CPSC 481 – Week 10 Heuristic Evaluation Sowmya Somanath (based on previous tutorials by Alice Thudt, Jonathan Haber and Brennan Jones)

Today Quick overview/review of Heuristic Evaluation You will be using this method for your final portfolio deliverables. In-class activity Top-performing group will receive a gift of some kind...

Heuristic Evaluation … a usability inspection method for computer software that helps to identify usability problems in the user interface (UI) design. Now widely taught and practiced in industry. Real-world technique for UIs designed in a short space of time on a budget that may restrict the amount of money available to provide for other types of interface testing.

Usability Heuristics for UIs 1.Visibility of System Status 2.Match Between System and the Real World 3.User Control and Freedom 4.Consistency and Standards 5.Error Prevention 6.Recognition Rather than Recall 7.Flexibility and Efficiency of Use 8.Aesthetic and minimalist design 9.Help Users Recognize, Diagnose, and Recover from Errors 10.Help and Documentation Heuristics based on a factor analysis of 249 usability problems [Nielsen 1994a] to derive a set of heuristics with maximum explanatory power, resulting in this revised set of heuristics [Nielsen 1994b].

Usability Heuristics for UIs

Today’s Activity General steps: 1.Perform an independent assessment of which heuristics a system violates 2.In your groups, discuss and aggregate your individual results, listed by heuristic 3.Assign severity ratings for each bug 4.Presentation on five or six most important bugs to fix

Because it’s almost the holidays… I will be offering a gift to the group that discusses the most interesting/insightful bugs and suggested fixes

System: Accuvote accuvote.swf This is a simulation of an electronic voter terminal. These have gotten significant play in the US media due to fears of voter fraud/system bugs, etc. Imagine that you are brought in to evaluate this system, and to identify issues that need to be addressed.

1. Individual Assessment (15 min.) Create a Google Docs spreadsheet: Name | Heuristic Violated | Description | Suggested Fix Perform your assessment on Accuvote with the 10 Neilson’s Heuristics Note that you may identify a bug that doesn’t fit a particular heuristic. Feel free to note this without a heuristic number. For each bug under the name field, just put your name in there

2. Aggregate Bugs (10 min.) In your groups merge all of your spreadsheets together into a single spreadsheet Re-order the bugs according to the Heuristic violated Discuss each bug with every member of your group, and remove duplicate bugs

3. Severity Ratings (10 min.) a.Get a copy of the aggregate list from your group b.Individually, assign severity ratings for each bug 0 – don’t think this is a usability problem 1 – cosmetic problem 2 – minor usability problem 3 – major usability problem; important to fix 4 – usability catastrophe; must fix c.Return to your group, and discuss severity ratings where there is high variance (e.g., >= 2 pt difference), and find agreement

4. Present and Discuss Prepare (5 min) Write your groups results on the board (5 min) Discussion Amongst Class (10 min)

Remaining Time Start on the heuristic evaluation of your own prototype! * REMEMBER: This is actually part of your final portfolio deliverable.