HIC - PRELIMINARY

Human-Computer Interaction

A cross-disciplinary area that deals with the theory, design, implementation, and evaluation of ways human use and interact with computing devices. It use productivity, safety, and entertainment to support and fulfill human-computer activities.

High usability

is the interactive design and operations through specific computer system criteria which includes correctness, efficiency, safety, utility, learning, and retention.

User experience

focuses on creating systems that enhance the overall involvement of a person, which must include a satisfying, enjoyable, entertaining, helpful, motivating, aesthetically pleasing, and fun experience to the user.

Interaction

refers to an abstract model by which humans interact with the computing device to complete a given task.

Interface

refers to the boundary wherein two (2) independent systems meet and act on or communicate with each other.

Know the User

Commonly known as “user-centered design,” this principle serves as the primary principle of HCI. This implies that the interaction and interface should cater to the needs and capabilities of the target users of the system in design.

Understand the Task

refers to the job to be accomplished by the user with the interactive system. This principle is closely related to interaction modeling and user analysis.

Reduce Memory Load

Humans are more efficient in performing tasks that require light memory load, either for long term or short term memory. Keeping the user’s short term memory load light is important in relation to the interface’s role as a quick and easy guide to complete a task.

Strive for Consistency

This applies to both interaction model and interface implementation. A user has a higher tendency to be confused and exhibit inaccurate and inappropriate responses if the same subtask is involved at a different time and for a different interaction step or interface methods.

Remind Users

A significant task involves the use of memory. Another strategy is to employ interfaces that provide constant reminders about important information or actions to be performed and thus refresh the user’s memory.

Prevent Errors/Reversal of Action

In performing any given task, it is important to complete the task without any error. Therefore, the interaction and the interface should be designed to avoid confusion and overwork of users.

Natural Interaction and Interface

This principle refers to the reflection of various actions and processes in human’s daily life. At some point, it can be complicated to translate real-life actions and other modes of interaction to interact with a computer directly, but it is still achievable.

Guidelines

are a set of information intended to advise people on how something should be done or what something should be.

HCI guidelines

are a set of recommended information used to direct HCI design and development.

General HCI Design

Display layout, information structure, soliciting input, output visualization, design process and practice, user experience, general aesthetic

User Type

Age/Generation, disability/accessibility, occupation, consumer group, culture, gender

Platform/System Setup

Mobile/handheld, large display/virtual reality, public installation, operating system/network, mbedded, desktop

Vendor/Organization

Private, public, design style/identity

Interface Style/Modality

Windows, icon, mouse, and pointer (WIMP);

Non-WIMP; 3D; Multimodal

Task/Operational Context

Location, time, noise/lighting, bodily constraints

Applications

Game, media, e-commerce, design/editing, social network service

Visual Display Layout (General HCI Design)

This concerns the organization of relevant information, both content and user interface elements, in one (1) visible screen or a scrollable page.

Taking User Input (General HCI Design)

such as raw information and system commands, can improve the overall performance, especially time and accuracy, for high interactive systems. A high interactive system usually has a modern interface, which also pertains to a graphical user interface.

Graphical User Interface (GUI)

an interface through which a user interacts with electronic devices such as computers, mobile devices, and other appliances. This interface includes elementslike button, text box, menu, forms, icons, and other visual indicator representations to display information and related user controls.

User with Disability (User Type)

The World Wide Web Consortium (W3C), an international community where organization staff and the public work together to develop Web standards, published Web Content Accessibility Guidelines. This set of guidelines covers a wide range of recommendations for making Web content more accessible to a wider range of people with disabilities, including accommodations for blindness and low vision, deafness and hearing loss, and limited movement.

Perceivable

Information and user interface components must be presentable ways. Provide a text alternative for non-text context. Provide alternatives for time-based media. Create content that can be presented in different ways without losing information or structure. Make it easier for the user to see and hear content.

Operable

Make all functionality available from a keyboard. Give users enough time to read and use content. Do not design content in a way that is known to cause seizure or physical reactions. Provide ways to help users navigate, find content, and determine where they are. Make it easier for users to operate functionality through various inputs beyond the keyboard.

Understandable

Make text content readable and understandable. Make Web pages appear and operate in predictable ways. Help users avoid and correct mistakes.

Robust

Content must be enough that it can be interpreted by a wide variety of user agents, including assistive technologies. Maximize compatibility with current and future user agents, including assistive technologies

Mobile Device (Platform Type)

Smartphones are widely used nowadays. Usability and other user experience of mobile devices and applications have become more important.

Human Information Processing

Human Problem-Solving Model The whole process of interaction with technology could be viewed as a human attempting to solve a “problem” and applying certain “actions” on “objects” to arrive at a final “solution.” Cognitive science has investigated how humans solve problems.

Sensation

senses external information through aural, haptic, or visual modality

Perception

interprets and extracts basic meanings of the external information

Memory

stores short-term or long-term information about external procedures, rules, relations, schemas, and the likes

Decision/Executor

formulates and revises a solution or plan, decides based on various information in the memory, and finally acts it out by commanding the motor system.

Donald Norman

He introduced the Gulf of Execution and Evaluation.

gulf of execution

the difference between the intentions of the users and what the system allows them to do or how well the system supports those actions. When a user is solving a problem or using an interactive system to do so, a mental model is formed which is mostly equivalent to the hierarchical action plan for the task.

gulf of evaluation

is the degree to which the system provides representations that can be directly perceived and interpreted in terms of user expectations and intentions. Numerous cognitive activities have been examined in terms of the approximate process time.

Goals

These are tasks that a user wants to accomplish.

Operators

These are the basic perceptual, cognitive, or motor actions used to accomplish goals or actions allowed by the system

Methods

These involve a sequence of procedures that can accomplish a goal.

Selection Rules

These are personal rules users follow in selecting a method to be used.

Visual modality

the most important information medium today. Over 40% of the human brain is involved in processing visual information. Therefore, the parameters of a visual interface design need to adhere to the characteristics and capacity of the human visual system.

Aural modality

is the next most common mode of information feedback. Thus, designers and developers need to set fundamental parameters for aural modality suitable for users. The recommended sound signal should be between 50 and 5000 Hz.

Haptic modality

considered as a natural way of interacting with computers. This term pertains to the technology that uses touch to control and interact with computers. A user may perceive a sense of touch through vibrations, motion, or force.

Multimodal interaction

It has been advancing in the industry with the ubiquity of multimedia devices. Interactive interfaces can become more effective in numerous ways with the implementation of multimodal interaction.

Human body ergonomics

also known as motor capabilities. This term pertains to the discipline focused on creating products and interfaces which are comfortable and efficient to use.

Fitts’ Law

A model of human movement that predicts the time required to move rapidly to a target area as a function of the distance to the size of the target. This was initially created for the context of operation in a factory’s assembly line.

Motor control

another method of initiating and performing voluntary movement. Humans exhibit different motor control practices with different devices. The most predominant form of input made is made by movements of arms, hands, and fingers for keyboard and mouse input.