Introduction to Human Computer Interaction

Introduction to Human Computer Interaction Chapter 1 Mohamad Eid

Outline • Human Computer Interaction: definition • Why study user interface design? • History • Goals of HCI • Five key ideas in HCI • Optical Illusions • Understanding users • User productivity and usability • Disciplines contributing to HCI • HCI engineering as a branch of software engineering • User interface malfunctions • Case studies in user interface malfunction • Key points to review Mohamad Eid

Definition • The study of people and computing and the way they influence each other • A set of processes, dialogues, and actions through which a human user employs and interacts with a computer • A discipline concerned with the design, evaluation and implementation of interactive computing systems for human use with the study of major phenomena surrounding them Mohamad Eid

The System Input Output The User Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) • Human • the end-user of a program • the others in the organization • Computer • the machine the program runs on • Interaction • the user tells the computer what they want • the computer communicates results Mohamad Eid

Why Study User Interface Design? • 75% or more of development effort can go into the user interface • 40% to 70% is typical • User interface specialists are needed • Everybody needs to know the basics • User interface software is becoming more complex • Complexity increase is faster than other aspects of systems • Graphical user interfaces have provided the biggest jump in complexity • Applications tend to grow to fill available computing resources • There are direct financial benefits from improved user interfaces Mohamad Eid

Financial benefits & Costs of improved user interfaces • Increased user productivity • Direct financial savings • Increased revenues from sales • The system is more attractive and customer satisfaction is higher • Decreased training and support costs • The system is more intuitive • Decreased maintenance cost • The system does what user wants • Much maintenance involves fixing UI problems • Pay a little during development, or pay a lot after application/product release! • But • Staff must be trained in user interface analysis and design • Users must participate • UI design tools are needed • The benefits almost always outweigh the costs Mohamad Eid

History • Early days of computing: • Computers cost more than people • Computers had little functionality • The UI was unimportant • Early 1970s • Field of ‘Man Machine Interface’ (MMI) born. • Term changed gradually to ‘User Interface’ (UI) • Ideas for first ‘Graphical User Interface’ (GUI) • Dynabook at Xerox • Late 1970s and 1980s • Products were called ‘user friendly’ • No science in this: Just a market buzzword • First real GUI’s developed • Xerox Star --> Smalltalk and Macintosh Mohamad Eid

History (Cont’d) • 1980s • Term ‘Human-Computer Interaction’ (HCI or CHI) came into use • wider scope than UI (help, work practices etc.) • MS-Windows, X-Windows follow the Mac • Intense research into HCI • 1990s and early 2000s • Virtual reality, speech and handwriting I/O, Soundblaster Good BUT also Bad UI’s continue to be developed!!! Mohamad Eid

Goals of HCI • Improve productivity and reduce costs through: • Safety: • Does the system prevent danger? • Functionality: • How many things can the system do? • Efficiency: • How few resources does it take to get a task done? • Usability : • How easy to learn and use is the system? • BUT • High functionality (many ways of doing the same thing) can actually reduce usability • By causing confusion Mohamad Eid

Five Key Ideas in HCI • Visibility • The UI should help the user always understand... • The current state of the system • What operations can be done • E.g. • When you position the cursor over a point on the screen, it should be clear what would happen if you clicked the mouse • Feedback • When anything changes it should be made visible • When you delete a file, the system should not just say ‘ready’ • Goal • A state the user wants to reach • to be talking with somebody on the phone • to have saved a file Mohamad Eid

Five Key Ideas in HCI (Cont’d) • Affordance • The set of operations and procedures that can be done to an object • ‘Perceived affordance’ is what typical users think can be done to an object • Should a door be pulled or pushed? • What does this icon mean? • To improve visibility/feedback we need to: • Choose objects with good perceived affordance • Design the UI to generate better perceived affordance • Task • An action the user wants to do • to call somebody • to save the file • Goals beget tasks, tasks beget goals. Mohamad Eid

