Usability

1. Usability Multimedia Authoring • Do you love your mobile phone? Your MP3 player? Your ebook reader? Your laptop or tablet PC? Your search engine of choice? Your GPS system? Multimedia Authoring

2. Usability Usability • What do we mean by usability? • What does usability measure? Multimedia Authoring

3. Usability Usability • From the user’s perspective usability is a combination of factors including: Multimedia Authoring

4. Usability KIOSK Usability Project Company A is a small company, which worked on a project to develop a kiosk-based integrated multimedia service for the general public. The purpose of the kiosk was to provide users with information about unemployment benefits, and job and training opportunities. It was specifically aimed at the unemployed, and made no assumptions about the users' having a knowledge of computers or technology in general. The company had no experience of usability and a limited budget, but felt that usability issues were important and hired the services of a usability consultancy. Multimedia Authoring

5. Usability Usability can be defined as “the extent to which a product can be used by specified users to achieve specified goals with effectiveness, efficiency and satisfaction in a specified context of use”. (International Organization for Standardization 9241-11) Essentially this means that usability is an attribute of the way in which a particular person and system interact. The most important features are: Multimedia Authoring

6. Usability Early Usability Company A had for some years concentrated their usability effort towards the end of the lifecycle but, convinced of its basic value, they were keen to broaden the use of usability techniques to encompass other stages such as early prototyping and business design. Although the decision to extend usability practices back into the earlier parts of the lifecycle was a senior management decision, some apprehension was expressed at the developers' level, because it was felt that this would significantly add to development time without giving back much in return. Multimedia Authoring

7. Usability User Centred methodology (3 phases) 1.   User needs analysis: Early focus on Users and Tasks 2.   Empirical measurement (involving users) 3. Iterative design (involving users) 1.  User needs analysis: Early focus on Users and Tasks • This phase involves getting an understanding of the users and their tasks • Unless the hyperdocument is for entertainment, it is important to realize that users are using the document to discover something they need to know or do. (eg: transport system to plan a route to their destination) Multimedia Authoring

8. Usability • Techniques for user needs analysis: • Interviews, discussions, observation of present system. • If no present system : find out how they go about their present work. • Interview users • Identify target • Males/females • Average age • Cultural characteristics • Computer Skills • Motivation • Facilities • Environment • Determine performance goals Multimedia Authoring

9. Usability 2.    Empirical measurement If there are similar or previous versions of the product, usability tests can be written and conducted before the new product is created. Once users needs have been identified: prototypes developed Conducting Usability Tests Number of test subjects? Types of tests Multimedia Authoring

10. Usability • Performance Measures • Quantitative (such as) • counting the number of test subjects who finish a particular task • how long each task takes • how many errors each user makes • how many questions asked while performing the task (think aloud process). • Qualitative (such as) • comments from the test subjects while performing tasks, observations of the test team (think aloud process). Multimedia Authoring

11. Usability • Iterative design • Iterative testing and design of prototype: continued improvements • Example: • Lori Caldwell LeDoux, Ellen Connor and Thomas S. Tullis (2005) Extreme Makeover • Test Methods • Formative evaluation • Done early in a project’s design • Used to develop the design • Summative evaluation • Done when a project is completed Multimedia Authoring

12. Human Factors Vision • Colour is only one of the visual factors that have impact on usability. • Other factors are size, shape and layout of web-page elements. Multimedia Authoring

13. Hearing • Currently sound plays a less important role on the Web than vision. • Generally sounds may play a helpful role in a usable interface design, although various research showed that too much noise becomes annoying rather than an asset. Memory • It is important to optimize the web-site so it is easy for new visitors to remember how to use your web-site, thus reducing their memory load and making whole session more enjoyable. Multimedia Authoring

14. Design For Usability • Consistent Design • Every page in your site should have some commonality. • Navigation should be consistent • Orphaned Pages • Make sure that every page on your site at least has a way to get back to the very top of the site. • Horizontal Scrolling • A definite NO. (scrolling the page to the right) Multimedia Authoring

15. Warnings • Always provide enough explanation on any important action to be performed. • Design for Non Linear Use • Never assume that your users will enter via the home page or that they would navigate through the site in any predictable fashion. • Alternative Navigation Techniques • All people have different navigational habits. • To make maximum percentage of users happy, provide different forms of navigation Multimedia Authoring

16. Usability Characteristics that help to make up a usable multimedia system Multimedia Authoring

17. Usability • Problems of poor multimedia design • Typical problems • Overuse of different media which can confuse the use by swamping them with too much information • Media elements such as sound used say in an educational programme in a classroom can disturb other children not using the computer system • Complex web sites which leave the user unsure of the structure and getting lost in the site can result in the user simply exiting to another site • The most important problem is perhaps where the system is designed to provide certain functions but where insufficient attention has been paid to the real task objectives of the user and the system functions they really need. Then the system can be poorly used or not used at all. Multimedia Authoring

18. Usability Usability • Summary • A web site that is poorly designed is frustrating and stressful to the end user and a blemish on the company (or person) that produced it. • Aim to make web sites both aesthetically pleasing and very useable. Multimedia Authoring

19. Usability • References: • Usability Principles http://www.ucc.ie/hfrg/emmus/guidelines/d11what.html • Usable Multimedia • http://www.cs.wpi.edu/~kal/elecdoc/MMmodule4.html • Bailey, B. (2005) The Value of Iterative Design, http://www.usability.gov/newsletters/pubs/072005news.html • http://www.ucc.ie/hfrg/emmus/case/case7.htm Kiosk • http://www.ucc.ie/hfrg/emmus/case/case4.htm Early Usability • Lori Caldwell LeDoux, Ellen Connor and Thomas S. Tullis (2005) http://www.upassoc.org/usability_resources/conference/2005/ledoux-UPA2005-Extreme.pdf • General Principles of WWW Usability • http://www.slais.ubc.ca/courses/libr500/00wt2/www/A_Oleynikova/design_part2.htm Multimedia Authoring

20. Usability Resources: Resources from the Usability Professionals’ Association at upassoc.org/usability_resources/ Guidelines, methods, templates, articles about web usability at usability.gov Software Usability Research Lab (SURL) at Wichita State University publishesUsability News, a free web newsletter on SURL research at http://www.surl.org/ Stanford Guidelines for Web Credibility credibility.stanford.edu/guidelines/index.html Jakob Nielsen’s bi-weekly Alertbox column on current issues in web usability useit.com/alertbox/ Jared Spool’s newsletter UIEtips and other useful resources at User Interface Engineering’s website uie.com/ Multimedia Authoring