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B.E/ B.TECH DEGREE EXAMINATION, MAY/JUNE2012 IT2024 – USER INTERFACE DESIGN
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PART – A (10 X 2 = 20 Marks)
1. Define Human Computer Interaction .
User interface design is a subset of a field of study called human-computer interaction (HCI). Human-
computer interaction is the study, planning, and design of how people and computers work together so that a person’s needs are satisfied in the most effective way.
2. State some of the benefits of good user interface design.
- Another researcher has reported that reformatting inquiry screens following good design principles
reduced decision-making time by about 40 percent, resulting in a savings of 79 person-years in the affected system.
- Other benefits also accrue from good design (Karat, 1997). Training costs are lowered because training time is reduced, support line costs are lowered because fewer assist calls are necessary, and employee satisfaction is increased because aggravation and frustration are reduced.
3. State the Different types of users.
The users of intranets, being organization employees, know a lot about the organization, its structure, its
products, its jargon, and its culture. Customers use Internet sites and others who know much less about the organization, and often care less about it.
4. Give any three Guide lines for designing conceptual model.
- Reflect the user’s mental model not the designer’s: A user will have different expectations and levels
of knowledge than the designer. So, the mental models of the user and designer will be different. The user is concerned with the task to be performed, the business objectives that must be fulfilled.
- Draw physical analogies or present metaphors: Replicate what is familiar and well known. Duplicate actions that are already well learned. A metaphor, to be effective, must be widely applicable within an interface.
- Comply with expectancies, habits, routines, and stereotypes: Use familiar associations, avoiding the new and unfamiliar. With color, for example, accepted meanings for red, yellow, and green are already well established. Use words and symbols in their customary ways.
5. What is the need of tool bar ?
- To provide easy and fast access to most frequently used commands or options across multiple screens.
- To invoke a sub application within an application.
- To use in place of certain menu items.
6. What is the need for device based control?
Device-based controls, often called input devices, are the mechanisms through which people
communicate their desires to the system.
- Direct devices are operated on the screen itself. Examples include the light pen, the finger, and voice.
- Indirect devices are operated in a location other than the screen, most often on the desktop.
7. What are the different types of messages?
- Status messages.
- Informational messages.
- Warning messages.
- Critical messages.
- Question messages.
8. What are the characteristics of a successful Icon?
- Looks different from all other icons.
- Is obvious what it does or represents.
- Is recognizable when no larger than 16 pixels square.
- Looks as good in black and white as in color.
9. What are the need for Prototypes ?
- A prototype is primarily a vehicle for exploration, communication, and evaluation. Its purpose is to obtain user input in design, and to provide feedback to designers.
10. What are the guidelines to be followed before starting the test?
- Conformance with a requirement.
- Conformance with guidelines for good design.
- Identification of design problems.
- Ease of system learning.
- Retention of learning over time.
- Speed of task completion.
- Speed of need fulfillment.
- Error rates.
PART B – (5 x 16 = 80 marks)
11. (a) Discuss in detail about the advantages of Graphical User Interface.(16)
Graphical system advantages
The success of graphical systems has been attributed to a host of factors. The following have been commonly referenced in literature and endorsed by their advocates as advantages of these systems.
- Symbols recognized faster than text: symbols can be recognized faster and more accurately than text. An example of a good classification scheme that speeds up recognition is the icons. These icons allow speedy recognition of the type of message being presented.
- Faster learning: a graphical, pictorial representation aids learning, and symbols can also be easily learned.
- Faster use and problem solving: Visual or spatial representation of information has been found to be easier to retain and manipulate and leads to faster and more successful problem solving.
- Easier remembering: Because of greater simplicity, it is easier for casual users to retain operational concepts.
- More natural: symbolic displays are more natural and advantageous because the human mind has a powerful image memory.
- Fewer errors: Reversibility of actions reduces error rates because it is always possible to undo the last step. Error messages are less frequently needed.
- Increased feeling of control: The user initiates actions and feels in control. This increases user confidence
- Immediate feedback: The results of actions furthering user goals can be seen immediately. If the response is not in the desired direction, the direction can be changed quickly.
- Predictable system responses: Predictable system responses also speed learning.
- Easily reversible actions: This ability to reverse unwanted actions also increases user confidence
- More attractive: Direct-manipulation systems are more entertaining, cleverer, and more appealing.
- May consume less space: Icons may take up less space than the equivalent in words but this is not the case always.
- Replaces national languages: Icons possess much more universality than text and are much more easily comprehended worldwide.
- Easily augmented with text displays: Where graphical design limitations exist, direct-manipulation systems can easily be augmented with text displays. The reverse is not true.
- Low typing requirements: Pointing and selection controls, such as the mouse or trackball, eliminate the need for typing skills.
Or
(b) Compare characteristics of printed page and web page. (16)
Printed Pages versus Web Pages
- Page size: Printed pages are generally larger than their Web counterparts. They are also fixed in size, not variable like Web pages. The visual impact of the printed page is maintained in hard-copy form, while on the Web all that usually exists are snapshots of page areas. The visual impact of a Web page is substantially degraded, and the user may never see some parts of the page because their existence is not known or require scrolling to bring into view. The design implications: the top of a Web page is its most important element, and signals to the user must always be provided that parts of a page lie below the surface.
