Building Usable Systems

for

MBAC 6080

Kenneth A. Kozar

Spring, 1998

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Usefulness

• Alignment Model
• Do it because we can?
• Who decides? IS or User?

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The following is from Edupage and may say something about usability?

ANDREESSEN IS OUR KIND OF GUY

Netscape co-founder and programming whiz Marc Andreessen admitted on the Charlie Rose TV show that his home PC crashes regularly; that he hasn't been able to get his printer or CD-ROM drive to work; and that he has not yet figured out how to program his VCR. We feel his pain. (Computerworld 21 Oct 96 p138)

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See some truth from Sally Forth.

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SO - Who is the real "Dummy"?

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People Performance - Usability

• Aids (Checklists, prompts, patterning)
• Manuals (Reference vs Training)
• Training (Many alternatives)
• Interfaces (DOS vs Icons)

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General Guides

• Empathy - "Do you understand me?"
• Action-oriented - "Tell me what to do."
• Testing - "Does it do it?" "Don't let me get in trouble."

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Input Design

• Error Correcting Costly
• Input Close to Source
• Use
  • Defaults - "most of them are.."
  • Positioning - form layout, last name first?
  • Adaptive checking - deviation from patterns
  • Checkwords/Repetition
  • Non-entry - zip=city, state

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Output Design

• Meet System Objectives?
• Business Tactic Easier?
• Use
  • Short line length
  • Highlighting
  • Accurate Labels/Titles/Units
  • Little coding/lookup
  • Focusing/fixating

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Manuals

• Best is least - minimalist
• May be a design approach
• Reference vs. Training
• Topic vs Task
• Testing - first draft perfect?
• Cohesive modules, KISS, 4-Fingers

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Training

• vs Education
• Good Design?
• Objectives in performance terms

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Means of Training

• Personal guidance
• Video/audio
• Guided reading
• Teaching others
• Interface crossing
• Experiential
• Online

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Training Guidelines?

• When to start?
• Tangible pivots?
• Feedback
• Reaching all?
• Who really fails?

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Person/Machine Interfaces

• Symbiosis - dissimilar systems with superordinate goal
• Synergy: 1 + 1 = 2+
• Friend?

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Choices

• Command lines
• Menu
• Q/R
• Graphical

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Design for Naive Users

• Characterized by no formal training, low frustration tolerance, little recall of last time
• Needs no misinterpretation, no chance of destruction
• Use limited responses, alternative replies, comfortable responses, extensive testing

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Design for Managerial Users

• Characterized by casual usage, short time segments, clear value, tutoring, people-orientation, non-rugged
• Needs ease of starting, sheltering, easy recovery, adaptability
• Use menus, graphics, macros, hard copy

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Design for Dedicated Users

• Characterized by training, frequent use, harassed environment, rugged, distracted
• Needs efficiency, accommodation of learning, mindlessness, QWL, reward integration
• Use adaptive inputs, content tolerance, pacing, alternative if infrequent task

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Overall Guides

• Natural action sequences
• Process, Content, then Format
• Keep user in control
• Help to get started, get unstuck, recover

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Minimalism

• Why am I creating this?
• Who is going to use it?
• What tasks must be performed? BT
• What don't users care about?
• What background to get started?
• What tasks are done most often? - adaptive/learning

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Testing

• Representative Users!
• All H/W
• Failure/Recovery
• Security
• Saturation
• Keep Error Logs
• Physical measures/helps?

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