Download Introduction to HCI: Common Errors and Principles

CSCI 102 Intro to IT B
Autumn 2002
Introduction to HCI
Lecturer
Gene Awyzio
3.117
(02) 4221 4090
[email protected]
Overview
• Designing for maximum usability is
the goal of design
• History of interactive system
design provides paradigms for
usable designs
• Principles of usability are more
general means of understanding
usability
Introduction
• Concerns
– How can an interactive system be developed to
ensure its usability?
– How can the usability of an interactive system
be demonstrated or measured?
• Approaches
– Paradigms for usability
• examples of successful interactive techniques
– Principles for usability
• theoretically driven from psychological, computational
and sociological knowledge
Historical perspective on
interactive system design
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• Time-sharing
– 40s and 50s – explosive technological growth
– 60s – need to channel the power
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J.C.R. Licklider at ARPA
single computer supporting multiple users
Video Display Units
more suitable medium than paper
– 1962 – Sutherland's Sketchpad
– Computers for visualizing and manipulating data
– One person's contribution could drastically change the
history of computing
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Principles to Support Usability
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• A structured presentation of general principles to
apply during design of an interactive system.
• Learnability
– the ease with which new users can begin effective
interaction and achieve maximal performance
• Flexibility
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– the multiplicity of ways the user and system exchange
information
Robustness
– the level of support provided the user in determining
successful achievement and assessment of goal-directed
behaviour
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Common Interface Design Mistakes
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Controls.
Questions
Visual elements
Use of colour
Terminology
Error messages
Tabbed Dialogs
Metaphors
Globalisation
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Controls
• Controls represent the means by which the user
communicates with the application
• The quality of the communication depends on two
aspects of the controls:
– The appropriateness of the control for the task
– The consistency of the rules under which the control
operates.
• Select the wrong tool for the job, or change the
rules under which the tool operates, and you will
create problems for your users. Here are some
examples...
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Controls
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Controls
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Controls
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Questions/Intelligence
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Questions/Intelligence
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Visual Elements
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Visual Elements
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Visual Elements
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Use of Colour
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Use of Colour
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Terminology
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Terminology
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Terminology
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Error Messages
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Error Messages
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Tabbed Dialogs
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Tabbed Dialogs
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Tabbed Dialogs
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Metaphors
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Metaphors
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Metaphors
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Globalisation
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Globalisation