- Page rendering: Printed pages are immensely superior to Web pages in rendering. Printed pages are presented as complete entities, and their entire contents are available for reading or review immediately upon appearance. Web pages elements are often rendered slowly, depending upon things like line transmission speeds and page content. Design implications: Provide page content that downloads fast, and give people elements to read immediately so the sense of passing time is diminished.
- Page layout: With the printed page, layout is precise with much attention given to it. With Web pages layout is more of an approximation, being negatively influenced by deficiencies in design toolkits and the characteristics of the user’s browser and hardware, particularly screen sizes. Design implication: Understand the restrictions and design for the most common user tools.
- Page resolution: the resolution of displayed print characters still exceeds that of screen characters, and screen reading is still slower than reading from a document. Design implication: Provide an easy way to print long Web documents.
- Page navigation: Navigating printed materials is as simple as page turning. Navigating the Web requires innumerable decisions concerning which of many possible links should be followed. Design implications are similar to the above—provide overviews of information organization schemes and clear descriptions of where links lead.
- Interactivity: Printed page design involves letting the eyes traverse static information, selectively looking at information and using spatial combinations to make page elements enhance and explain each other. Web design involves letting the hands move the information (scrolling, pointing, expanding, clicking, and so on) in conjunction with the eyes.
- Page independence: Because moving between Web pages is so easy, and almost any page in a site can be accessed from anywhere else, pages must be made freestanding. Every page is independent. Printed pages, being sequential, fairly standardized in organization, and providing a clear sense of place, are not considered independent. Design implication: Provide informative headers and footers on each Web page.
12. (a) Discuss the impact of perception and memory in user interface design (16)
Perception
- Perception is our awareness and understanding of the elements and objects of our environment through the physical sensation of our various senses, including sight, sound, smell, and so forth. Perception is influenced, in part, by experience.
- Other perceptual characteristics include the following:
o Proximity. Our eyes and mind see objects as belonging together if they are near each other in space.
o Similarity. Our eyes and mind see objects as belonging together if they share a common visual property, such as color, size, shape, brightness, or orientation.
o Matching patterns. We respond similarly to the same shape in different sizes. The letters of the alphabet, for example, possess the same meaning, regardless of physical size.
o Succinctness. We see an object as having some perfect or simple shape because perfection or simplicity is easier to remember.
o Closure. Our perception is synthetic; it establishes meaningful wholes. If something does not quite close itself, such as a circle, square, triangle, or word, we see it as closed anyway.
o Unity. Objects that form closed shapes are perceived as a group.
o Continuity. Shortened lines may be automatically extended.
o Balance. We desire stabilization or equilibrium in our viewing environment. Vertical,
horizontal, and right angles are the most visually satisfying and easiest to look at.
o Expectancies. Perception is also influenced by expectancies; sometimes we perceive not what is there but what we expect to be there. Missing a spelling mistake in proofreading something we write is often an example of a perceptual expectancy error; we see not how a word is spelled, but how we expect to see it spelled.
o Context. Context, environment, and surroundings also influence individual perception. For example, two drawn lines of the same length may look the same length or different lengths, depending on the angle of adjacent lines or what other people have said about the size of the lines.
o Signals versus noise. Our sensing mechanisms are bombarded by many stimuli, some of which are important and some of which are not. Important stimuli are called signals; those that are not important or unwanted are called noise.
Memory
- Memory is viewed as consisting of two components, long-term and short-term (or working) memory.
- Short-term, or working, memory receives information from either the senses or long-term memory, but usually cannot receive both at once, the senses being processed separately. Within short-term memory a limited amount of information processing takes place. Information stored within it is
variously thought to last from 10 to 30 seconds, with the lower number being the most reasonable speculation. Knowledge, experience, and familiarity govern the size and complexity of the information that can be remembered.
- Long-term memory contains the knowledge we possess. Information received in short-term memory is transferred to it and encoded within it, a process we call learning. It is a complex process requiring some effort on our part. The learning process is improved if the information being transferred from short-term memory has structure and is meaningful and familiar. Learning is also improved through repetition. Unlike short-term memory, with its distinct limitations, long-term memory capacity is thought to be unlimited. An important memory consideration, with significant implications for interface design, is the difference in ability to recognize or recall words.
Sensory Storage
- Sensory storage is the buffer where the automatic processing of information collected from our senses takes place. It is an unconscious process, large, attentive to the environment, quick to detect changes, and constantly being replaced by newly gathered stimuli. In a sense, it acts like radar, constantly scanning the environment for things that are important to pass on to higher memory.
- Repeated and excessive stimulation can fatigue the sensory storage mechanism, making it less attentive and unable to distinguish what is important (called habituation). Avoid unnecessarily stressing it.
- Design the interface so that all aspects and elements serve a definite purpose. Eliminating interface noise will ensure that important things will be less likely to be missed.
