2 - Fundamentals

Question 1

Why are discoverability and understanding important in good design?

Answer 1

Discoverability because it tells you what actions are possible and where you can perform them. Understanding because it tells you how to use the product.

Question 2

What is Schneiderman’s Strive for Consistency heuristic?

Answer 2

Use consistent standards across models to facilitate usability for users.

Question 3

What is Schneiderman’s Enable frequent users to use shortcuts heuristic?

Answer 3

Allow expert users to use shortcuts (ex. ctr + c) to maximize efficiency of use.

Question 4

What is Schneiderman’s Offer informative feedback heuristic?

Answer 4

Users should know where they are and what is going on at all times (timely & understandable feedback)

Question 5

What is Schneiderman’s Design dialogs to yield closure heuristic?

Answer 5

The interface should return some feed that indicates that a process has ended (ex. online payment -> end with verification that payment has gone through)

Question 6

What is Schneiderman’s Offer error prevention and simple error handling heuristic?

Answer 6

An interface should tell the user that something has gone wrong, and provide instructions on how to solve it.

Question 7

What is Schneiderman’s Permit easy reversal of actions heuristic?

Answer 7

User can undo his/ her actions.

Question 8

What is Schneiderman’s Support Internal Locus in Control?

Answer 8

Give users the sense that they are in full control.
Ex. double-check with user that they want to delete something.

Question 9

What is Schneiderman’s Reduce short-term memory load heuristic?

Answer 9

Interface should be simple & recognizable (computer should do most of the work).

Question 10

What is Norman’s Discoverability principle?

Answer 10

Users should be able to determine possible actions from the object’s interface. Discoverability stems from good design principles.

Question 11

What is Norman’s Affordances principle?

Answer 11

Users should know what an object can afford from the way it looks.

Question 12

What is Norman’s Signifiers principle?

Answer 12

An interface can be complemented by signals that clarify how to use an object.

Question 13

What is Norman’s Feedback principle?

Answer 13

Feedback should be immediate, informative, planned, and prioritized.

Question 14

What is Norman’s Constraints principle?

Answer 14

Interactions should be limited; give users limited options.

Question 15

What is Norman’s Conceptual Models principle?

Answer 15

The representation a user makes in his/ her mind should match the designer’s

Question 16

What is Norman’s Mapping principle?

Answer 16

There should be a good relationship between the controls, movements, and the results on the interface.
Ex. a scrollbar (move it up, page goes up)

Question 17

What is Nielson’s Visibility of System Status heuristic?

Answer 17

Users should be informed about what is going on with the object.

Question 18

What is Nielson’s Match between the system and the real-world heuristic?

Answer 18

Design should speak the user’s language.
Ex. use a trash can item to symbolize deleted files in a computer

Question 19

What is Nielson’s User control and freedom heuristic?

Answer 19

An “emergency exit” to leave an unwanted action

Question 20

What is Nielson’s Consistency and standards heuristic?

Answer 20

Similar interfaces/ updates should follow the same standards.

Question 21

What is Nielson’s Error prevention heuristic?

Answer 21

Good error messages and preventions.
Ex. password requirements

Question 22

What is Nielson’s Recognition rather than recall heuristic?

Answer 22

The user should recognize design elements, but should not have to recall.

Question 23

What is Nielson’s Flexibility and Efficiency of use heuristic?

Answer 23

Interfaces should have shortcuts that are not visible to novice users

Question 24

What is Nielson’s Aesthetic and minimalist design heuristic?

Answer 24

An interface should not contain irrelevant or rarely used information.

Question 25

What is Nielson’s help users recognize, diagnose and recover from errors heuristic?

Answer 25

Interfaces should provide interpretable error messages, not error codes.

Question 26

What is a heuristic evaluation

Answer 26

Method for finding usability problems in a user interface design (usability problems x evaluators, black box indicates a problem)