Cognitive Engineering - Assignment Example

Interaction Design - assignment Name: Number: Course: Lecturer: Date: Table of Contents Running Head: Interaction Design - assignment 1 Table of Contents 2 1.Introduction 3 2.Visibility of system status 3 Usable sites should at al times keep clients aware of what the site is about, the page they’re looking at the moment and the points to click. Visibility demands that clients stay up-to-date with regard to where they are in respect to the other website pages. This enables them to always have a mental preview of the website and simply traverse both to fresh pages and the ones visited earlier (D, 1986). The interface below correctly informs a user of where they are at any one point the current link carries a different color from the other inactive links which is enough to inform that is the active link. 3 2.1.The second screenshot that does not meet the visibility principle 4 3.Match between system and the real world 5 3.1. Page that does not adhere to the real world match principle 6 4.User Control and Freedom 7 4.1 A webpage that does not adhere to user control principle 8 10 11 Reference 11 1. Introduction The growth in the technological sector has not left out the World Wide Web. Today’s websites and web applications have a huge influence on information access especially for that information available via the internet. Many web users visit sites and return to those sites if they find it easy to access information they need, organized in a mode that makes it easier to access and navigate, and brought out as per a properly structured layout. This therefore greatly depends on the interaction design this paper therefore presents three web usability principles and analyzes them the report also proceeds to identify a sample web page that fails to adopt the usability measures and recommends what should be done. 2. Visibility of system status Usable sites should at al times keep clients aware of what the site is about, the page they’re looking at the moment and the points to click. Visibility demands that clients stay up-to-date with regard to where they are in respect to the other website pages. This enables them to always have a mental preview of the website and simply traverse both to fresh pages and the ones visited earlier (D, 1986). The interface below correctly informs a user of where they are at any one point the current link carries a different color from the other inactive links which is enough to inform that is the active link. 2.1. The second screenshot that does not meet the visibility principle The webpage mostly conserves the upper navigation all over. However, apart from the title at the upper end of the page, there exists nothing at all to specify to the visitors the page they are currently on. From the page between the events and the date links, there has been placed an event finder towards the right. Both the advertisement and the finder seem similar in color, this makes the event finder look as if it’s was together with the advert or and advert in itself for Toronto. Furthermore, the font styles used for the top links are small and faint hence not visible from far and even some users might not see them correctly from close range. 3. Match between system and the real world Sites ought to express the audiences targeted dialectal through wordings phrase that they are used to instead of using complex terms that might confuse users or concepts that are system focused. Conventions from the real world should be used to present information in a more ordinary and a more logical state (Preece, 2002). The webpage below makes use of easily readable words formats that considers users interest. It has extensively done an adequate task to address language use within the page. It is well suited for its audiences which might be advertisers or general newspaper readers. One simple word is the use of news on the top links which is a common one used to refer to latest information and it truly takes users to the page with latest information. 3.1. Page that does not adhere to the real world match principle Within the directories & help webpage we have a rather confusing term in the kind of initials dabbed CNS. There is also an image on the page with the CNS initials within it. Below the CNS initials in the image we have the words scotiabank information commons which makes two completely unknown terms within the same page the same terms are also links to the internet help section contrary to the expectations of many users. We also have the initials U and T at the headline getting online at U and T which seem to mean university of Toronto this tend to confuse users more especially new visitors on the page. Since most users would easily recognize the initials in full then the page should have adopted that. The initials in it would take more user time as they try to unravel their meanings making it hard for them to visit again. 4. User Control and Freedom Since some site visitors can at times choose or click some links by mistake and will require some mechanism to get out of such mistakes or to recover from them. Such mechanism should be quite easy. When users traverse true a website they ought to feel as if they have full control over the site and their experience in it. Incase they get lost in the process of site use and not get a way to return back to their previous states, its obvious that they will get irritated and some might even quit using the site. Good sites always make users feel at comfort and give reasonable avenues of recovery. The web page below makes users completely comfortable when using it there is consistency in the placement of the navigational bar and to add on there is a home link that takes users back to the homepage. All links take users with similar pages but with different content thus cannot confuse users. 4.1 A webpage that does not adhere to user control principle The webpage above has very little user control capabilities. Nowhere within the page has there been place a link or mechanism to get a user to an external page, once a user is within the page its very hard to return to the main home page which seems to be registered under a different domain from the page. This completely confuses users as the navigation changes constantly. Within the page we have a link menu named Educational developments when users click on it, They expect to remain within the main website. However, in this case it takes users to an entirely different page with different navigational mechanism. Despite the fact that the new page is complex, it would have been better if there was homogeneity on the control mechanism on the main links section. Part b Many experienced professionals in usability distinguish that a lot of computer users, particularly beginners, do not comprehend search satisfactory enough to stipulate queries and deduce the outcomes. The above screen short does not meet the user control and freedom principle since the interface does not provide adequate directions for new and inexperienced users and also few options for system experienced users. The banner at the top consumes much important space that could have been utilized to show more search patterns that might have been locked out of view. The interface should be redesigned to ass follows. First some quick tips should be provided to recap users that the names of authors should have last name appearing before first name. Second is that a bit easy mechanisms to restrict search via media or group and extra attributes should be availed. It might even be possible to undertake that such complex searches but then they may not be that clear to the users. Third is that many users expect to do first when the page loads is making certain a search. But then contrary to that this page redisplays itself such that persons experienced in typing get their typing’s erased thus the redisplay feature should be done away with. Lastly, the banner at the top should be reduced to provide more space for more search options. While the page stands for the site homepage for the catalog search, it might be visited severally by each user and the banner consumes a lot of space it might also visually obstruct the navigation bar just situated below it. Reference D, N. (1986). Cognitive Engineering. In User-Centered System Design. wyeth764. Preece, J. R. (2002). Interaction design : beyond human-computer interaction. New York: Wiley & Sons. Read More