Or
(b) List the direct methods for collecting requirements and explain any five in detail (16)
DIRECT METHODS
Individual Face-to-Face Interview
- A one-on-one visit with the user to obtain information. It may be structured or somewhat open-ended.
- A formal questionnaire should not be used, however. Useful topics to ask the user to describe in an interview include:
- The activities performed in completing a task or achieving a goal or objective.
- The methods used to perform an activity.
- What interactions exist with other people or systems?
- It is also very useful to also uncover any:
o Potential measures of system usability
o Unmentioned exceptions to standard policies or procedures.
o Relevant knowledge the user must possess to perform the activity.
- Advantages
o Advantages of a personal interview are that you can give the user your full attention, can easily include follow-up questions to gain additional information, will have more time to
discuss topics in detail, and will derive a deeper understanding of your users, their experiences, attitudes, beliefs, and desires.
- Disadvantages
o Disadvantages of interviews are that they can be costly and time-consuming to conduct, and someone skilled in interviewing techniques should perform them.
Telephone Interview or Survey
- A structured interview conducted via telephone.
- Advantages
o Arranging the interview in advance allows the user to prepare for it.
o Telephone interviews are less expensive and less invasive than personal interviews.
o They can be used much more frequently and are extremely effective for very specific
information.
- Disadvantage
o It is impossible to gather contextual information, such as a description of the working environment, replies may be easily influenced by the interviewer’s comments, and body
language cues are missing.
o Also, it may be difficult to contact the right person for the telephone interview.
Traditional Focus Group
- A small group of users and a moderator brought together to verbally discuss the requirements.
- The purpose of a focus group is to probe user’s experiences, attitudes, beliefs, and desires, and to obtain their reactions to ideas or prototypes
- Setting up focus group involves the following:
o Establish the objectives of the session.
o Select participants representing typical users, or potential users.
o Write a script for the moderator to follow.
o Find a skilled moderator to facilitate discussion, to ensure that the discussion remains focused on relevant topics, and to ensure that everyone participates.
o Allow the moderator flexibility in using the script.
o Take good notes, using the session recording for backup and clarification
Facilitated Team Workshop
- A facilitated, structured workshop held with users to obtain requirements information. Similar to the traditional Focus Group
- Like focus groups, they do require a great deal of time to organize and run.
Observational Field Study
- Users are observed and monitored for an extended time to learn what they do.
- Observation provides good insight into tasks being performed, the working environment and conditions, the social environment, and working practices
- Observation, however, can be time-consuming and expensive.
- Video recording of the observation sessions will permit detailed task analysis.
Usability Laboratory Testing
- Users at work are observed, evaluated, and measured in a specially constructed laboratory to establish the usability of the product at that point in time.
- Usability tests uncover what people actually do, not what they think they do a common problem with verbal descriptions
- The same scenarios can be presented to multiple users, providing comparative data from several users.
Card Sorting for Web Sites
- A technique to establish groupings of information for Web sites.
- Briefly, the process is as follows:
o From previous analyses, identify about 50 content topics and inscribe them on index cards.
Limit topics to no more than 100.
o Provide blank index cards for names of additional topics the participant may want to add, and colored blank cards for groupings that the participant will be asked to create.
o Number the cards on the back.
o Arrange for a facility with large enough table for spreading out cards.
o Select participants representing a range of users. Use one or two people at a time and 5 to 12
in total.
o Explain the process to the participants, saying that you are trying to determine what categories of information will be useful, what groupings make sense, and what the groupings should be called.
o Ask the participants to sort the cards and talk out loud while doing so. Advise the participants that additional content cards may be named and added as they think necessary during the sorting process.
o Observe and take notes as the participants talk about what they are doing. Pay particular attention to the sorting rationale.
o Upon finishing the sorting, if a participant has too many groupings ask that they be arranged hierarchically.
o Ask participants to provide a name for each grouping on the colored blank cards, using words that the user would expect to see that would lead them to that particular grouping.
o Make a record of the groupings using the numbers on the back of each card.
o Reshuffle the cards for the next session.
o When finished, analyze the results looking for commonalities among the different sorting
sessions.
13. A) State the different types of windows and explain any four (16) Types of windows
- Modal and Modeless
- Cascading and Unfolding
- Property Sheets and Property Inspectors
- Palette Windows
- Pop-up Windows Primary Window
- Proper usage:
— Should represent an independent function or application.
— Use to present constantly used window components and controls.
- Menu bar items that are:
— Used frequently.
— Used by most, or all, primary or secondary windows.
- Controls used by dependent windows.
— Use for presenting information that is continually updated.
- For example, date and time.
— Use for providing context for dependent windows to be created.
— Do not:
- Divide an independent function into two or more primary windows.
- Present unrelated functions in one primary window.
- It has also been variously referred to as the application window or the main window. In addition, it may be referred to as the parent window if one or more child windows exist
Secondary Windows
- Proper usage:
— For performing subordinate, supplemental, or ancillary actions that are:
- Extended or more complex in nature.
- Related to objects in the primary window.
— For presenting frequently or occasionally used window components.
