Human Computer Interaction (Lesson 5)

Question 1

Designers and developers of interfaces need to ask what three questions of the interface?

Answer 1

• Useable?
• Accessible?
• Easily understandable?

Question 2

What are the six key design principles for a user interface?

Answer 2

• Visibility of key functions
• Feedback on actions
• Constraints
• Mapping of controls & effects
• Consistency of features
• Affordance - ease of use

Question 3

What observations of humans can assist us in understanding how to build a good interface?

Answer 3

Understand how humans:

• Act and react to events
• communicate and interact with computers
• Communicate and interact with each other

Question 4

What are the seven stages of Norman’s model of interaction testing?

Answer 4

1. Establish goal
2. Form the intention
3. Specify action sequence
4. Execute the action
5. Perceive the system state
6. Interpret the system state
7. Evaluate the system state against goals and intention

Question 5

What are the common components of interface style?

Answer 5

• Command line interface
• Menus
• Natural language
• Question/answer and query dialog
• Form-fills and spreadsheets
• WIMP Point and Click
• 3-D interfaces

Question 6

What is a conceptual model?

Answer 6

It is a model that expresses the meaning of terms and concepts to find the correct relationship between concepts.

Question 7

What is another name for the conceptual model?

Answer 7

Semantic model

Question 8

What are common components of a conceptual model?

Answer 8

• Objects - e.g. calendar, event, to-do item
• Attributes - eg. a to-do item would have a name, description, priority etc
• Operations - eg. a to-do item would allow you to view, create, edit, print

Question 9

What are the benefits of conceptual modelling?

Answer 9

1. Designers can see where operations are shared
2. Consistency of shared functions
3. Can view common vocabulary
4. Scenarios can be developed
5. Testing can occur

Question 10

What are the four different conceptual models created by Preece, Rogers and Sharp based on the activities users perform during an interaction?

Answer 10

• Instructing (command-based)
• Conversing (dialogue-based)
• Browsing (dynamic interaction)
• Manipulating (static interaction)

Question 11

What are the advantages of using metaphors in interface design?

Answer 11

1. Increase familiarity with the interface
2. Motivates the user to explore
3. Maintains consistency
4. Contains a naturalness in human thought
5. It is coherent if all elements of the metaphor naturally belong together
6. Aids learning

Question 12

What are the disadvantages of using metaphors in interface design?

Answer 12

1. REstrictive for design decisions
2. Mismatch can mislead users
3. Can be expensive and time-consuming
4. Mismatches are inevitable

Question 13

What should the designer consider in creating a user interface?

Answer 13

1. User expectations
2. System functionality that may be difficult to understand
3. Overall consistency
4. Extend the user’s memory through menu / forms
5. Reduce semantic distance (between form of expression and its function)
6. Syntactic considerations (delete file or file delete)

Question 14

What are the basic activities are involved in the process of interaction design?

Answer 14

• Identifying needs and establishing requirements for the user experience
• Developing alternative designs that meet those requirements
• Building interactive versions of the designs
• Evaluating what is being built throughout the process and the user experience it offers.

Question 15

What are the goals of usability?

Answer 15

Safety
Having good utility
Learnability
Efficiency

Question 16

What is ‘utility’?

Answer 16

The extent to which the product provides the right kind of functionality so that users can do what they need or want to do

Question 17

What are the most important aspects of user experience?

Answer 17

User experience goals