UX from 30,000ft (COMP33512 - Lecture 9 & 10 - 2012/2013)

Efficient Experience Break! Collated Usability Principles, Guidelines, and Rules Wrapping Up

The User Experience

from 30,000ft#comp33512

Week 05 – Lectures 09/10

Simon Harper

University of Manchester

Semester 2 – 2012/13

last update: March 4, 2013

The User Experience from 30,000ft 1 / 27


UX Pop Quiz

1. Give an example of why Accessibility is for everyone.

2. What is your view regarding ‘Combinatorial Impairment’ ?

3. Pick an interface bridge and describe it.

4. What is the relationship between effective and accessible

design?

5. What are the five main principles of effective design?

The User Experience from 30,000ft 2 / 27

...expanded in on pg. 137.


Efficient Experience

Efficient, adj. and n.

“Productive of effects; effective; adequately operative. The cause

which makes effects to be what they are (esp. of a system or

machine) achieving maximum productivity with minimum wasted

effort or expense” OED – 1787 J. Barlow Oration July 4th.

Why Not Just Usability?

Think of usability in more general terms; the more general terms

of efficient use. The concept of usability is much broader than

the narrow confines of it is often associated with.

The User Experience from 30,000ft Efficient Experience 3 / 27

...expanded in ‘Principles of Efficient Experience’ (pg. 139)


Efficient Experience

Efficient, adj. and n.

“Productive of effects; effective; adequately operative. The cause

which makes effects to be what they are (esp. of a system or

machine) achieving maximum productivity with minimum wasted

effort or expense” OED – 1787 J. Barlow Oration July 4th.

Why Not Just Usability?

Think of usability in more general terms; the more general terms

of efficient use. The concept of usability is much broader than

the narrow confines of it is often associated with.




Efficiency is for Everyone...

Figure 48. ‘Nest Learning Thermostat’; pg. 139

Figure 50. ‘Modern Thermostat’; pg. 140




Efficiency is for Everyone...

Figure 49. ‘Nest Thermostat Control’; pg. 140

Figure 50. ‘Modern Thermostat’; pg. 140




Consensus on Meaning

Relationship of UX, ergonomics, or human factors to

usability

1. Some think of usability ‘. . . as the software specialisation of

the larger topic of ergonomics’;

2. Others view topics as tangential, with ergonomics focusing

on physiological matters, and usability focusing on

psychological matters; but

3. Experts have written separate, but overlapping, frameworks

for aspects of usability which should be taken into account

when designing and building systems interfaces.




Universal Design and Design for All!

‘Universality’ suggests

...to most UXers and engineers that the solutions they come up

with must best fit most of the population most of the time.

Many organisations follow the viewpoint that universal usability

means design-for-all.

“A focus on designing products so that they are usable by the

widest range of people operating in the widest range of situations

as is commercially practical”


...expanded in ‘Universal Design and Design for All!’ (pg. 144)



‘Universality’ suggests

...to most UXers and engineers that the solutions they come up

with must best fit most of the population most of the time.

Many organisations follow the viewpoint that universal usability

means design-for-all.

“Thus, universal usability is more a function of keeping all of the

people and all of the situations in mind and trying to create a

product which is as flexible as commercially practical, so that it

can accommodate the different users and situations.”


...expanded in ‘Universal Design and Design for All!’ (pg. 144)



My Unconventional View

I By trying to address all user needs in one design the

technologist is apt to address none;

I Making software usable is not just about a utilitarian view of

software use, it is also about the personal choice of the user;

I Greater flexibility and configurability of both interfaces and

interactions are the solution.


...expanded in: S. Harper. Is There Design-For-All? Universal Access in the Information Society, 6(1):111–113, 2007.


Usability ModelsThe Human Processor Model –Card, Moran, & Newell

I Calculate how long it takes to perform a certain task;

I Experimental times to calculate cognitive and motor

processing time;

I Allows a system designer to predict the performance;

I Uses the cognitive, perceptual, and motor processors along

with the visual image, working memory, and long term

memory stores;

I Each processor has a cycle time and each memory has a

decay time;

I Combining input pathways with cycle or decay times allows

task completion time can be calculated; but...

...not very accurate, too many variables / confounding variables.


...expanded in ‘Usability Models’ (pg. 147)


Usability Models

GOMS –Card, Moran, & Newell

Goals are what the user intends to accomplish;

Operators are actions that are performed to get to the goal;

Methods are sequences of operators that accomplish a goal; and

Selection rules are used to choose a from multiple methods.