- Important guidelines:
— Should typically not appear as an entry on the taskbar.
— A secondary window should not be larger than 263 dialog units x 263 dialog units.
- A dependent secondary window is one common type. It can only be displayed from a command on the interface of its primary window. It is typically associated with a single data object, and appears on top of the active window when requested. It is movable, and scrollable.
- An independent secondary window can be opened independently of a primary window—for example, a property sheet displayed when the user clicks the Properties command on the menu of a desktop icon.
Modal and Modeless
- Modal:
— Use when interaction with any other window must not be permitted.
— Use for:
- Presenting information.
— For example, messages (sometimes called a message box).
- Receiving user input.
— For example, data or information (sometimes called a prompt box).
- Asking questions.
— For example, data, information, or directions (sometimes called a question box).
— Use carefully because it constrains what the user can do.
- Modeless:
— Use when interaction with other windows must be permitted.
— Use when interaction with other windows must be repeated.
Cascading and Unfolding
- Cascading:
— Purpose:
- To provide advanced options at a lower level in a complex dialog.
— Guidelines:
- Provide a command button leading to the next dialog box with a “To a Window” indicator, an ellipsis (. . . ).
- Present the additional dialog box in cascaded form.
- Provide no more than two cascades in a given path.
- Do not cover previous critical information.
— Title Bar.
— Relevant displayed information.
- If independent, close the secondary window from which it was opened.
- Unfolding:
— Purpose:
- To provide advanced options at the same level in a complex dialog.
— Guidelines:
- Provide a command button with an expanding dialog symbol (>>).
- Expand to right or downward.
Cascaded Window
Unfolded Window
Dialog Boxes
- Use for presenting brief messages.
- Use for requesting specific, transient actions.
- Use for performing actions that:
— Take a short time to complete.
— Are not frequently changed.
- Command buttons to include:
— OK.
— Cancel.
— Others as necessary.
Or
(b) Discuss in detail about Radio buttons with suitable example. (16) Radio Buttons
- Description:
— A two-part control consisting of the following:
- Small circles, diamonds, or rectangles.
- Choice descriptions.
— When a choice is selected:
- The option is highlighted.
- Any existing choice is automatically unhighlighted and deselected.
- Purpose:
— To set one item from a small set of mutually exclusive options (2 to 8).
- Advantages:
— Easy-to-access choices.
— Easy-to-compare choices.
— Preferred by users.
- Disadvantages:
— Consume screen space.
— Limited number of choices.
- Proper usage:
— For setting attributes, properties, or values.
— For mutually exclusive choices (that is, only one can be selected).
— Where adequate screen space is available.
— Most useful for data and choices that are:
- Discrete.
- Small and fixed in number.
- Not easily remembered.
- In need of a textual description to meaningfully describe the alternatives.
- Most easily understood when the alternatives can be seen together and compared to one another.
- Never changed in content.
— Do not use:
- For commands.
- Singly to indicate the presence or absence of a state.
Choice Descriptions
- Provide meaningful, fully spelled-out choice descriptions clearly describing the values or effects set by the radio buttons.
- Display in a single line of text.
- Display using mixed-case letters, using the sentence style.
- Position descriptions to the right of the button. Separate them by at least one space from the button.
- When a choice is conditionally unavailable for selection, display the choice description grayed out or dimmed.
- Include a none choice if it adds clarity.
Size
- Show a minimum of two choices, a maximum of eight.
Defaults
- When the control possesses a state or affect that has been predetermined to have a higher probability of selection than the others, designate it as the default and display its button filled in.
- When the control includes choices whose states cannot be predetermined, display all the buttons without setting a dot, or in the indeterminate state.
- When a multiple selection includes choices whose states vary, display the buttons in another unique manner, or in the mixed value state.
Structure
- A columnar orientation is the preferred manner of presentation.
- Left-align the buttons and choice descriptions.
- If vertical space on the screen is limited, orient the buttons horizontally.
- Provide adequate separation between choices so that the buttons are associated with the proper description.
— A distance equal to three spaces is usually sufficient.
- Enclose the buttons in a border to visually strengthen the relationship they possess.
Organization
- Arrange selections in expected order or follow other patterns such as frequency of occurrence, sequence of use, or importance.
— For selections arrayed top to bottom, begin ordering at the top.
— For selections arrayed left to right, begin ordering at the left.
- If, under certain conditions, a choice is not available, display it subdued or less brightly than the available choices.
Related Control
- Position any control related to a radio button immediately to the right of the choice description.
- If the radio button choice description also acts as the label for the control that follows it, end the label with an arrow (>).
Captions
- Structure:
— Provide a caption for each radio button control.
- Exception: In screens containing only one radio button control, the screen title may serve as the caption.
- Display:
— Fully spelled out.
— In mixed-case letters, capitalizing the first letter of all significant words.
- Columnar orientation:
— With a control border, position the caption:
- Upper-left-justified within the border.
- Alternately, the caption may be located to the left of the topmost choice description.
— Without an enclosing control border, position the caption:
- Left-justified above the choice descriptions, separated by one space line.
