sims 213: user interface design & development marti hearst tues, feb 20, 2007
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SIMS 213: User Interface Design & Development
Marti HearstTues, Feb 20, 2007
Today
Selected Design GuidelinesHeuristic Evaluation– How to do it– How well does it work?– In-class H.E.
Design Guidelines
What are they?– Rules of thumb for how to design– Bloopers book has many recommendations
There are LOTS of them– Based on common sense and experience
• Not necessarily proven– Often conflict with one another– Often don’t say HOW to implement them
Design Guidelines
What do to:– Focus on those guidelines most applicable to the
kind of interface under development– Focus on those emphasized in our readings
• Bloopers, chapter 1• Usability Engineering, chapter 5• Raskin, chapter 3• All of Don Norman’s concerns
– Use common sense
All-Star Usability Design Guidelines
An edited selection
Slide adapted from Saul Greenberg
1 Simple and natural dialogue
Use the user’s conceptual modelMatch the users’ task in as natural a way as possible– minimize mapping between interface and task
semantics
1 Simple and natural dialogue
Present exactly the information the user needs– less is more
• less to learn, to get wrong, to distract...
– information should appear in natural order• related information is graphically clustered• order of accessing information matches user’s expectations
– remove or hide irrelevant or rarely needed information• competes with important information on screen
– use windows frugally• don’t make navigation and window management excessively complex
Slide adapted from Saul Greenberg
Slide adapted from Saul Greenberg
2 Speak the users’ language
Examples?
Slide adapted from Saul Greenberg
3 Minimize user’s memory load
Computers good at remembering things, people aren’t!Promote recognition over recall– menus, icons, choice dialog boxes vs command
lines, field formats– relies on visibility of objects to the user (but less is
more!)
Slide adapted from Saul Greenberg
3 Minimize user’s memory load
Slide adapted from Saul Greenberg
3: Minimize user’s memory load
Describe required input format and example, and default
Small number of rules applied universally– generic commands
• same command can be applied to all interface objects
• copy, cut, paste, drag ’n drop, ... for characters, words, paragraphs, circles, files
Slide adapted from Saul Greenberg
3: Minimize user’s memory load
Slide adapted from Saul Greenberg
4: Be consistent
Consistency of effects– same words, commands, actions will always have the same effect in
equivalent situationsConsistency of language and graphics– same information/controls in same location on all screens / dialog
boxes – same visual appearance across the system (e.g. widgets)
• e.g. different scroll bars in a single window system!
Consistency of input– consistent syntax across complete system
Slide adapted from Saul Greenberg
4. Be Consistent
These are labels with a raised appearance.
Is it any surprise that people try and click on them?
Slide adapted from Saul Greenberg
5: Provide feedback
Continuously inform the user about – what it is doing– how it is interpreting the user’s input– user should always be aware of what is going on
> Doit
What’s it
doing?
> DoitThis will take5 minutes...
Time for
coffee.
Slide adapted from Saul Greenberg
5. Provide feedback
Should be as specific as possible, based on user’s inputBest within the context of the action
Slide adapted from Saul Greenberg
5. Provide feedback
What did I select?
What mode am I in now?
How is the system
interpreting my actions?
Slide adapted from Saul Greenberg
Provide feedback
Drawing Board LT
Multiple files being copied, but feedback is file by file.
Slide adapted from Saul Greenberg
5. Provide feedback
Response time– how users perceive delays
0.1 second max: perceived as “instantaneous” 1 second max: user’s flow of thought stays
uninterrupted, but delay noticed 10 seconds: limit for keeping user’s attention focused
on the dialog> 10 seconds: user will want to perform other tasks while
waiting
Slide adapted from Saul Greenberg
How do I get
out of this?
6. Provide clearly marked exits
Slide adapted from Saul Greenberg
6. Provide clearly marked exits
Users don’t like to feel trapped by the computer!– should offer an easy way out of as many situations as
possible
Strategies:– Cancel button (for dialogs waiting for user input)– Universal Undo (can get back to previous state)– Interrupt (especially for lengthy operations)– Quit (for leaving the program at any time) – Defaults (for restoring a property sheet)
Slide adapted from Saul Greenberg
7. Provide shortcuts
Experienced users should be able to perform frequently used operations quicklyStrategies:– keyboard and mouse accelerators
• abbreviations• command completion• menu shortcuts• function keys• double clicking vs menu selection
– type-ahead (entering input before the system is ready for it) navigation jumps
• e.g., going to location directly, and avoiding intermediate nodes– history systems
• WWW: ~60% of pages are revisits
Keyboard accelerators for
menus
Customizable toolbars andpalettes for
frequent actions
Split menu, with recently used fonts on top
Scrolling controls for page-sized
increments
Double-click raises object-specific menu
Double-click raises toolbar
dialog box
Slide adapted from Saul Greenberg
8: Deal with errors in a positive and helpful manner
People will make errors!
Errors we make– Mistakes
• arise from conscious deliberations that lead to an error instead of the correct solution
– Slips• unconscious behaviour that gets misdirected en route to satisfying goal
– e.g. drive to store, end up in the office
• shows up frequently in skilled behaviour– usually due to inattention
• often arises from similarities of actions
Slide adapted from Saul Greenberg
Designing for slips
General rules– Prevent errors before they occur– Detect and correct errors when they do occur– User correction through feedback and undo
Slide adapted from Saul Greenberg
Designing for slips
Examples– mode errors
• have as few modes as possible (preferably none)• make modes highly visible
– capture errors• instead of confirmation, make actions undoable• allows reconsideration of action by user
– loss of activation• if system knows goal, make it explicit• if not, allow person to see path taken
– description errors• in icon-based interfaces, make sure icons are not too similar, • check for reasonable input, etc.