I Specialisation of HPM;

I Reductionist - reduces a user’s interaction with a computer

to their primary actions;

I Trying to reduce number of possible variables / confounding

variables; but...

...expects users to follow logical routines and is not resilient to

user unpredictability.




Usability Models – Keystroke Level Modelling (KLM)

KLM –Card, Moran, & Newell, also Kieras

I More simplistic specialisation of GOMS;

I Amenable to Computation; i.e.

I CogTool - CMU http://cogtool.hcii.cs.cmu.edu.



http://cogtool.hcii.cs.cmu.edu




...from: Richards, Bellamy, John, Swart, Thomas (2010) Using CogTool to Model Programming Tasks.Presented at the Psychology of Programming Work in Progress Workshop, Dundee, Scotland.










Discussion Topics Coursework # 2

13-Mar-2013 10:00AM (Deadline) 27-Mar-2013 10:00AM

(Feedback)

‘Designing the Star User Interface’ (10 Marks) – the Star

interface is really where all GUI interfaces began. It takes the user

as a first and primary priority in the design and it is inconceivable

that you do not have an awareness of these classic design

principles as perspective computer science graduates.

http://vimeo.com/kirbyferguson/everythingisaremix3

D. C. Smith, C. Irby, R. Kimball, B. Verplank, and E. Harslem., Designing the star user interface., BYTE, 7(4):242–282, 1982., URL http://www.guidebookgallery.org/articles/designingthestaruserinterface.


...expanded in ‘Discussion Topics’ (pg. 19)

http://vimeo.com/kirbyferguson/everythingisaremix3

http://www.guidebookgallery.org/articles/designingthestaruserinterface


Let’s Have a Break!

Back in 10 Minutes!

Come see me now if you have

Questions Regarding this Lecture!

The User Experience from 30,000ft Break! 12 / 27


Collated Usability Principles, Guidelines, and Rules

The User Experience from 30,000ftCollated Usability Principles, Guidelines, and

Rules 13 / 27

...expanded in ‘Collated Usability Principles’ (pg. 150)




Rules 13 / 27





Rules 13 / 27



Potted Principles of Efficient User Experience

‘Stability’ Are the interactions stable?

‘Scalability’ Does the interface and its data scale?

‘Simplicity’ Is interface and interaction simplicity

encouraged?

‘Situational Awareness’ Is perception of the interface facilitate decision

making?

‘Self-Description’ Does your system describe itself to the user?

‘Progressive Disclosure’ Are the interface options presented a step at a

time?

‘Familiarity’ Is your system us ‘intuitive’ ?

‘Learnability’ Are the interactions easy to learn?

‘Consistency’ Does your system exhibit internal and external

(OS) constancy?

‘Robustness’ Is the system robust to errors?


Rules 14 / 27

...onwards from pg. 153


Potted Principles of Efficient User Experience

SSSADD FLCR ©

‘Stability’ Are the interactions stable?

‘Scalability’ Does the interface and its data scale?

‘Simplicity’ Is interface and interaction simplicity

encouraged?

‘Situational Awareness’ Is perception of the interface facilitate decision

making?

‘Self-Description’ Does your system describe itself to the user?

‘Progressive Disclosure’ Are the interface options presented a step at a

time?

‘Familiarity’ Is your system us ‘intuitive’ ?

‘Learnability’ Are the interactions easy to learn?

‘Consistency’ Does your system exhibit internal and external

(OS) constancy?

‘Robustness’ Is the system robust to errors?


Rules 14 / 27

...onwards from pg. 153


Interaction Stability

Questions to think about as you design your prototype:

I Are you able to resume interrupted actions?

I Are you able easily reverse an action, incorrectly taken?

I Are you able to understand your location in the interaction?

I Does your system recover well from an unexpected event?

I Does your interactions (including dialogs) exhibit stable

non-cyclical behaviour and closure?


Rules 15 / 27

...expanded in ‘Interaction Stability’ (pg. 155)


Facilitate Scalability


I Does your interface scale to handle larger datasets then

envisaged etc?

I Does your system handle data and interaction within an

acceptable time?

I Do complex actions scale up in terms of data and user

requirements?

I Do your interfaces remain simple when information is being

dynamically added?

I Can new functionality be added to your system without

negatively impacting on its current interactions and

interfaces?