- Alternately, the caption may be located to the left of the topmost choice description.
- Horizontal orientation:
— Position the caption to the left of the choice descriptions.
- Alternately, with an enclosing control border, left-justified within the border.
— Be consistent in caption style and orientation within a screen.
Keyboard Equivalents
- Assign a keyboard mnemonic to each choice description.
- Designate the mnemonic by underlining the applicable letter in the choice description.
Selection Method and Indication
- Pointing:
— The selection target area should be as large as possible.
- Include the button and the choice description text.
— Highlight the selection choice in some visually distinctive way when the cursor’s resting on it and the choice is available for selection.
- This cursor should be as long as the longest choice description plus one space at each end. Do not place the cursor over the small button.
- Activation:
— When a choice is selected, distinguish it visually from the unselected choices.
- A radio button should be filled in with a solid dark dot or made to look depressed or higher through use of a shadow.
— When a choice is selected, any other selected choice must be deselected.
- Defaults:
— If a radio button control is displayed that contains a choice previously selected or a default choice, display the selected choice as set in the control
14. (a) Discuss the role of wizards in user interface design (16) Wizards
- Description:
— A series of presentation pages displayed in a secondary window.
— Include:
- Controls to collect input.
- Navigation command buttons.
— Typically accessed through:
- Toolbar buttons.
- Icons.
- Purpose:
— To perform a complex series of steps.
— To perform a task that requires making several critical decisions.
— To enter critical data and for use when the cost of errors is high.
— To perform an infrequently accomplished task.
— The necessary knowledge or experience to perform a task is lacking.
— Not suited to teaching how to do something.
- Design guidelines:
— Provide a greater number of simple screens with fewer choices, rather than a smaller number of more complex screens with too many options or too much text.
— Provide screens of the exact same size.
— Include on the first page:
- A graphic on the left side to establish a reference point or theme.
- A welcoming paragraph on the right side to explain what the wizard does.
— Include on subsequent pages:
- A graphic for consistency.
- Instructional text.
- Controls for user input.
— Maintain consistent the locations for all elements.
— Make it visually clear that the graphic is not interactive.
- Vary from normal size or render it as an abstract representation.
— Include default values or settings for all controls when possible.
— For frequently used wizards, place a check box with the text “Do not show this Welcome page again” at the bottom of the Welcome page.
— Include a Finish button at the point where the task can be completed.
— Do not require the user to leave a wizard to complete a task.
— Make sure the design alternatives offered yield positive results.
— Make certain it is obvious how to proceed when the wizard has completed its process.
- Presentation guidelines:
— Display the wizard window so it is immediately recognized as the primary point of input.
— Present a single window at one time.
— Do not advance pages automatically.
- Writing guidelines:
— Clearly identify the wizard’s purpose in title bar.
— At the top right of the wizard window, title the Welcome page “Welcome to the Wizard Name
Wizard.”
- Use mixed case in headline style and no ending punctuation.
— Write simply, concisely, and clearly, following all previously presented guidelines.
— Use a conversational rather than instructional style.
— Use words like “you” and “your.”
— Start most questions with phrases like “Which option do you want . . .” or “Would you like . .
Hints or Tips
- Description:
— A command button labeled Hints or Tips.
- Purpose:
— To provide a few important contextual, but specific, items of information related to a displayed screen.
- Design guidelines:
— Provide guidance on only two or three important points.
— Locate the button near where its guidance applies.
— Write concisely and to the point.
Or
(b) Elaborate the guidelines used for choosing colors for statistical graphics screens. (16) Guidance and Assistance
Identify the way to prevent errors from occurring in the first place.
1. Preventing Errors
In spite of distinguished design goals, people will make errors using even the most well designed system.
Slips
Errors can be classified as
1. slips or
2. mistakes
A slip is automatic behavior gone wrongly.
One’s hands navigate the keyboard improperly and the wrong key is accidentally pressed. The wrong menu bar item is chosen because of inattentiveness.
An inference error is made because of carelessness.
A person often detects a slip because it is usually noticeable
Slip error almost corrected.
Slips can be reduced through proper application of human factors in design.
Mistakes
A mistake results from forming a wrong model or goal and then acting on it.
A mistake may not be easily detected
Anticipating a mistake in design is also more difficult.
Mistakes can be reduced, however, by eliminating ambiguity from design.
Usability testing and watching for nonsensical (to the designer) requests and actions can also detect mistake-conducive situations.
Remedial measure
Whatever errors will occur. People should be able to correct them as soon as they are detected, as simply
and easily as they were made.
2. Problem Management
■ Prevention:
Disable inapplicable choices.
Use selection instead of entry controls.
Use aided entry.
Accept common misspellings, whenever possible.
Before an action is performed,
- Permit it to be reviewed.
- Permit it to be changed or undone.
Provide a common action mechanism.
Force confirmation of destructive actions.
- Let expert users disable less critical confirmations.
Provide an automatic and continuous Save function.
■ Detection:
For conversational dialogs, validate entries as close to point of entry as possible
- At character level.
- At control level.
- When the transaction is completed or the window closed.
