COMP3511 HCI Final Exam Vocabulary Flashcards

Comprehensive vocabulary flashcards generated from COMP3511 HCI final exam study notes, covering usability goals, design principles, Nielsen heuristics, cognitive load theory, accessibility, interaction patterns, and evaluation models.

Usability Goals

Six core objectives in HCI comprising effectiveness, efficiency, utility, safety, learnability, and memorability.

Effectiveness

The extent to which users can achieve their goals accurately and completely.

Efficiency

The amount of effort required to complete a task, minimizing unnecessary steps in the user's workflow.

Utility

Whether the system contains the functions users actually need to accomplish their goals.

Safety

Whether the system prevents harm and helps users avoid mistakes through measures such as undo functions and confirmation dialogs.

Learnability

How easily a new user can begin using a system and become productive with minimal confusion.

Memorability

Whether a user can remember how to use a system effectively after not using it for some time.

User Experience (UX)

How a system feels to the user and the emotional connection created by interacting with it.

Structure Design Principle

Organizing an interface purposefully and meaningfully by placing related information and controls together.

Affordance

The perceived and actual properties of an object that suggest how it can be used.

Visibility Design Principle

Keeping important functions, information, and available actions visible so users understand what to do next.

Feedback Design Principle

System responses to user actions that inform the user that their action was received.

Internal Consistency

Consistency in design style, wording, and action meanings across different pages within the same system.

External Consistency

Consistency in design style and interaction behaviors with established conventions used in similar outside systems.

Physical Constraint

A restriction based on the physical properties of an object, such as a key fitting only into its matching lock.

Semantic Constraint

A restriction that relies on real-world knowledge and the inherent meaning of a domain situation.

Logical Constraint

A restriction based on logical reasoning, such as preventing a user from choosing a check-in date after a checkout date.

Cultural Constraint

A restriction that relies on conventions learned through culture, such as red warning symbols.

Natural Mapping

A relationship between a control and its result that makes spatial, logical, or conceptual sense.

Nielsen's Usability Heuristics

A framework of ten general rules used for evaluating the usability of interactive systems.

Recognition Rather Than Recall

A heuristic stating that interfaces should display visible options rather than forcing users to retrieve information from memory.

Error Prevention

A design practice aimed at stopping an error before it occurs.

Error Recovery

Design features that help users recognize, diagnose, and fix mistakes after an error has occurred.

Clutter

Excessive information on an interface that increases visual noise and makes searching more difficult.

White Space

The space between elements that reduces visual noise, separates information, and supports balance and clarity.

Proximity Gestalt Principle

The visual perception principle stating that objects located close to each other are perceived as related.

Similarity Gestalt Principle

The visual perception principle stating that objects sharing appearance traits like color, shape, size, or style are perceived as belonging together.

Focal Point

A visual element designed using contrast, size, or position to stand out and capture viewer attention first.

Closure Gestalt Principle

The tendency of human visual perception to mentally complete incomplete shapes or objects.

Menu Ellipsis

A visual indicator after a menu item signaling that additional user input will be required before the action completes.

Card Sorting

A user research method for establishing information architecture where users organize topics into categories.

Universal Access

Providing equal opportunity for people to access a product or service regardless of disability, background, ethnicity, or social class.

Accessibility

Designing interfaces to be perceivable, operable, and understandable for users with diverse abilities and compatible with assistive technologies.

Screen Reader

An assistive technology that converts visual screen content into speech output or refreshable Braille.

Colour Contrast

The relative brightness difference between foreground and background colors, reaching a maximum ratio of $21:1$ for black and white.

Cross-Screen Design

Designing software experiences that maintain usability, consistency, and task continuity across multiple devices.

Layout Adaptation

Rearranging interface components to fit different screens, such as changing a desktop sidebar into a mobile bottom navigation bar.

Content Adaptation

Hiding or summarizing information based on device parameters and constraints.

Interaction Adaptation

Modifying interaction techniques across platforms, such as changing a desktop hover action into a mobile tap-to-reveal gesture.

Contextual Adaptation

Dynamically altering an interface according to environmental conditions, such as simplifying navigation while driving.

Thumb Zone

The area on a touch screen reachable comfortably by the thumb, where primary interactive actions should be placed.

User-Centred Design (UCD)

An iterative design process where user research informs design, designs are evaluated with users, and testing results refine the system.

Product Description Statement

A high-level document that explains what a product will do to satisfy specific user goals.

