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Practical Programming COMP153-08S

Practical Programming COMP153-08S. Week 5 L2: HCI. What is HCI?. Human Computer Interaction the study of humans the study of computer technology the study of how they influence each other Designing systems that are more usable. Usability.

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Practical Programming COMP153-08S

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  1. Practical ProgrammingCOMP153-08S Week 5 L2: HCI

  2. What is HCI? • Human Computer Interaction • the study of humans • the study of computer technology • the study of how they influence each other • Designing systems that are more usable

  3. Usability • Does what user wants in the way they can easily understand.

  4. Poor Usability is seen in software • Microsoft Entourage • has a calendar/diary • you can have reminders that events are about to happen (eg meetings) • reminders appear in a popup window • but they don’t appear on top of all other windows • so you might never see them!

  5. Poor Usability is seen in hardware Apple puck mouse • for a while was the standard mouse provided with Apple computers • too small to fit into hand comfortably • it’s round, so difficult to tell which way it is pointing • people had to buy add-on covers to make it usable

  6. Some Key Usability Concepts • Visibility

  7. Some Key Usability Concepts • Affordance The control panel at the 5 mile Island Nuclear Power Plant. The controls were so badly designed that the user had to modify them.

  8. Some Key Usability Concepts • Affordance Te Taka’scrockpot

  9. Some Key Usability Concepts • Mappings

  10. Some Key Usability Concepts • Feedback

  11. Some Key Usability Concepts • Understanding Users

  12. Designing for Usability • Understand user needs • Study them – what really happens in the world? • Involve them • Prototyping • Early on build versions of the system that the user can see and use • Get comments • Listen and adjust • Use design guidelines • Learn from others • Rules of good practice

  13. So…. • Paper sketches • Show user, modify • .net forms • Just layout • Some functionality • Again, show users, modify

  14. Design guidelines • Through experience and experiments, lots of good design advice available. • You’ve seen a range in the Zak book: • Tooltips (why?) • Access keys (why?); choice of letter? • “If an operation is destructive, prompt the user to verify that he or she wants to proceed with the operation” • Appendix B GUI Design Rules • No easy, magic way for good design though. Guidelines are just guides…

  15. Taking things further • Read • “The psychology of everyday things” Don Norman. • Look at www.baddesigns.com (site about how bad design makes life difficult) • Look at www.useit.com (site about usability) • Practice good practice • Prototype your vb apps – sketch, show users, redesign • Apply good design guidelines • Do COMP258 (Engineering Usable Systems)

  16. THE END of the lecture

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