Slide adapted from Saul Greenberg
8 Deal with errors in a positive and helpful manner
Prevent errors– try to make errors impossible– modern widgets: only “legal commands” selected, or
“legal data” entered
Provide reasonableness checks on input data– on entering order for office supplies
• 5000 pencils is an unusually large order. Do you really want to order that many?
Slide adapted from Saul Greenberg
9. Provide help
Help is not a replacement for bad design!
Simple systems:– walk up and use; minimal instructions
Most other systems:– feature rich– some users will want to become “experts” rather than “casual”
users– intermediate users need reminding, plus a learning path
Volume 37: A user's guide to...
Slide adapted from Saul Greenberg
Types of help
Tutorial and/or getting started manuals– short guides that people are likely to read when first
obtaining their systems• encourages exploration and getting to know the system• tries to get conceptual material across and essential
syntax
– on-line “tours”, exercises, and demos• demonstrates very basic principles through working
examples
Slide adapted from Saul Greenberg
Types of help
Reminders– short reference cards
• expert user who just wants to check facts• novice who wants to get overview of system’s capabilities
– keyboard templates• shortcuts/syntactic meanings of keys; recognition vs. recall;
capabilities
– tooltips• text over graphical items indicates their meaning or purpose
Slide adapted from Saul Greenberg
Types of help
Context-sensitive help– system provides help on the interface component the
user is currently working with• Tool tips• Macintosh “balloon help”• Microsoft “What’s this” help
– brief help explaining whatever the user is pointing at on the screen
Slide adapted from Saul Greenberg
Types of help
Wizards– walks user through typical tasks– but problematic if user gets stuck
Slide adapted from Saul Greenberg
Types of help
Tips– migration path to learning system features– also context-specific tips on being more efficient– must be “smart”, otherwise boring and tedious
Discount Usability Testing
Heuristic Evaluation
Evaluating UI Designs
Usability testing is a major technique“Discount” methods don’t require users– Heuristic Evaluation– Cognitive Walkthrough
Heuristic Evaluation
Developed by Jakob NielsenHelps find usability problems in a UI designSmall set (3-5) of evaluators examine UI– independently check for compliance with usability principles
(“heuristics”)– different evaluators will find different problems– evaluators only communicate afterwards
• findings are then aggregated
Can perform on working UI or on sketches
Adapted from slide by James Landay
Phases of Heuristic Evaluation
1) Pre-evaluation training– give evaluators needed domain knowledge and information on
the scenarios
2) Evaluation– individuals evaluate and then aggregate results
3) Severity rating– determine how severe each problem is (priority)
4) Debriefing– discuss the outcome with design team
Heuristics (original)
H1-1: Simple & natural dialogH1-2: Speak the users’ languageH1-3: Minimize users’ memory loadH1-4: ConsistencyH1-5: Feedback
H1-6: Clearly marked exitsH1-7: ShortcutsH1-8: Precise & constructive error messagesH1-9: Prevent errorsH1-10: Help and documentation
Adapted from slide by James Landay
How to Perform H.E.
At least two passes for each evaluator– first to get feel for flow and scope of system– second to focus on specific elements
Assistance from implementors/domain experts– If system is walk-up-and-use or evaluators are domain
experts, then no assistance needed– Otherwise might supply evaluators with scenarios and
have implementors standing by
Adapted from slide by James Landay
How to Perform Evaluation
Where problems may be found– single location in UI– two or more locations that need to be compared– problem with overall structure of UI– something that is missing
Adapted from slide by James Landay
Example Problem Descriptions
Can’t copy info from one window to another– Violates “Minimize the users’ memory load” (H1-3)– Fix: allow copying
Typography uses mix of upper/lower case formats and fonts– Violates “Consistency and standards” (H2-4)– Slows users down– Probably wouldn’t be found by user testing– Fix: pick a single format for entire interface
Adapted from slide by James Landay
Severity Ratings
Used to allocate resources to fix problems Estimates of need for more usability effortsCombination of– frequency– impact– persistence (one time or repeating)
Should be calculated after all evaluations are done
Should be done independently by all evaluators
Adapted from slide by James Landay
Severity Ratings (from Nielsen & Mack 94)
0 - don’t agree that this is a usability problem1 - cosmetic problem 2 - minor usability problem3 - major usability problem; important to fix4 - usability catastrophe; imperative to fix
Adapted from slide by James Landay
Severity Ratings Example
1. [H1-4 Consistency] [Severity 3]
The interface used the string "Save" on the first screen for saving the user's file, but used the string "Write file" on the second screen. Users may be confused by this different terminology for the same function.
Adapted from slide by James Landay
Debriefing
Conduct with evaluators, observers, and development team membersDiscuss general characteristics of UISuggest potential improvements to address major usability problemsDev. team rates how hard things are to fixMake it a brainstorming session
Next Time
Evaluation of Heuristic EvaluationLow-Fi Prototyping