Optical Illusions Mohamad Eid

Understanding Users • “Dual Processor" Theory: • Every interactive system is a distributed system running on two processors: • User interface design specifies/constrains both: • User behavior • System behavior Mohamad Eid

Understanding Users (Cont’d) • Users can be categorized: • By class • Determined by the pattern of use: • e.g., manager, salesperson, shipper, client • By personality type • Shy or reticent • Inarticulate • Disinterested or defensive • Intimidated • Involved designer! • By ability • Physical disability • --> innovative I/O may be needed • Colorblind • --> don’t use colors as the only means of conveying information • Dyslexia or other cognitive glitches • --> watch out for left vs. right! • Illiteracy • --> icons may be needed • Computer illiteracy • Ignorance of domain / learner Mohamad Eid

User Productivity & Usability • User productivity = Functionality (what the computer can do) * Usability (what people can do with the computer) • If either of these is zero, the system is useless • Factors Influencing User Productivity • Kind and number of tasks • Characteristics of users (ability, experience etc.) • Work environment (distractions etc.) • Training and documentation • Functionality and usability of available software and hardware Mohamad Eid

A Model of Usability Factors Mohamad Eid

Disciplines Contributing to HCI • Cognitive psychology • Capabilities and limitations of human senses and thought processes • Ergonomics • Hardware and software efficiency of use and safety • 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 • Sociology and social psychology • Assisting people to work in groups with software • Ensuring software works in different cultures • Engineering and industrial design • Disciplined measurement-based approaches • Esthetics • Storyboarding etc. Mohamad Eid

Human Cognitive system • Perception and representation • Some displays can be hard to interpret • Blue foreground • Optical illusions • Contrast in color but not brightness • Too many colors • There are two ways to use graphics: • For modeling • direct images of concepts • For coding • representing underlying ideas, e.g., displaying quantitative data Mohamad Eid

Bad User Interface Mohamad Eid

Human Cognitive system (Cont’d) • Attention limitations • People can be readily distracted • Provide cues about what to focus on • People get lost in complexity • Structure information so it is easy to browse through • not too many items • not too few items • grouped logically • People multitask • Make the ‘state’ clear so users can jump backwards and forwards • Some mental processes are automatic, or become so (contrasted with controlled processes) • These processes are very hard to unlearn Mohamad Eid

Human Cognitive system (Cont’d) • Memory limitations • Short term memory can contain 7±2 ‘chunks’ • Avoid situations where users have to remember more than this • Logically group things so users can chunk them • The more meaningful, the more easily remembered (familiarity, imagery and consistency contribute to meaningfulness) • Use effective names and icons (even) animated ones • Combine icons with words • Icons can be analogies, examples or abstract, but not arbitrary • Watch out for cultural differences (e.g. washroom symbols) • People can more easily recognize than recall • Use menus, icons, quick lookup Mohamad Eid

A five level conceptual model of the UI • At each level: • Design must be done • Problems can occur • Task Level • What is to be done by the user • Conceptual Level • User’s intended mental model of the system • Interaction Style Level • Command-driven, menu-driven, direct manipulation, hypermedia • Design elements that are repeated throughout the system • Interaction Element Level • Specific windows, dialogs, commands, menus • Physical Element Level • Bitmaps, characters, data structures, callbacks Mohamad Eid

Evolution from plain SW- to usability Eng. • Normal software development (involving the UI) • Focuses on physical and interaction elements • Waterfall model dominates (sequential), Spiral model • Evaluation by functional spec reviews and testing • User interface development • Focuses on users and tasks • Star model dominates (iterative) • Evaluation by continuous user involvement • Driven by heuristics and guidelines • Integrates psychology etc. • Influence on functionality • Usability engineering • Driven by engineering objectives • Integrates rigorous engineering discipline • Drives functionality Mohamad Eid