Rules 16 / 27

...expanded in ‘Facilitate Scalability’ (pg. 157)


Facilitate Simplicity


I Is your system presented simply?

I Are the interactive elements simple to understand and use?

I Can you understand the system behaviour without recourse

to manuals of help systems?

I Does your system exploit natural interactive constrains?

I Is complexity hidden from the novice user?


Rules 17 / 27

...expanded in ‘Facilitate Simplicity’ (pg. 159)


Facilitate Situational Awareness


I Does your system facilitate orientation both within the

interface and within the interaction?

I Is orientation and navigation, around and through the

interface (and interaction), easy?

I Is error handling simple? Is feedback informative?

I Are all components, needed for the interaction, visible?

I Do you maintain a single focus of interactive attention,

without distractors?


Rules 18 / 27

...expanded in ‘Facilitate Situational Awareness’ (pg. 159)


Facilitate Self-Description


I Is your system well documented?

I Is help present and informative?

I Is it possible to understand the program functionality without

recourse to the manual?

I Is it possible to understand the interface, widgets, and

interactivity without recourse to the manual?

I Is it possible to fully understand all dialogs, messages, and

status’ ?


Rules 19 / 27

...expanded in ‘Facilitate Self-Description’ (pg. 158)


Facilitate Progressive Disclosure


I Does your interface look overly complex? If so, simplify.

I Are there a lot of components displayed at one time? If so

clean it.

I Are there a multitude of possible actions available to the

user? If so focus on building one action for one interface

element.

I Is there a tight logical hierarchy of actions?

I Is the user led along the interactive path?


Rules 20 / 27

...expanded in ‘Facilitate Progressive Disclosure’ (pg. 157)


Facilitate Familiarity


I Does your system map real world concepts to the virtual

world?

I Does your system use terms the user is familiar with

(including Jargon)?

I Does the system work in familiar ways, with reference to

itself and other comparable applications?

I Do you assuage ‘intuition’ for familiarity?

I Does your system use easily understandable (and therefore

familiar) messages?


Rules 21 / 27

...expanded in ‘Facilitate Familiarity’ (pg. 154)


Facilitate Learnability


I Is your system behaviour predictable?

I Can users easily transit from novice to expert?

I Can you understand the system behaviour without recourse

to manuals of help systems?

I How easy is it to learn any bespoke system functionality?

I Does your system facilitate self learning, and functionality

investigation?


Rules 22 / 27

...expanded in ‘Facilitate Learnability’ (pg. 156)


Facilitate Consistency


I Am my developing a consistent interface?

I Are the interactions consistent across the platform and

development?

I Is my command and event structure universal across the

development and platform?

I Am I following standards and best practice?

I Am I following the platform design guide?


Rules 23 / 27

...expanded in ‘Facilitate Consistency’ (pg. 153)


Facilitate Robustness


I Does your system recover well from an unexpected event?

I Are errors easily dealt with?

I Are incorrect user actions easily recoverable?

I Is the user-state saved between sessions in the event of a

system failure?

I How does your system handle abnormal input?


Rules 24 / 27

...expanded in ‘Facilitate Robustness’ (pg. 156)


Pop Quiz for next week...

1. What is the significance of the Xerox Star interface?

2. What are the five main principles proposed by the Xerox Star

team?

3. What does GOMS stand for and what does it involve?

4. What are the ten main principles of efficient design?

5. How do these principles differ from Shneiderman’s rules?

The User Experience from 30,000ft Wrapping Up 25 / 27

...expanded on pg. 163.


To Do for next week...

1. Pop Quiz (pg. 163) Discuss Next Week; and

2. Read your notes up to the end of ‘Self Assessment

Questions’ (pg. 163)

3. D. C. Smith, C. Irby, R. Kimball, B. Verplank, and E. Harslem., Designing the star user interface.,

BYTE, 7(4):242–282, 1982., URL

http://www.guidebookgallery.org/articles/designingthestaruserinterface.


http://www.guidebookgallery.org/articles/designingthestaruserinterface


Any Questions?

Simon Harper 2.44 Kilburn Building

0161 275 0599 (OR x50599)

[email protected]

Office Hours: Friday 14:00–18:00

Figure 93. ‘Simon Harper –Your Mild-Mannered CourseTutor’; pg. 326


...expanded in ‘Contact’ (pg. 326)

[email protected]

Education

UX from 30,000ft (COMP33512 - Lecture 9 & 10 - 2012/2013)