For high speed, head-down data entry
- When the transaction is completed or the window closed.
Leave window open.
Maintain the item in error on the screen.
Visually highlight the item in error.
Display an error message in a window.
- Do not obscure item in error.
Handle errors as gracefully as possible.
- The greater the error, the more dramatic should be the warning.
Use auditory signals conservatively.
■ Correction:
Preserve as much of the user’s work as possible.
At window-level validation, use a modeless dialog box to display an error list.
- Highlight first error in the list.
- Place cursor at first control with error.
- Permit fixing one error and continuing to next error.
Always give a person something to do when an error occurs.
- Something to enter/save/reverse.
- A Help button.
- Someone to call.
Provide a constructive correction message saying
- What problem was detected.
- Which items are in error.
- What corrective action is necessary.
Initiate a clarification dialog if necessary.
3. Types, of guidance and assistance.
New users must go through a learning process that involved developing a mental model tom explain the system’s behavior and the task being performed.
Guidance in the form of the system’s hardcopy, online documentation, and computer based training, instructional message and system serves as a recognized development tool to aid the process.
The various types of guidance and assistance
1. Documentation.
2. Instructions or prompting.
3. A help facility.
4. Contextual help.
5. Task oriented help.
6. Reference help.
7. Wizards.
8. Hints or tips.
3.1. Documentation.
There are 3 stages, the user can interact with documentation.
1. finding information
2. Understanding.
3. applying
Finding information is enhanced through use of content pages and index lists.
Understanding information in achieved through variety of factors.
Good writing principles.
Testing and revision of materials.
Applying that understanding to the current task in order to solve the problem.
Problems with Documentation
Poor documentation leads to 4 factors.
1. Organizational factors.
First are organizational factors including management decisions concerning who does
the writing: product developers or specialist technical authors
2. Time scale.
Second is the time scale allocated for the writing process. Successful writing also involves
detailed planning, drafting, testing, and considerable revising.
3. Theoretical rationale.
Third, there is not yet a clear theoretical rationale about what content should be included in
documentation and how this information should be presented.
4. Resources.
Finally, Wright concludes, there are the resources. Adequate resources are needed to include
people with different skills in the documentation development process.
3.2. Instructions or prompting.
Instructional or prompting information is placed within the body of a screen.
It may take the form of messages or other advice such as the values to be keyed into a field.
Prompting is provided to assist a person in providing what is necessary to complete a screen.
Inexperienced users find prompting a valuable aid in learning a system.
Disadvantages
Experienced users find prompting undesirable.
It can easily create screen noise.
3.3. Help Facility
The most common form of online documentation is the Help system.
It include improving the usability of a system
Various methods of invoking Help include
- Through a typed command,
- By pressing a help key or button, or
- By selecting a help option from a multiple-item menu.
- Help may also automatically appear on the screen.
3 broad areas of Help that must be addressed in creating Help are:
- Its content,
- Its presentation, and
- Its access mechanisms.
Effective online Help can be specified using the GOMS (goals, operators, methods, selection rules) model Goals for meaningful tasks,
Operators for actions required to be performed, Methods for accomplishing the goals,
Selection rules for choosing a specific method.
Help Facility Guidelines
■ Kind:
Collect data to determine what types of Help are needed.
■ Training:
Inform users of availability and purpose of Help.
■ Availability:
Provide availability throughout the dialog.
If no Help is available for a specific situation, inform the user of this and provide directions to where relevant Help may exist.
■ Structure:
Make them as specific as possible.
Provide a hierarchical framework.
Brief operational definitions and input rules.
Summary explanations in text.
Typical task-oriented examples.
■ Interaction:
Provide easy accessibility.
Leave the Help displayed until
The user exits.
The action eliminating the need for Help is performed.
Provide instructions for exiting.
Return to original position in dialog when Help is completed.
■ Location:
Minimize the obscuring of screen content.
If in a window, position priorities are right, left, above, and below.
■ Content:
Define unfamiliar terms.
Minimize Help’s length.
Develop modular dialogs that can be used to describe similar and dissimilar procedural elements of the interface.
Provide step-by-step interface procedures to assist the user with specific problems.
Provide procedural demonstrations of interface procedures to aid quick learning of simple operations.
Provide information to help users select between multiple interface methods.
Provide users with an understanding of representative tasks to increase their knowledge of when to apply specific skills.
■ Style:
Provide easy browsing and a distinctive format.
Contents screens and indexes.
Screen headings and subheadings.
Location indicators.
Descriptive words in the margin.
Visual differentiation of screen components.
mphasized critical information.
Use concise, familiar, action-oriented wording.
Refer to other materials, when necessary.
Never use Help to compensate for poor interface design.
■ Consistency:
Provide a design philosophy consistent with other parts of the system.
■ Title:
Place the word “Help” in all Help screen titles.
3.4. Contextual Help
Contextual Help provides information within the context of a task being performed
Contextual Help include Help command buttons, status bar messages, and ToolTips. Microsoft Windows has also introduced what is called the What’s This? Command.
Help Command Button
■ Description:
A command button.
