Today we are talking about Usability Engineering
Usability engineering is a field that is concerned generally with human-computer interaction and specifically with making human-computer interfaces that have high usability or user friendliness. In effect, a user-friendly interface is one that allows users to effectively and efficiently accomplish the tasks for which it was designed and one that users rate positively on opinion or emotional scales.
If it hard to understand, Just talk about it in easier way.
Usability Engineering is the way you design tasks or products that suit for users (make it ergonomic). Suit for user might be the way that product are easy to use.
Usability engineering depends on understanding three aspects of a product to design better.
Know the user
Know the task
Know the environment
Why do we need usability?
– To turn a poorly designed product into a well designed one.
You know? only 30% of IT systems are successful because they fail on usability. For the example of Eclips Program, UI of Eclips are complicate, you have to learn how each icon can be used instead of use your common sense. It make people feel not compatible to use it and some of them use Notepad instead.
– To turn a poorly designed product into a well designed one.
You know? only 30% of IT systems are successful because they fail on usability. For the example of Eclips Program, UI of Eclips are complicate, you have to learn how each icon can be used instead of use your common sense. It make people feel not compatible to use it and some of them use Notepad instead.
– To determine if a product meets the needs of the user?
Cause you cannot produce a quality product until you can answer these questions. That why you need usability to addresses these questions.
Know the user: discover who the end user of the system
Once you have identified the user, you must determine
What level of expertise they have
What they will assume about the system
What is the environment in which they will use the systemNext we have to classified users
– Classification by System Usage
– Classification by System Usage
Direct Users: Direct use of the system to carry out their duties.
Indirect Users: Ask other people to use the system on their behalf.
Remote Users: Uses who do not use the system themselves but depend on services it offers.
Support Users: Members of the administrative and technical teams which support the system.
And another two extra categories
And another two extra categories
Mandatory Users: Those who must use the system as part of their job
Discretionary Users: Do not have to use the system as part of their job (Probably have less familiarity with the system)
– Classification by Expertise: Mostly use in game design
– Classification by Expertise: Mostly use in game design
Novice users: Have little or no experience with computers
To deal with novice users:
To deal with novice users:
You need to provide feedback of what they’re doing.
Provide a guide through processes
Actions should not have side effects so that the system is easier to learn and understand
In large systems, more complex areas can be hidden from the user unless they are needed, making the interface simpler to deal with
Intermittent Users: Use the system occasionally with possibly longperiods without using it, Often remember general concepts but not
Intermittent Users: Use the system occasionally with possibly longperiods without using it, Often remember general concepts but not
low-level details
To deal with intermittent users:
To deal with intermittent users:
You need to provide access to good manuals and help facilities.
Expert Users: Require less help
To deal with expert users:
To deal with expert users:
You have to make extensive use of help systems
Should be provided with accelerator keys so that they have a faster alternative to menus
Should be allowed to customize their typed commands to make interface look like others they know
To known about user you have to Gathering Information about Users
This can be done by
Formal & informal discussion: talking to users, make them be the part of design process.
Observation: very useful tool to find out how people actually work.
One of the major dangers is that the users alter their behavior when they know they are being observed
To avoid this problem we use Activity Logging instead.
To avoid this problem we use Activity Logging instead.
An expert on the design team: putting one of the end users on the design team to provide valuable insight into the needs of the users
Questionnaire: produce large amounts of data which can take a long time to analyze
Interview
Task analysis: the analysis of how a task is accomplished to achieve goal.
In order to break a task into subtasks, we must ask a series of questions
What information is needed to perform the task?
What are the errors which might occur?
The questions about the input should be followed by questions about the output
How does the user get feedback on the progress of the task?
Then, we need to ask questions about the transformation
What are the strategies for decision making and how can these be incorporated into the new system?
What skills are needed for the task?
What skills are needed for the task?
What interruptions can occur and when can they occur?Ethnography: is mean join yourself in a team to work as a group (different culture) and determine how people do and how they think.
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