alignment
• Proximity

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Classic graphic design principles (GESTALT)

• Continuity
• Closure
• Proximity
• Similarity
• Symmetry

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Traditional categories

• Wurman has indicated that he had found only five
  ways to meaningfully organise information. These
  are known by the menomic 'LATCH' standing for
• L) by location,
• A) by alphabet,
• T) organised by time (museum shows, for eg),
• C) by category (e.g like department stores),
• H) by hierarchy (e.g from the largest to
  smallest).

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Moks additions

• linear,
• hierarchical,
• web or rhizomatic,
• parallel
• matrix,
• overlay
• spatial zoom.

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Definition - Prototype

• Artifacts that simulate or animate some but not
  all features of the intended system
• Iterative design

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Three main approaches

• Revolutionary
• Throw-away
• Actual prototype is discarded
• Incremental
• Product built one component at a time
• Evolutionary
• Basis for iterative design system evolves

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Rapid Prototyping

• Fast cycles, little or no code development
• Early visualization of product
• Crisp definition of requirements
• Early user testing
• Enhanced feedback to the user

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Approach - Scaling down

• Horizontal
• shallow and wide
• usability eval. less realistic, but covers
  functionality
• Vertical
• deep and narrow
• usability eval. realistic, but few functions
• details in functions included

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Approach - Content

• Global
• wide and deep
• much of entire system
• get a feel for the final product
• Local
• narrow and shallow
• pick a single important detail
• stand-alone, not connected to rest of sys.

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Usability Testing

• Part 1

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Usability Testing

• Part 1

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What we want

• Reliability
• Repeatable results
• Validity
• Do results reflect usability issues one wants to
  test
• Wrong users, wrong tasks

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Evaluation

• Informal
• go play around with this thing and tell us what
  to fix
• Formative
• as developed
• Summative
• after product finished

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Formative Evaluation

• All thru project
• Use think aloud
• 3 major cycles followed by iterative redesign
• Get most data from the first major cycle
• Fewer newer discoveries later

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Summative Evaluation

• Good for comparing 2 products
• Performed once
• If you wait, may be too late
• Better for comparison of two systems

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Usability Testing

• Plan and prepare
• Conduct the test
• Collect data
• Analyze data
• Draw conclusions
• Document results
• Repeat step 1

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Task analysis
setting
users