Controller Model View A conceptual model of user interface system architecture • Why layers? • Simplifies software development and maintenance • All layers: • Are developed in parallel • Influence each other • Included in complete system specifications • Evaluated together • Evolution of layers: • Functional layer should need to change less often during iterative tuning of the interface • All layers may need to change when business functions change but hopefully interaction styles should remain similar Mohamad Eid

Characteristics of Products and Applications • Each kind of application puts different demands on the UI designer • Application for internal use vs. product for sale • Generic utility vs. task-specific tool • Walk-up-and-use vs. skilled usage • Some design challenges: • Customizing a generic utility product so that it becomes a task-specific tool for internal use and vice versa • Converting an application requiring skilled usage to make it a walk-up-and-use application Mohamad Eid

User Interface Malfunctions • Key idea: • “There are no good user interfaces ... just user interfaces that fit” • A truly bad user interface never fits • But among the ‘good’ ones, some will suit one task/user; some will suit another • To maximize fitness, we must minimize the occurrence of ‘malfunctions’ in the context of the expected use of the system Mohamad Eid

Definitions of malfunction • “A mismatch between what the user wants, needs or expects and what the system provides” • “A breakdown in usability” • “An obstacle to performing a desired task” • You should know that: • Occasional malfunctions are normal • Systematic or frequent malfunctions need to be fixed Mohamad Eid

Related ideas to ‘malfunction’ • Error: Identifiable mistake on the part of the designer • Defect: A deviation from what the user needs • A malfunction is a usability defect • A defect in the smooth functioning of the user/computer system! • Users may not be aware of many malfunctions • the malfunctions may only be located through careful analysis • they may be subtle Mohamad Eid

Malfunction Analysis • A disciplined approach to analyzing malfunctions • Provides feedback into the redesign process • Play protocol, searching for malfunctions • Answer four distinct questions: • Q1. How is the malfunction manifested? • What do you notice and who noticed it? • Q2. At what stage in the interaction is it occurring? • Goal forming, action decision, action execution, interpretation of results • Q3. At what level of the user interface is it occurring? • Physical element level to task level • Q4. Why is it occurring? • What is its root cause • List and prioritize possible cures Mohamad Eid

How is the malfunction manifested? a) Malfunctions detected by the system (easiest to detect) • omission of an argument • incorrect date format Cure: • Better prompts, consistency, visible examples, more forgiving of alternatives b) Malfunctions detected by the user during operation • taking wrong path in menu hierarchy • not finding required help • not being able to perform a certain action • not being able to tell which state system is in Cure: • Improve functionality, feedback, clarity, simplicity Mohamad Eid

How is the malfunction manifested? c) Malfunctions undetected (until later) • output produced is wrong due to wrong inputs • unnecessary work performed Cure: • Improve feedback indicating consequences of input; simplify d) Inefficiencies • excessive response time • excessive think time • unnecessarily long command sequences • unnecessary repetitions • complex operations that require use of reference Cure: • Simplify, speed system up Mohamad Eid

What Stage in the Interaction the Malfunction Occur? a) When the user decides on next goal (Forms an intent to do inappropriate thing) • decides to empty a field because user thinks it is unimportant (when it is important) • decides to charge default exchange rate (when should obtain current exchange rate) Cure: • Lead user through task better; better feedback; better training b) When the user specifies the action (Action does not match the goal) • deletes the record instead of emptying a field • charge reciprocal of exchange rate Cure: • Improve clarity, feedback, prompts, conceptual model Mohamad Eid

What Stage in the Interaction the Malfunction Occur? c) When the system executes the action • Defects in functionality Cure: • Fix functionality in normal way d) When the user interprets the resulting system state • thinks bank account has been debited when it has not • thinks system has ‘hung’ when it has not • thinks some data must be entered when it is the default • cannot understand resulting error message Cure: • Better feedback, better conceptual model Mohamad Eid