Ethnography

A direct observation technique where researchers submerge themselves into the natural environment and culture of the users.

Think-Aloud Protocol

An observation method where users continuously express their thoughts and actions verbally while performing tasks.

Persona

A fictional profile based on user research that represents a specific user archetype and their associated needs.

Context Scenario

A narrative focusing on user goals, needs, and environment created during the design stage that avoids technology-specific details.

Task Scenario

A specific action or set of tasks given to a evaluation participant during a usability testing session.

Functional Requirement

A requirement detailing specific functions, capabilities, and behaviors that a system must perform.

Non-Functional Requirement

A requirement specifying operational qualities and constraints of a system, such as usability and accessibility.

Low-Fidelity Prototype

A simple, low-cost, and easily editable early representation of an interface, such as a paper sketch or wireframe.

High-Fidelity Prototype

A detailed prototype that closely resembles the appearance, visual design, and interactive behavior of the final system.

Accordion Pattern

A UI design pattern containing collapsible panels, used to present multiple options or links within limited screen real estate.

Wizard Pattern

A navigational design pattern that leads users step-by-step through a multi-stage task.

Keystroke Level Model (KLM)

A predictive model for task completion time calculated using standard operators: $K=0.2\,s$, $P=1.1\,s$, $H=0.4\,s$, $M=1.35\,s$, and $B=0.1\,s$.

Fitts' Law

A mathematical model predicting movement time to a target given by $MT = A + B \times \log_2(D/W + 1)$, indicating larger and closer targets are faster to select.

Informed Consent

An ethical process ensuring participants understand the study purpose, risks, and procedures, and voluntarily agree to participate.

Cognitive Load Theory

An instructional and interface framework premised on working memory having a limited capacity of approximately $4 \pm 1$ elements.

Intrinsic Cognitive Load

The baseline cognitive load caused by the inherent difficulty and inter-element interactivity of the material.

Extraneous Cognitive Load

Unnecessary mental effort caused by poor presentation, redundant elements, or disorganized interface layout.

Germane Cognitive Load

Productive mental effort devoted to constructing schemas and processing instructional content.

Split-Attention Effect

Cognitive load created when related sources of information are physically or temporally separated and must be integrated mentally.

Redundancy Effect

Mental overload caused by requiring users to process duplicate or unnecessary non-informative presentation material.

Modality Effect

A technique to increase effective working memory capacity by dividing information across visual and auditory channels.

Transient Information Effect

Mental strain caused when information disappears before the user can fully process it.

Signalling

Directing visual focus toward essential elements using cues like arrows, highlighting, or distinct colors.

Training Wheels

Hiding or disabling advanced options for novice users to prevent unnecessary information from overwhelming working memory.

Worked Example Effect

A principle showing novice users learn better when presented with full problem solutions step-by-step rather than using trial-and-error.

Schema

A domain-specific mental structure that allows multiple details to be categorized and processed as a single cognitive unit.

Declarative Knowledge

Knowledge regarding factual information, concepts, and static things.

Procedural Knowledge

Knowledge regarding how to perform actions, sequences, or cognitive routines.

Expertise Reversal Effect

The phenomenon where instructional support or guidance that aids novices becomes redundant and counterproductive for experts.

Internationalisation

The engineering process of designing software architecture early so it can be easily adapted to various local languages and regions.

Localisation

The process of modifying an internationalized system to fit specific regional, cultural, and linguistic contexts.

Gamification

Integrating game mechanics and design elements into non-game contexts to heighten user engagement.

Structural Gamification

Engaging users by integrating reward structures around core content without changing the primary content itself.

Content Gamification

Altering the primary subject matter or content to make it inherently game-like.

Virtual Reality (VR)

An immersive technology that completely replaces the user's view of the physical world with a digitally simulated environment.

Augmented Reality (AR)

An interactive system that overlays simulated digital graphics or details onto a real-world live view.

Metaverse

A persistent network of interactive three-dimensional virtual environments designed around immersive social connection.

Social Computing

Interactive technologies designed to facilitate social interaction, group communication, and community collaboration.

Crowdsourcing

Distributing problem-solving tasks among large groups of people to blend human judgment with computational systems.

Human-Centred AI

An approach to artificial intelligence focused on creating systems that support, augment, and adapt to human activities and context.

Narrow AI

An artificial intelligence system engineered to address explicit and defined problems within a restricted domain.

General AI

Artificial intelligence designed to mirror broad human intellectual capabilities across varied domain spaces.