So, what is Usability after all?

1. Usability Engineering Intro Spring 2019

2. Usability Engineering Intro Spring 2019

3. Usability Engineering Intro Spring 2019

4. So, what is Usability after all? Let me hear your opinions / definitions / comments… Usability Engineering - Intro 2019

5. What is Usability? • Usability is the ease of use and learnability of a human-made object. The object of use can be a software application, website, book, tool, machine, process, or anything a human interacts with • Primary notion of usability an object designed with a generalized users' psychology and physiologyin mind for example: • More efficient to use (takes less time to accomplish a particular task) • Easier to learn (operation can be learned by observing the object) • More satisfying to use • Software usability in particular describes the quality of user experience across websites, software, products, and environments. Please Note: The term user friendly is often used as a synonym for usable, though it may also refer to accessibility. Usability Engineering - Intro 2019

6. Disciplines that contribute to the study and improvement of Usability (1/2) Cognitive psychology • Capabilities and limitations of human senses and thought processes Ergonomics • Hardware and software efficiency, safety and reliability Linguistics • Syntax and semantics of commands • Speech I/O Artificial intelligence • Speech I/O • Intelligent 'guessing' what the user wants to do • Knowledge representations of users and tasks Usability Engineering - Intro 2019

7. Disciplines that contribute to the study and improvement of Usability (2/2) Sociology and social psychology • Assisting people to work in groups with software • Ensuring software works in different cultures Industrial design • Aesthetics • Storyboarding etc. General engineering • Economic analysis, cost-benefit, alternatives analysis • Standards-based approaches • Integration with other qualities Usability Engineering - Intro 2019

8. Good vs Bad Usability Good usability doesn’t show. It just works. Good usability is when: • A door is designed in a manner that you don’t have to read a sign or think about in order to understand if you should push or pull the door to open it. • When you enter a hospital and instantly understand which direction to take. There’s no need to find a map or ask reception for directions. • You instantly understand the purpose of a website and how to use it Usability Engineering - Intro 2019

9. Bad usability is easier to notice than good. We get annoyed; we think it is bad –often without being able to give any reason why. Good vs Bad Usability Usability is bad when: • You’re not sure if the handicap toilet is locked or not, you feel uneasy and would like to grab the handle but can’t reach it. • You want to park your car in a public place such as an airport but fail to understand the directions • You are filling out an online-form and when you get something wrong you have to start all over again. Usability Engineering - Intro 2019

10. Make it hard to do the wrong or unusual thing Good usability is like water flowing downhill Hard Difficulty The right things should feel easy and natural Easy Wrong Correctness Right Make the right things easy and the wrong things hard Usability Engineering - Intro 2019

11. Bad Usability Examples Usability Engineering - Intro 2019

12. Bad Usability Examples(The Impossible Teapot) A classic one (non-existent object) Usability Engineering - Intro 2019

13. Bad Usability Examples(Real life experience) This door design assumes that the user has pre-existing knowledge of which side the hinges are on Usability Engineering - Intro 2019

14. Bad Usability Examples(Real life experience) The only way is up (And you have a higher than average chance of reaching the third floor apparently) Usability Engineering - Intro 2019

15. Bad Usability Examples(Real life experience) Which Button to go Up? Usability Engineering - Intro 2019

16. Bad Usability Examples(Real life experience) Elevator Panel Usability Engineering - Intro 2019

17. Bad Usability Examples(Real life experience) Ticket Machine Usability Engineering - Intro 2019

18. Bad Usability Examples(Misleading Control Usage) Word: Font Dialog (1/2) Usability Engineering - Intro 2019

19. Bad Usability Examples(Misleading Control Usage) Word: Font Dialog (2/2) Usability Engineering - Intro 2019

20. Bad Usability Examples(Unusable Features) Try to select a product from the dropdown list Usability Engineering - Intro 2019

21. Bad Usability Examples(Unusable Features) Horizontal and Vertical scrollbars in a small text window making reading almost impossible Usability Engineering - Intro 2019

22. Bad Usability Examples(Unusable Features) Unusable text editor Usability Engineering - Intro 2019

23. Bad Usability Examples(Unnecessary Complex Procedures) 3-steps removal procedure Usability Engineering - Intro 2019

24. Bad Usability Examples(Posing Unnecessary Restrictions) Found 2 matches. Please narrow your search!! Usability Engineering - Intro 2019