At Which Level Does the Malfunction Occur? a) Task level (Task and goals not supported) • What the user wants to do cannot be done by the system • Functionality is not provided Cure: • Add functionality b) Conceptual level (User has wrong mental model; does not understand intended conceptual model) • thinks that money is being deducted from bank account when it is being charged to a credit card • thinks that dragging a file to the desktop means they are no longer on the disk • thinks that dragging a disk to the trash can icon deletes disk contents Cure: • make conceptual model clearer; improve metaphors Mohamad Eid

At Which Level Does the Malfunction Occur? c) Interaction style level (system wide problem) • does not know how to pull down a menu • scrolls a page instead of a line • goes to next screen instead of scrolling • retypes command after an error instead of editing it Cure: • make operation of the interface more intuitive and consistent d) Interaction element level (specific detail inappropriate) • selects wrong button because label is misinterpreted • specifies invalid command syntax • specifies wrong code for option Cure: • More attention to details of the interface, simplification Mohamad Eid

At Which Level Does the Malfunction Occur? e) Physical element level (Physical execution incorrect) • presses wrong key accidentally • clicks on wrong pixel in image • out-types machine (actions lost) • types ahead when system is computing; keystrokes later applied to wrong action Cure: • Defenses to protect user from consequences; better hardware design; fix bugs in code Mohamad Eid

Why Does the Malfunction Occur? a) Lack of (on the part of the user): • Motivation: • Poor job satisfaction • Attention: • User is pre-occupied with other things. • Input information processing: • No feedback provided to tell user what is going on • or cues provided by the system are not recognized • or cues are misinterpreted Cures: Clearer, more consistent feedback • Discrimination: • user is unable to tell certain things apart • e.g. red/green color discrimination • e.g. two icons that are similar Cures: Improved expression of information Mohamad Eid

Why Does the Malfunction Occur? • Physical coordination: • e.g. wrong item selected because of difficulty positioning cursor with mouse. Cures: Alternate interaction mechanisms, better feedback • Recall: • User did not remember command , syntax etc. Cures: Better mnemonics, online help, quick lookup mechanisms, command completion • Knowledge / lack of learning: • User does not have business or software knowledge to make right choice. Mohamad Eid

Why Does the Malfunction Occur? b) Learning difficulties that cause malfunctions: • Learning is difficult • users get frustrated • learning takes time; can be hard to apply • Learners make ad-hoc interpretations • they may not recognize their problem • they may falsely think they have a problem • Learners generalize from what they know • they assume computers work like manual methods • they assume consistency • Learners have trouble following directions • they often ignore them even if they see them • they do not easily understand them Mohamad Eid

Why Does the Malfunction Occur? b) Learning difficulties that cause malfunctions: • Problems and features interact • they do not see that one problem can cause another • Prerequisites and side-effects confuse learners • Help facilities do not always help • they do not know what to ask for • too much detail is often provided • Other causes of malfunctions: • Excessive resource demands • External events (e.g. noise) • Misleading or inadequate training • Unrealistic task definitions • Intrinsic human variability Mohamad Eid

Summary • Goals of HCI: Improve • safety • functionality • efficiency • usability • Visibility and feedback • Affordance and perceived affordance • Goal = state; task = action • Human/computer as system running on 2 processors • Types, classes and abilities of users • Productivity = functionality * usability • Usability factors • e.g. learnability, fit, acceptability • Contributing disciplines • e.g. linguistics, Artificial Intelligence Mohamad Eid

Summary (Cont’d) • Human cognitive system - Limitations on: • perception • attention • memory • Task analysis vs. functional analysis • Star model with evaluation at centre • UI levels • task • conceptual model • interaction style • interaction element • physical element • Usability engineering • Layered approach = Model View Controller Software Design Pattern • Malfunction as a kind of defect (of usability) Mohamad Eid

Ευχαριστώ 谢谢 DMnvwd Dankie go raibh maith agaibh ありがとう متشکرم WAD MAHAD SAN TAHAY GADDA GUEY Asante Urakoze Mohamad Eid

Introduction to Human Computer Interaction