INF3720 Exam
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Notes
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INF 3720 Good luck
What you should know
Conceptual model, core components
Interface metaphors
Interaction types
Design principles norman’s
Usability goals
User experience goals
Key issues required for any data gathering session
Triangulation
Data recording
Heuristic evaluation stages
Nielsen,s heuristics
Cognitive walkthroughs
Usability testing compared to conducting experiments and field study taking
note of the environment in which testing is conducted, participants, data
collection, advantages and disadvantages
Evaluation , two main types, three broad categories
Hierarchical task analysis, problems and advantages
Task description
Data gathering requirements and guidelines for requirements
Basic activities of interaction design
User centered approach define and elaborate on three principles that are
involved. You might be given or asked to give meaning based on a scenario
my unisa system etc
Emotional interaction
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2016 may june
Question1
a) Five design principles
Visibility- the more visible functions are, the most likely users will know
what to do next. The relationship between the way controls have been
positioned and what they do makes it easy for a user to find the
appropriate control for task
Feedback-involves sending back information about what action has been
done and what has been accomplished. Various kinds of feedback are
available-audio, tactile, verbal, visual and combination of these
Constraints-refers to determining ways of restricting the kinds of user
interaction that can take place at a given moment. Examples are-
deactivating certain menu options, thereby restricting users only to
permissible options at that stage of the activity or the physical design of a
device which allows only a particular cable/card/plug to be inserted into
specific slots/sockets
Consistency-refers to designing interfaces to have similar operations/ use
similar elements for archiving similar tasks.one of the benefits of
consistent interfaces is that they are easier to learn and use
Affordance-refers to an attribute of an object that allows people to know
how to use it. To afford means to give a clue.eg. a mouse button invites
pushing a door handle affords pulling, interfaces should make it obvious
what can be done for them
Question 2
Gimmicks
Frustration can happen when clicking on a link to a website only to discover that
is still under construction. It can be more annoying when the website displays an
‘Under Construction” merely increase icon, which the users frustration, having
made the effort to visit the website.
Error Messages
Error messages are notorious for their incomprehensibility. It would be more
helpful to provide information about how to resolve / overcome the problem.
Threatening error messages can also cause users to become anxious. Use of bold
red letters and exclamation marks can be counter-productive
Ideally, error messages should be treated as “how to fix it” messages. They
should state the cause of the problem, and what the user needs to do to fix it.
Waiting
Website or software apps that take a long time to download can be frustrating.
Links that hang and eventually do to load can be very annoying
Upgrading
Another common frustration is upgrading the software. More often time –
consuming, and requires a range of things such as resetting preference, checking
configurations, and learning new ways of doing things
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Appearance
People are often annoyed by
Website that are overloaded by text and graphics, making it difficult to
find and access information ;
Flashing animations, pop ups, banner ads, that can cover what the user is
looking for, and which require them to click on check boxes to close them
The over-use of sound effects and music;
Features – an excessive number of buttons and options, such as a remote
controls;
Childish designs that keep popping up, such as certain types of helper
agents;
Poorly laid out keyboards, pads, control panels, and other out input
devices that cause users to press the wrong keys or buttons
Question 3
a) Heuristic evaluation is a form of usability inspection where usability specialists judge
whether each element of a user interface follows a list of established usability
heuristics.
b) Briefing session, evaluation period, and debriefing
c) Problem of using heuristics is that designers can sometimes be led astray
by finding that are not as accurate as they first appeared to be
Question 4
A conceptual model is a high-level description of how a system is organised
and operates. An abstraction that outlines what people can do with a product
and what concepts are needed to understand interacting with it
1 Core conceptual model
Metaphors and analogies that convey to people how to understand
what product is for and how to use it for an activity
The concepts that people are exposed to through the product,
including the task -domain objects they create and manipulate,
their attributes and operations that can be performed on them
The relationship between those concepts
The mapping between the concepts and user experience the
product is designed to support or invoke
Question5
a) With an early focus on users and tasks it is broken down into 5 sub
User task and goals are driving force behind the development
User’s behaviour and context of use are studied and system is designed to
support them
User characteristics are captured and designed for
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