■ Purpose:
To provide an overview of, summary assistance for, or explanatory information about the purpose or contents of a window being displayed.
■ Design guidelines:
Present Help in a secondary window or dialog box.
Status Bar Message
Description:
Help command button
An abbreviated, context-sensitive message related to the screen item with the focus.
Appears in window’s status bar when the primary mouse button is pressed over an item (or keyboard focus is achieved).
Purpose:
To provide explanatory information about the object with the focus.
Use to
Describe the use of a control, menu item, button, or toolbar.
Provide the context of activity within a window.
Present a progress indicator or other forms of feedback when the view of a window must not
be obscured.
Do not use for information or access to functions essential to basic system operations unless another form of Help is provided elsewhere in the Help system.
If extended Help is available and must be presented, place “Press F1 for Help” in bar.
Writing guidelines:
Be constructive, not simply descriptive.
Be brief, but not cryptic.
Begin with a verb in the present tense.
If a command has multiple functions, summarize them.
If a command is disabled, explain why.
ToolTip
■ Description:
Figure 9.3: Status bar message.
A small pop-up window that appears adjacent to control.
Presented when the pointer remains over a control a short period of time.
■ Purpose:
Use to display the name of a control when the control has no text label.
■ Design guidelines:
Make application-specific ToolTips consistent with system-supplied ToolTips.
Use system color setting for ToolTips above to distinguish them.
What’s This? Command
■ Description:
A command located on the Help drop-down menu on a primary window.
A button on the title bar of a secondary window.
A command on a pop-up menu for a specific object.
A button on a toolbar.
■ Purpose:
Use to provide contextual information about any screen object.
■ Design guidelines:
Phrase to answer the question “What is this?”
Indicate the action associated with the item.
Begin the description with a verb.
Include “why,” if helpful.
Include “how to,” if task requires multiple steps.
For command buttons, use an imperative form: “Click this to....”
3.5 Task-Oriented Help
■ Description:
A primary window typically accessed through the Help Topics browser.
Includes a set of command buttons at the top; at minimum
A button to display the Help Topics browser dialog box.
A Back button to return to the previous topic.
Buttons that provide access to other functions such as Copy or Print.
■ Purpose:
To describe the procedural steps for carrying out a task.
Focuses on how to do something.
■ Design guidelines:
Provide one procedure to complete a task, the simplest and most common.
Provide an explanation of the task’s goals and organizational structure at the start.
Divide procedural instructions into small steps.
Present each step in the order to be executed.
Label each step.
Explicitly state information necessary to complete each step.
Provide visuals that accurately depict the procedural steps.
Accompany visuals with some form of written or spoken instructions.
Begin any spoken instructions simultaneously with or slightly after a visual is presented.
Segment any animation to focus attention on specific parts.
Segment instructions.
Delay the opportunity to perform the procedure until all the procedure’s steps have been illustrated.
■ Presentation guidelines:
The window should consume a minimum amount of screen space, but be large enough to present the information without scrolling.
Normally, do not exceed four steps per window.
Use a different window color to distinguish task-oriented Help windows from other windows.
■ Writing guidelines:
Write simply and clearly, following all previously presented guidelines.
Focus on how information, rather than what or why.
Do not include introductory, conceptual, or reference material.
Limit steps to four or fewer to avoid scrolling or multiple windows.
If a control is referred to by its label, bold the label to set it off.
Include the topic title as part of the body.
3.6. Reference Help
■ Description:
— An online reference book.
— Typically accessed through a
- Command in a Help drop-down menu.
- Toolbar button.
■ Purpose:
— To present reference Help information, either
- Reference oriented, or
- User guide oriented.
■ Design guidelines:
— Provide a consistent presentation style, following all previously presented guidelines.
— Include a combination of contextual Help, and task-oriented Help, as necessary.
— Include text, graphics, animation, video, and audio effects, as necessary.
— Make displayed toolbar buttons contextual to the topic being viewed.
— Provide a jump, a button or interactive area that triggers an event when it is selected, such as
- Moving from one topic to another.
- Displaying a pop-up window.
- Carrying out a command.
— Visually distinguish a jump by
- Displaying it as a button.
- Using a distinguishing color or font to identify it.
- Changing the pointer image when it is over it.
■ Presentation guidelines:
— Provide a non scrolling region for long topics to keep the topic title and other key information visible.
■ Writing guidelines:
— Write simply and clearly, following all previously presented guidelines.
–– Provide meaningful topic titles.
3.7. Wizards
■ Description:
— A series of presentation pages displayed in a secondary window.
— Include
- Controls to collect input.
- Navigation command buttons.
— Typically accessed through
- Toolbar buttons.
- Icons.
■ Purpose:
— To perform a complex series of steps.
— To perform a task that requires making several critical decisions.
— To enter critical data and for use when the cost of errors is high.
— To perform an infrequently accomplished task.
— The necessary knowledge or experience to perform a task is lacking.
— Not suited to teaching how to do something.
■ Design guidelines:
— Provide a greater number of simple screens with fewer choices, rather than a smaller number of more complex screens with too many options or too much text.
