This report outlines the features of HCI and the associated functions of the surrounding peripherals of a system.

University Degree Mathematical and Computer Sciences

Human Computer Interface Assignment 1 Diane Ormsher

Abstract

This report outlines the features of HCI and the associated functions of the surrounding peripherals of a system. It shows how the user of an application is more important than the application being used and that the latest applications are designed with the user in mind foremost. The report also describes how HCI can help develop an efficient and effective application.

Failures of systems that have had bad HCI design are also outlined and the outcomes of these are listed.

Two applications have been evaluated and are included in the report. These show how they have been through the process of HCI design in the stages of their development, as they are easy to use and functional.

Human Computer Interaction, or HCI, is the study, planning, and design of what happens when a user and a computer work together. As its name implies, HCI consists of three parts: the user, the computer itself, and the ways they work together.

The User

By user, we may mean an individual user, a group of users working together, or even a series of users in an organisation, each involved with some part of the job or development. The user is whoever is trying to get the job done using the technology. An appreciation of the way people's sensory systems (sight, hearing, touch) relay information is vital to designing a first-class product. For example, display layouts should accommodate the fact that people can be sidetracked by the smallest movement in the outer (peripheral) part of their visual fields, so only important areas should be specified by moving or blinking visuals.

The Computer

Desktop computers, to large-scale computer systems and even a process control system or an embedded system could be classed as the computer. For example, if we were discussing the design of a Website, then the Website itself would be referred to as the computer.

The Interaction

There are obvious differences between humans and machines. In spite of these, HCI attempts to ensure that they both get on with each other and interact successfully. In order to achieve a usable product, you need to apply what you know about humans and computers, and consult with likely users throughout the design process. You need to find a reasonable balance between what can be done within the schedule and budget, and what would be ideal for your users.

The goals of HCI are to produce usable and safe systems, as well as functional systems. In order to produce computer systems with good usability, therefore developers must attempt to:

Understand the factors that determine how people use technology
Develop tools and techniques to enable building suitable systems
Achieve efficient, effective, and safe interaction

Underlying the whole theme of HCI is the belief that people using a computer system should come first. Their needs, capabilities and preferences for conducting various tasks should direct developers in the way that they design systems. People should not have to change the way that they use a system in order to fit in with it. Instead, the system should be designed to match their requirements.

Current Trends ...

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Understand the factors that determine how people use technology
Develop tools and techniques to enable building suitable systems
Achieve efficient, effective, and safe interaction

Current Trends in HCI

The latest ideas on HCI are that the focus is on people and not technology, as was the case some years ago. Compared with traditional software design changes are now being made to accommodate;

The users needs and desires.
More creative designs.
More iterative.
More complex.

Changes in HCI

Computers are now present in the majority of households, as children use them for homework and parents use them for work and pleasure. The type of users of computers has changed along with this increase. The expanses of the Internet have encouraged this change and increase in use, as it allows people to use e-mail, chat rooms and also visit websites. Computers are becoming more and more complex, as they develop faster and bigger products that require compatible hardware.

An efficient HCI is now viewed as a competitive edge in today’s business activities, where it can save time and money for the company that operates an efficient system.

Often, when software and hardware are first designed and built, emphasis might be given to the functionality - what it can do. Sometimes little thought is given to what actions will be required from the users who want to make use of this functionality. So, the required actions may be difficult to carry out, or even difficult to figure out - they may not be intuitively obvious.

This might be alright if the intended operators are 'technical experts' who understand the computer and how it functions and are willing/able to be trained thoroughly in its operation. An example might be the very earliest computers where the 'interface' with users was complex and difficult to use. The only people who could or would operate them were a small group of mathematicians and scientists who could understand and deal with this; who could adapt their own behaviour to fit in with the requirements of the machine. In any case, very little was known about how to make computers easier to use. The technology was not there to provide many of the easy-to-use devices that we now take for granted - VDUs, keyboard, mouse, and so on.

However, as computers developed in speed, capability, memory etc, and as the price reduced, a wider range of people (data processing professionals, engineers and other non-computing specialists) began to find a use for them. But they complained that the machines were still difficult to use, the techniques then available (eg punched cards) took too long to produce results, and the machines were quite inflexible in their operation. Something had to be done to improve the usability of the computers. In the 1970s, the quest for ideas such as 'user friendliness', 'user interface', and the study of 'man-machine interface' was started.

From this developed, in the 1980s, the field of study known as HCI.

In HCI, consideration of users and their environment is given as much emphasis as the technical aspects of getting the machine (ie the program) to perform certain functions. Foremost is the idea that in a well-designed system, users should not have to adapt to the interface; it should be designed so that it is natural and intuitive for them to learn to use it. In modern systems analysis and software engineering 'Usability' is given as much importance as the other criteria for software quality such as functionality, reliability, efficiency, maintainability, portability.

Consequences of poor HCI.

There are a number of quite spectacular examples of catastrophes, which were partly attributable to poor HCI. For example:

1. Three Mile Island nuclear power plant meltdown in 1979 - attributed to poor control panel and alarm system design.

2. Shooting down of Iranian Airbus, with loss of 290 lives, by USS Vincennes. In ships control room, position and heading shown on one screen, altitude on another. This lead to faulty identification.

3. London ambulance system - drivers and operators kept pushing wrong buttons, leading to eventual system overload and breakdown. System abandoned after a few days.

