263 HCI Terms

Flashcards for HCI Key Terms

Affordance

Display attributes that allow people to know how something should be used. Can be Real (physical world) or Perceived (digital interfaces, learned conventions).

Agent-Based Computing

A paradigm where the computer acts with added intelligence based on user commands or actions, functioning as an intelligent and proactive avatar.

Alignment

A visual design principle where related elements are lined up to create a sense of unity and organization.

Attention

The cognitive process of selecting specific stimuli from the environment on which to concentrate, aided in UI by visual and audio cues.

Batch-Processing

The earliest interaction paradigm characterized by no interactivity and non-simultaneous execution of tasks, where computers were seen as impersonal machines.

Cognition

The process of how knowledge and understanding are developed in our minds, involving thinking, remembering, learning, decision-making, reasoning, communication, etc.

Cognitive System

In Distributed Cognition, the interconnected network of individuals, artifacts, internal and external representations, interactions, and the environment.

Cognitive Tracing

Modifying external representations to reflect changes or establish structure, a form of External Cognition.

Command Line Interface (CLI)

A computer interface where input is primarily via keyboard commands, and output is typically text-based on a screen.

Consistency

A design principle where interfaces use similar elements for like tasks, maintaining internal and external standards.

Constraints

A design principle that restricts the possible actions that can be performed by the user, reducing errors and complexity.

Contrast

A design principle that makes things stand out from each other using differences in color, size, weight, shape, etc., to communicate importance.

Cross Device

An interaction paradigm involving inter-connected computers of various sizes, shapes, and capabilities, supporting multiple users and smooth transitions between devices.

Cultural Conventions

Learned understanding of norms used by people to make sense of new things.

Design Principles

General guidelines used by UI/UX designers to aid thinking and improve usability.

Direct Manipulation

An interaction paradigm providing the user with the feeling of directly affecting virtual objects through continuous representation, physical actions, and rapid, reversible operations.

Distributed Cognition

A theoretical framework suggesting that cognition is not limited to the brain but is distributed across individuals, artifacts, and representations within an environment.

Efficiency

A usability quality component that measures how quickly users can perform tasks once they have learned the design.

Embodied Interaction

The concept that the way we use our bodies to interact with a system affects how we perceive and understand it, and that actions themselves carry meaning.

Encoding

The process of paying attention to information and interpreting it, a stage in Memory.

Errors

A usability quality component that assesses the number and severity of mistakes users make and how easily they can recover from them.

Error Prevention

A Nielsen heuristic focused on eliminating error-prone conditions or confirming actions with users before commitment.

Evaluation

The process of judging the quality or value of a design, conducted to discover flaws before launch.

Experiential Cognition

A state of mind characterized by instinctiveness, reflexiveness, and effortlessness.

Expectation Transfer

Using expectations from familiar objects onto similar new ones.

External Cognition

Using external representations or tools to aid cognitive processes, reducing memory load and offloading mental activities.

Feedback

A design principle that provides visual, sound, or other cues to inform the user that their action has caused something to happen and shows what has been done.

Fidelity

The amount of functionality details and performance relative to the final product.

Fitts’ Law

A UX law stating that the time to acquire a target is a function of its distance and size.

Flexibility and Efficiency of Use

A Nielsen heuristic that provides multiple ways to perform the same task with different levels of efficiency, including accelerators for experienced users.

Fluid Layout

A type of responsive layout grid where column sizes change as the screen/window size changes.

Focal Points

Visual elements placed at specific points to draw attention.

Fixed Layout

A type of responsive layout grid where only the margin size changes as the screen/window size changes.

Gestalt Principles

A group of visual perception principles explaining how people organize visual elements into unified wholes.

Grouping

A visual design principle where things close to one another are perceived as related, improving learnability and searching.

GUIs (Graphical User Interfaces)

Interfaces that use graphical displays and a pointing device, allowing for WIMP elements.

Gulf of Execution

The difference between the user's intentions/goals and what the system allows them to do or how well it supports those actions.

Gulf of Evaluation

The effort required for the user to interpret the system's state and determine if their expectations and intentions have been met.

Help and Documentation

A Nielsen heuristic that provides user assistance at appropriate times with easily searchable content in concrete steps.

Help Users with Errors

A Nielsen heuristic focused on indicating errors clearly, helping users recognize, diagnose, and recover from them.

Heuristic Evaluation

An analytical evaluation method where experts inspect a UI relative to established usability guidelines (heuristics) to identify usability problems.

Heuristics

Usability guidelines or principles used by experts to evaluate interfaces, based on design principles, human factors, and common sense.

Hick’s Law

A UX law stating that the time it takes to make a decision increases with the number and complexity of choices.

Human-Centered Programming (HCC)

A discipline focused on understanding humans and designing computational artifacts that adapt to individual needs and circumstances, manifesting in UIs.

Human-Computer Interaction (HCI)

A discipline focused on understanding human beings and designing computational artifacts to adapt around individuals, manifesting in UIs.

Icons

Graphical representations of apps, objects, commands, or tools used in WIMP/GUIs.