— Provide screens of the exact same size.
— Include on the first page
- A graphic on the left side to establish a reference point or theme.
- A welcoming paragraph on the right side to explain what the wizard does.
— Include on subsequent pages
- A graphic for consistency.
- Instructional text.
- Controls for user input.
— Maintain consistent the locations for all elements.
— Make it visually clear that the graphic is not interactive.
- Vary from normal size or render it as an abstract representation.
— Include default values or settings for all controls when possible.
— For frequently used wizards, place a check box with the text “Do not show this Welcome page again” at the bottom of the Welcome page.
— Include a Finish button at the point where the task can be completed.
— Do not require the user to leave a wizard to complete a task.
— Make sure the design alternatives offered yield positive results.
— Make certain it is obvious how to proceed when the wizard has completed its process.
■ Presentation guidelines:
— Display the wizard window so it is immediately recognized as the primary point of input.
— Present a single window at one time.
— Do not advance pages automatically.
■ Writing guidelines:
— Clearly identify the wizard’s purpose in title bar.
— At the top right of the wizard window, title the Welcome page “Welcome to the Wizard Name Wizard.”
- Use mixed case in headline style and no ending punctuation.
— Write simply, concisely, and clearly, following all previously presented guidelines.
— Use a conversational rather than instructional style.
— Use words like “you” and “your.”
–– Start most questions with phrases like “Which option do you want . . .” or “Would you like. . . .”
3.8. Hints or Tips
■ Description:
— A command button labeled Hints or Tips.
■ Purpose:
— To provide a few important contextual, but specific, items of information related to a displayed screen.
■ Design guidelines:
— Provide guidance on only two or three important points.
— Locate the button near where its guidance applies.
–– Write concisely and to the point.
15. (a) Discuss the different stages involved in usability testing and guidelines to be followed for the same. (16)
Ref Anna university Question Nov/Dec 2011 Or
(b) Write in detail about information search techniques (16)
information Search techniques
The process of searching for information:
Identify your information needs>choose sources>formulate search words/questions>search results>critically evaluate search results>(return to choose sources or formulate search words/questions if necessary)>and finally use the information you have found.
Combinations of words/phrases
Several search words are often needed to describe what you want to search for. If you write two or more words after each other in a search box, they may be searched for differently by different search engines. A quick look at instructions or help texts for the database will clarify this. A little bit of "trial and error" can prove effective sometimes.
How do you refine your search and decide on the relation between search words? It is different for different sources, but is often based on something called "Boolean logic" and "Boolean operators". These are the most common elements of both:
Boolean operators (AND/OR/NOT) or (OCH/ELLER/INTE)
history AND
Sweden
Both words must be present in a search result.
nursery OR
preschool One or both words must be present. OR is useful when searching for synonyms of a word.
gender NOT
linguistics The word "gender" must be present, but any results which contain the word "linguistics" as well are ignored.
Phrase searches
These can often be presented in quotation, marks, for example, "ethnic conflicts". Searching in this way means that the words must be stated exactly as you have written them within the quotation marks in the returned results.
Masking
This means that you "mask" one or more letters in a word. This can be done using slightly different punctuation characters, for instance "?" or "$"; but always read the help texts, where available, to be sure. Masking is useful if you are uncertain how to spell a word or if you want to cover several spelling variations such as: lund??ist which would return different spellings of the name, lundqvist, lundkvist, lundquist.
Proximity operators
You can use these to determine how the words should appear in the returned texts in relation to one another. These operators are ADJ, or NEAR or WITHIN. In the search "Sweden 3NEAR history", for example, the words Sweden and history are separated by less than three words.
Bracketing
Bracketing can be used for deciding the order in which the search should be carried out. The words in brackets must be searched for first, for example, business AND (france OR germany).
You may not need to write out the Boolean operators. You may be able to activate different operators by selecting different alternatives, if available on that particular database or search engine. There is often the option of avancerad sökning (an advanced search). Do not let the name discourage you from looking at these search alternatives. Often they are a simple way to make a search more effective. REMEMBER: just
because there are lots of search fields and options to choose from, in an advanced search, does not mean that you need to fill all of them in.
Tools for internet searches, such as Google, have advanced search forms with lots of different search options.
Problems with the list of search results
If you do not get any, or too few, search results, it may be because there is no, or very little, relevant material in the source you are searching, but it could also be because:
- you spelled something incorrectly.
- you used the wrong language.
- you used too many search words at the same time.
- you used the wrong form of search word or need to truncate it.
- you have not used synonymous expressions.
- your formulation is too specific for the type of source you have chosen.
- you have used operators incorrectly or in an unsuitable way.
- you have some type of limiting function activated.
If too many relevant search results are returned, you can filter out the best ones by:
- making the search specific with more or more specific search words.
- using the advanced functions that the search engine offers. It is often possible to limit results by date, so that only the most recent materials are shown. Look at the advanced search form, if there is one. There may be more and clearer options available. In a structured database the search can often be limited to certain fields in each post, for example, choosing to search only the title, field or the keyword field.
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