25. Bad Usability Examples(Asking User to Act in Non-Standard Ways) Click “Continue” to cancel subscriptionClick “Cancel” to continue subscription Usability Engineering - Intro 2019

26. Bad Usability Examples(Options Flooding) Tabs…tabs…tabs… Usability Engineering - Intro 2019

27. Bad Usability Examples(Asking Stupid and Unnecessary Questions) Windows Vista: Did you find what you were searching for? Usability Engineering - Intro 2019

28. Bad Usability Examples(Stupid Mistakes Challenging User’s IQ) Special Gold Box Price indeed! Usability Engineering - Intro 2019

29. Bad Usability Examples(Stupid Mistakes Challenging User’s IQ) Did you say “cordless”? Usability Engineering - Intro 2019

30. Bad Usability Examples(Lying to User) But you said: No Plug-in necessary Usability Engineering - Intro 2019

31. Bad Usability Examples(Stupid Modal Dialogs – A lot of them) The list goes on and on… Usability Engineering - Intro 2019

32. Good Usability Examples (Much harder to spot) Remember: Good usability doesn’t show. It just works Usability Engineering - Intro 2019

33. Good Usability Examples (Real life experience) Metro in BarcelonaLights on indicate visited stations. Passengers know exactly where they are and in which direction they are traveling Usability Engineering - Intro 2019

34. Good Usability Examples (Real life experience) Natural mapping of controlsDriver’s seat adjustment controls for an –apparently- luxury car Usability Engineering - Intro 2019

35. Good Usability Examples(Well Designed User Controls) Primary action prominent with a larger click area.Cancel and secondary actions are just shown as links(In the second example, the button is replaced with a progress indicator until the file has finished uploading) Usability Engineering - Intro 2019

36. Good Usability Examples(Well Designed Metaphors) Match between system and the real world (Metaphor)Menus that speak the users’ language, with words, phrases and concepts familiar to the user from real-world conventions Usability Engineering - Intro 2019

37. Good Usability Examples(Consistency) Consistent representation of similar tasks in different environments Word, Excel, and PowerPoint all use the same style toolbar with the same primary menu options: Home, Insert, Page Layout… This results in efficiency and perceived intuitiveness Usability Engineering - Intro 2019

38. Good Usability Examples(Accelerating User Choices) Recognition rather than recall (MEMORY)Typahead for coding in a programming environment / Font preview for selection in a wordprocessor Usability Engineering - Intro 2019

39. Good Usability Examples Bad Usability Examples Can we spot a few around us? Usability Engineering - Intro 2019

40. Optional Assignment Select your favorite object (software application, website, cellphone, tool, machine, gadget …) and write a free-style review of its usability suggesting ideas that could improve it. Your 2-5 page review report might contain • An overall description of the selected object • “Good” and/or “Bad” usability features you spotted • Ideas that could improve its usability • Any other info you may like to add Upload your review on e-class (If not possible, e-mail to me) Due date: Next Weekend Usability Engineering - Intro 2019

41. ICT and Usability • ICT tools are used to ease our workloads, improve our results and streamline our processes. • Therefore it is important that users know how to handle these tools and that they are well adapted to current activities and tasks. • With user friendly ICT tools, we can avoid unnecessary burdens and stress. • In this course we will examine • how user friendly certain ICT tools are • what can be done to improve usability to meet users’ requirements and conditions https://www.prevent.se/contentassets/044f81113c8d4a1191c8df054bb329c4/3--ict-an-usability.pdf

42. Why Usability Is The Most Important LMS Requirement • Today’s learners are busy and impatient and expect to have what they want, when they need it, at their fingertips. • It doesn’t matter how many great eLearning courses your Learning Management System (LMS) has to offer if your learners can’t get their hands on them easily. • For the LMS, User Experience boils down to how easy it is to find content and complete a task. • A poorly designed User Experience is like a child in a sweet shop finding they can’t reach any of the sweets they want on the shelves. https://elearningindustry.com/important-lms-requirement-usability

43. Why Usability Is The Most Important LMS Requirement (2) • Usability has a strong impacton learner engagementand adoption. People are unlikely to come back for more learning if they haven’t had a great experience. • Towards Maturity’s research indicates that over a quarter of learners fail to find what they need on their LMS. • FoswayGroup highlights User Experience as a top driver among 80% of organizations looking for a new system. https://elearningindustry.com/important-lms-requirement-usability

44. Thank You!