Interactive Computing

An interaction paradigm introduced in the 1970s allowing real-time interaction between users and systems through input/output hardware.

Interpret

Trying to make sense of observations, a stage in the Evaluation phase of the Action Cycle.

Jakob’s Law

A UX law stating that users spend most of their time on other sites, suggesting interfaces should work similarly to others.

Kinesthesia

The awareness of the position and movement of body parts through internal sensory organs.

Learnability

A usability quality component that measures how easy it is for users to accomplish basic tasks the first time they encounter a design.

Low-Fidelity Prototype

Prototypes with minimal detail and functionality, used early in the design process for ideation.

Match Between System and the Real World

A Nielsen heuristic advocating for using language and metaphors familiar to the user, following real-world conventions.

Medium-Fidelity Prototype

Prototypes with more detail and some interactive elements, used for exploring user flows and feedback.

Memorability

A usability quality component that measures how easily users can reestablish proficiency after a period of not using the design.

Memory

The cognitive process of encoding and later retrieving knowledge, influenced by attention, usage, and external aids.

Mental Models

Explanations users form about how things work, helping predict outcomes when using new systems, often based on metaphors.

Menus

Graphical representations of available options or commands in WIMP/GUIs.

Metaphor

An association or mapping between a novel or complex system and a familiar concept or system to help users understand how it works.

Micro White Space

Space within content elements, such as line-spacing, that helps readability.

Miller’s Law

A UX law stating that the average person can only keep a limited number of items in their working memory.

Minimalistic Design

A Nielsen heuristic advocating for focusing content on the essentials to increase the signal-to-noise ratio and direct user attention.

Mixed Reality (MR)

An interaction paradigm combining elements of both augmented and virtual reality.

Mobile

An interaction paradigm characterized by touch, movement, voice, and other inputs, with screen displays, audio, and haptics as outputs, often on small screens.

Multi-Modality

An interaction paradigm using multiple input and output channels simultaneously to provide richer interaction and experiences.

Norman's Action Cycle

A simplified framework for understanding human action and guiding design.

Observing Others

Learning by watching others perform tasks.

Padding

Space between components (negative/white space), which should be consistent and logical.

Paradigms

Frameworks containing basic assumptions, ways of thinking, and methodology, influencing the perception of the human-computer relationship.

Perceive

Observing what happened in the world, a stage in the Evaluation phase of the Action Cycle.

Perception

The cognitive process of acquiring information from the environment via senses and transforming it into experiences.

Perform

Carrying out the specified steps, a stage in the Execution phase of the Action Cycle.

Planning

Intending to act, thinking of options, and determining one, a stage in the Execution phase of the Action Cycle.

Pointing Device

A device used to physically control a cursor as a point of entry in WIMP/GUIs.

Proximity

A visual design principle where related elements are placed together and unrelated elements are separated to create a sense of organization.

Prototype

The original or model on which something is based, used for ideation, communication, testing, and managing the design process.

Prototyping

The process of creating a prototype.

Reading or Listening to Instruction Manuals

Learning by receiving explicit instructions.

Recognition Rather Than Recall

A Nielsen heuristic that minimizes user memory load by making objects, actions, and options visible rather than requiring users to remember them.

Reflective Cognition

A state of mind characterized by mental effort and attention, used for comparing, contrasting, making decisions, learning, and problem-solving.

Repetition

A visual design principle that repeats conventions throughout a design to tie elements together and maintain consistency.

Responsive Layout Grid

A grid system that adjusts the layout of components based on screen or window size.

Retrieving

Recalling encoded memory, a stage in Memory.

Salience

A property of elements that makes them visually pop out and noticeable at first glance.

Satisfaction

A usability quality component that measures how pleasant it is to use the design.

Scale/Size

A technique in Visual Hierarchy where larger elements draw more attention and appear more important than smaller ones.

Sensation

The process by which sensory receptors gather information and send it to the brain.

Simplicity

A visual design principle focused on not overwhelming users with visual clutter.

Spatial Interaction

An interaction paradigm where the user's location relative to the computer becomes part of the input.

Specify

Thinking of the sequence of actions or steps to carry out a plan and achieve a goal, a stage in the Execution phase of the Action Cycle.

Speech/Voice Interface

A computer interface where input is primarily via voice, and output is typically voice and sometimes visuals.

Storyboard

A sequence of frames illustrating the interplay between the user and UI within a specific context, used for prototyping.

Ubiquitous Computing

An interaction paradigm where computers are integrated into the fabric of everyday life, becoming indistinguishable.

User-Centered Design (UCD)

An iterative design process that systematically involves the end user at every step to understand their needs and design for them.

User Control and Freedom

A Nielsen heuristic that provides users with 'emergency exits,' supporting undo and redo to allow for flexibility and confidence.

User Interface (UI)

Anything the user encounters when interacting with a digital product, acting as the medium between the user and digital information.

User Testing

Observing real users performing tasks with a design to identify usability problems, a key method for improving usability.

Useful

A quality attribute that is the sum of usability and utility.

Usability

A quality attribute assessing how easy a UI is to use.

Utility

A quality attribute referring to the design's functionality – whether it does what the user wants.