In general, the following have been shown to result from poor interface design :

: Increased mistakes in data entry and system operation.
: Inaccessible functionality.
: User frustration : low productivity and/or under utilisation.
: System failure because of user rejection.

To avoid these shortcomings it is estimated that nowadays nearly a half of software development effort relates to the user interface.

Conceptual model for HCI

We can represent how all these various elements come together and interact by considering a three-level model of HCI

Graphical User Interface (GUI)

One idea that might be considered as a major 'success story' of HCI design is that of the Graphical user Interface (GUI) - the now familiar WIMP (Windows, icons, mouse, pointer) interface. Research seems to indicate that GUIs have the following advantages over Text (Command Driven) interfaces.

: user completes tasks faster;

: lower frustration;

: Perceived lower fatigue;

: better able to self-teach - reduced training costs;

: better able to learn more capabilities of applications;

Command Driven Interfaces

In the 1980s the normal way of interacting with a computer was to type in commands that instructed the computer what to do. An example of this is MSDOS (Microsoft Disk Operating System). This type of interaction used a strict language/code that utilised syntax that had to be precise in order that the program functioned.

This system required that the user had to memorise large amounts of these commands in order to operate effectively.

Menu Driven Interfaces

In the 1980s menu driven interfaces became popular. Where command line interfaces require the user to memorise the input functions, menu systems provide the user with an on-screen display of the options available. These menus can be pull-down or pop-up that appear in front of the working document / program.

A later design of this is the pie menu. This has been shown to reduce the amount of time it takes to search menus and operate systems. Error rates are also reduced when using pie menus, as there is more space between each available selection property displayed on-screen.

Pie Menu

Direct Manipulation Interfaces

These types of interfaces have icons that represent objects and can be moved around the screen by using the mouse to manipulate the cursor. The Windows environment uses this type of system and is more commonly known as Graphical User Interfaces or GUIs. Files, folders, clipboards are represented as pictures. The Windows environment utilises mouse, Icon, pointing and window functions that interact with the GUI.

Usability

The main point of HCI is to provide systems that are easy to learn and use and will also allow it’s users to work effectively, efficiently and comfortably. It has been shown that a poorly designed system can cause stress on users. The DTI are also concerned with the usability of systems and approves many. Stating that ;

Consideration of the users needs during functional specification with the aid of formal design techniques.
Attention to type, style and detail of the user interface.
A usable working environment, taking into account health, comfort and ergonomics, job design and training.
The system should also be considered throughout its lifetime.

User Types

Novice

These type of users have never used the system or application before or who may have used it briefly. The use of menus in applications is of benefit to novice users, as they are much easier to select and recognise.

Experts

Data entry personnel are classed as experts, as they are very familiar with the software and applications being used. An expert users requirements are usually speed and efficiency. For this type of user using a mouse to operate a program is far too slow. They much prefer using the keyboard and the ability to create shortcut keys that will be used for repetitive actions. It has been shown that it takes 0.12 seconds for a typist to press a key and 1.1 seconds to point the mouse at something.

Occasional

These types of user use the applications secondary to their main activity at work and do not require a full understanding of all the functions to operate the system effectively. Therefore they do not require the same training as a novice user.

Special Needs

Visually impaired, physically impaired and cultural groups are also users that need consideration when designing applications. The visually impaired will benefit from using a speech recognition system.

Microsoft FrontPage Evaluation

Menu selection and Methods of selection

This Microsoft application is based upon their successful GUI design. It incorporates pictures of objects that relate directly to the operating functions of the systems and can be seen form the picture below on the left hand column and the tool bar at the top of the page. The drop down menu is also shown in the picture and this was chosen by clicking the mouse pointer over the word format on the tool bar .

This type of interface is quite easy to use and is similar with other Microsoft software products. The drop down menus are the same as other Microsoft options and it is clear that this application is easy to use for people who have used applications of this kind before. This application can also be viewed in different context as shown below.

The appearance of the Front Page application has a pale grey outline that is easy on the eye. The page background of the application is white and the font can be changed to any of the styles and colours available in the font menu selection. The selection of the required options is easily achieved using the mouse and clicking on the appropriate option. The navigation of the application is straightforward and easy to use for the user.

The sizes of the icons used in this application are sufficient but they cannot be customised. This type of application is suitable for all types of users, but an expert user would require a greater scope for customisation and implementation.

Microsoft Powerpoint Evaluation

The layout of this application is similar to other Microsoft products, as it has tool bars at the top of the page and picture icons along the tool bar. The page display explains clearly what data needs to be entered in order to create an operational presentation. This part of the application is very helpful in that the help system is very rarely needed. The screen shot is shown below.

The Icons that are displayed are sufficiently detailed enough for the user to understand.

The time taken to operate the application is adequate in that most of the options available on-screen are chosen by using the mouse function. This has been shown previously to take longer than using a keystroke to achieve the same.

Evaluation

The applications that have been evaluated carry out the required tasks adequately. They both could be improved through the allowance of a customisation function that will facilitate the user with an option to change the functions and layout of the application to suit each users given task.

It is shown that HCI is a necessity that businesses today use to achieve greater efficiency, effectiveness and safe working environments.

The users of applications are also considered when applications are designed, taking into account who will use the product and for what purpose.

Usability is given as much importance as the other criteria for software quality such as functionality, reliability, efficiency, maintainability and portability.

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