1. Information System Design Info-440
Autumn 2002
Session #17

2. Thanks to Anthony
Copyright David Hendry (INFO-440 session /27/2002)

3. Agenda Heuristic evaluation Return Quiz What is it & how it works?
Examples
Return Quiz
Copyright David Hendry (INFO-440 session /27/2002)

4. Admin Announcements Topics that you would like to know more about?
To do: Will schedule some kind of Visio lab
Topics that you would like to know more about?
Copyright David Hendry (INFO-440 session /27/2002)

5. Upcoming Assignment #4 Final quiz December 4 December 9
Will be on Nielsen, Chapter 5 only
Copyright David Hendry (INFO-440 session /27/2002)

6. Heuristic Evaluation Goal: Uncover usability risks (problems)
How: Careful inspection of an interface
What is the challenge?
Copyright David Hendry (INFO-440 session /27/2002)

7. The process Focus on a part of the UI
Decide upon a use scenario
Develop a list of goals
Select some guidelines/heuristics
Depends on need/purpose
Inspect the UI against the guidelines
Identify risks
Copyright David Hendry (INFO-440 session /27/2002)

8. Essential ideas Aim for good coverage Aim to be systematic
Drive your analysis from a scenario
Aim to be systematic
Select appropriate guidelines
Aim for nuanced judgment
Issues have varying degrees of risk
Aim to develop special-purpose guidelines
Draw on the work of others & your experience
Practice, practice, practice
Copyright David Hendry (INFO-440 session /27/2002)

9. Some issues Standards vs. guidelines General vs. specific guidelines
‘Standards’, once set, are not negotiable
General vs. specific guidelines
Understanding and applying guidelines is not easy
Multiple evaluations
More eyes are better than one
Guidelines need to be revised over time
Sometime you get a guideline wrong
Copyright David Hendry (INFO-440 session /27/2002)

10. Let’s examine some guidelines
“Keep things visible” (Norman)
“When all else fails, be consistent” (Norman)
“Simple and natural dialog” (Nielsen)
“Minimize user memory load” (Nielsen)
“Good error messages” (Nielsen)
“Prevent errors” (Nielsen)
Comments?
Copyright David Hendry (INFO-440 session /27/2002)

11. Jeff Johnson (GUI Bloopers)
Focus on the users and their tasks, not the technology
Consider function first, presentation later
Conform to the users’ view of the task
Don’t complicate the users’ task
Promote learning
Deliver information, not just data
Copyright David Hendry (INFO-440 session /27/2002)

12. Jeff Johnson (GUI Bloopers)
Principle 3: Conform to the users’ view of the task
Strive for naturalness
Use users’ vocabulary, not your own
Keep program internals inside the program
Find the correct point on the power/complexity trade-off
Copyright David Hendry (INFO-440 session /27/2002)

13. Bloopers is a wonderful book
Area: GUI Component Bloopers
Section: Complicating access to functionality
Example: Blooper 1: Dynamic menus
(Hundreds and hundreds of examples)
Copyright David Hendry (INFO-440 session /27/2002)

14. Macintosh UI Guidelines
Save changes to the X document “Special Memo” before closing
Don’t save
Cancel
Save
Copyright David Hendry (INFO-440 session /27/2002)

15. Macintosh UI Guidelines
Save changes to the X document “Special Memo” before closing
Don’t save
Cancel
Save
Data loss
Safe for data
Copyright David Hendry (INFO-440 session /27/2002)

16. Section 508 guidelines

17. Section 508 guidelines
A text equivalent for every non-text element shall be provided (e.g., via "alt", "longdesc", or in element content).
Every image, Java applet, Flash file, video file, audio file, plug-in, etc. has an alt description.
Complex graphics (graphs, charts, etc.) are accompanied by detailed text descriptions.
The alt descriptions succinctly describe the purpose of the objects, without being too verbose (for simple objects) or too vague (for complex objects).
Alt descriptions for images used as links are descriptive of the link destination.
Decorative graphics with no other function have empty alt descriptions (alt= ""), but they never have missing alt descriptions.
Copyright David Hendry (INFO-440 session /27/2002)

18. Section 508 guidelines
A text-only page, with equivalent information or functionality, shall be provided to make a web site comply with the provisions of this part, when compliance cannot be accomplished in any other way. The content of the text-only page shall be updated whenever the primary page changes.
Copyright David Hendry (INFO-440 session /27/2002)

19. Special purpose guidelines
Website design guidelines for
People who are blind
People who are under 14
Personalization sites
Site maps
E-commerce
Copyright David Hendry (INFO-440 session /27/2002)

20. Multiple evaluators
The data suggests that different analysts uncover different problems
Therefore, to get a complete list, you should have 2-4 people evaluate a UI for issues
Copyright David Hendry (INFO-440 session /27/2002)

21. What about this guideline?
Only 10% of users scroll beyond the information that is visible on the screen when a page comes up. All critical content and navigation options should be on the top part of the page. [from 1999]
Copyright David Hendry (INFO-440 session /27/2002)

22. Let’s practice: Examples from Interface Hall of Shame & Web Bloopers Archive (

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