S MART P HONE H EURISTICS 09 August 2010

H EURISTIC EVALUATION To analyze a user interface for conformance with recognized usability principles (heuristics).

B ACK S TORY Jakob Nielsen Heuristic Severity Ranking: 0 (not a problem) to 4 (catastrophe) 10 usability heuristics Bruce Tognazzini’s “First Principles of Interaction Design”

H EURISTIC #1 Visibility of application status Use appropriate feedback to keep people informed about what is going on Web example: Orbitz search SmartPhones: What does Shazam do as it analyzes audio? Your projects: where/when/how do you need to provide feedback?

H EURISTIC #2 Match between app and real world Adjust display to reflect user environment SmartPhones: How does “Maps” change to reflect where you are? Your project: where/when/how does your app need to reflect the user environment?

H EURISTIC #3 User control and freedom Need “emergency exit” On desktop apps, the escape key SmartPhones: “cancel” and “x” and the “back arrow” are common iPhone controls Your projects: where/when/how will your users want to change their minds?

H EURISTIC #4 Error Prevention Anticipate errors and design to prevent or present clear recover option SmartPhones: spell-check override Your projects: where/when/how might people make mistakes? How will you gracefully help them recover?

H EURISTIC #5 Consistency and Standards Conform with norms; users should not have to guess as to what words or actions mean SmartPhones: Where do you find standard controls? Your projects: where/when/how will you pick the iPhone keyboard to offer?

H EURISTIC #6 Recognition Rather Than Recall Minimize cognitive load Browsers: history SmartPhones: Foursquare has a tab to show you recent or frequent check-ins and it will (usually) put your most visited locations first when you are in that area and ready to check in Your projects: where/when/how will an easily accessible history be helpful?

H EURISTIC #7 Flexibility and Efficiency of Use Accelerators for accomplished users Browsers and desktop apps: keyboard shortcuts SmartPhones: Where do you see suggestions as you type? (AppStore, where else?) Your projects: where/when/how can you anticipate your user needs?

H EURISTIC #8 Aesthetic and minimalist design Clean design that minimizes unnecessary information SmartPhones: What are examples of great minimal design?

H EURISTIC #9 Help users recognize, diagnose, and recover from errors Speak like your user, not like a programmer! The Web: 404 errors SmartPhones: who has good examples? (not Foursquare!)

H EURISTIC #10 Help and documentation Contextual, concise, correct, specific SmartPhones: Ocarina offers contextual help upon launch but makes tutorials easily accessible Your projects: where/when/how will you need to offer “help”?

T HINKING A BOUT S CENARIOS We have a universal primary: find something (a park, an exhibit, a market) We may have universal secondary (directions to primary selection) Secondary goals: reviews/UGC

C REDITS Kathy E.