©2001 Southern Illinois University, Edwardsville All rights reserved. CS 321 Human-Computer Interaction Today Course Introduction Wednesday Introduction to HCI and Contextual Design Reading: CD: Ch. 1 BDS, Introduction & Ch. 1 Assignment: Reading Questions

©2001 Southern Illinois University, Edwardsville All rights reserved. Why do fonts mysteriously change in my MS Word documents? During a typical day, I work on three different computers – one in my office, one in the class room, and one at home. I use Microsoft Word and Microsoft Power Point to make handouts and lectures. Both of these are WYSIWYG products. Many times though a document I make on one computer looks different on other computers. Why? That doesn’t fit my understanding of a “document”

©2001 Southern Illinois University, Edwardsville All rights reserved. Why does the debugger in Visual Studio come up when my Internet Explorer crashes? I can be working in Internet Explorer when an error occurs. A message box comes up that says: I always press cancel by mistake. Why? Why would anyone think I want to debug Internet Explorer assembly code? Why do I always hit the yes button and have to wait for the Visual Studio to load then have to close it down?

©2001 Southern Illinois University, Edwardsville All rights reserved. Software is typically not designed for the way we (users) understand how things should work or how we work. Rather it is designed for the way we (programmers) understand how things work.

©2001 Southern Illinois University, Edwardsville All rights reserved. Users are not Computer Programmers Computer users want systems that are tools that help them. They do not want to know and do not want to learn how computers and programs work. Computer systems should be a tool that allows someone to think about the task they are doing, and not about how a program is implemented. –Much like modern cars It is up to us, the designers, to make the computer an invisible part of the system.

©2001 Southern Illinois University, Edwardsville All rights reserved. How should you Design a Program? Design is a creative activity of making artifacts that are usable for a specific purpose. To be “usable” means the designer must take into account who is using the system, what they are using it for, and how does it fit within their overall activities. Programs are used by somebody

©2001 Southern Illinois University, Edwardsville All rights reserved. Programs are used by somebody In a general this means designing for human hardware/software capabilities and limitations for explain: Short term memory: Miller’s magic number Long term memory: recognition vs. recall Limits of perception: color pollution More specifically this means designing for how the user thinks about the tasks the application is supporting: How do they organize the work? What strategies do they use to accomplish tasks? How is information recorded and communicated? What is their conceptual model?

©2001 Southern Illinois University, Edwardsville All rights reserved. Programs are used by somebody Software systems are used within a user’s cognitive context and a task-oriented context of an organization. “Software Design is a user-oriented field” -Bringing Design to Software

©2001 Southern Illinois University, Edwardsville All rights reserved. Isn’t interface design just a matter of applying common sense to make a program user friendly? Version 1 Version 2 No, it goes beyond that to consider how other people think. Consider this example of an HTML Checker Program

©2001 Southern Illinois University, Edwardsville All rights reserved. Interface Hall of Shame Example from: Interface Hall of Shame Potential Design

©2001 Southern Illinois University, Edwardsville All rights reserved. Human-Computer Interaction “HCI” Stresses the importance of good interfaces and the relationship of good interface design to effective human interaction with computers. Skills: Design, implement, and evaluate reasonable interfaces Participatory Design: Users (customers) play an integral role in the design process.

©2001 Southern Illinois University, Edwardsville All rights reserved. The Designer/Programmer As a computer professional, you are most likely going to be both the designer and programmer of a system. Poor design results in non-use, mis-use, abuse, and (potentially severe) errors. Case of the Tell-Tale Heart:

©2001 Southern Illinois University, Edwardsville All rights reserved. Class Organization Syllabus & Schedule

©2001 Southern Illinois University, Edwardsville All rights reserved. Web Page Usability Exercise Exercise: –The Faculty Technology Center helps faculty use computer technology in their classes. Go to the SIUE home page, find out what hours the Center is open.