The Essential Guide to User Interface Design



The Essential Guide to User Interface Design - 3rd Edition

Wilbert O. Galitz

TEST ANSWERS

Step 1: Know Your User or Client

Short Answer

1. List five reasons why people have trouble with computer systems.

Too much flexibility.

Use of jargon.

Non-obvious design.

Fine distinctions.

Disparity in problem-solving strategies

Design inconsistency.

2. Explain the proximity principle in human perception?

Our eyes and minds see objects as belonging together if they are near each other in space.

3. Explain the concept of “signal versus noise.”

Our sensing mechanisms are bombarded by many stimuli, some of which are important and some of which are not. Important stimuli are called signals; those that are not important or unwanted are called noise. This is known as figure-ground perception. Figure is the signal; ground is everything else forming the background. Signals, or figures, are more quickly comprehended if they are easily distinguishable from noise, or background, in our sensory environment. Noise interferes with the perception of signals to the extent that they are similar to one another. Noise can even mask a critical signal. For example, imagine a hidden word puzzle where meaningful words are buried in a large block matrix of alphabetic characters. The signals, alphabetic characters constituting meaningful words, are masked by the matrix of meaningless letters.

The elements of a screen assume the quality of signal or noise, depending on the actions and thought processes of the user. When a screen is first presented, it has to be identified as being the correct one; the screen’s title may be the signal, the other elements it contains simply being noise. When the screen is being used, the data it contains becomes the signal, and the title now reverts to noise. Other elements of the screen rise and fall in importance, assuming the role of either signals or noise, depending on the user’s needs of the moment. The goal in design is to allow screen elements to easily assume the quality of signal or noise, as the needs and tasks of the user change from moment to moment.

4. What are the three stages of the human action cycle?

Goal formation.

Execution of activities to achieve the goal.

Evaluation of the results of the taken action.

5. What is the name of the law that states “The time to acquire a target is a function of the distance to and size of the target”?

Fitts’ Law.

6. Cognitive load is the amount of mental activity required to perform a task or achieve an objective. What design principles can be implemented to reduce the user’s cognitive load?

• Eliminating noise or unnecessary information from screens.

• Properly formatting and grouping information.

• Providing aids to allow the user to rely on powers of recognition, not recall.

• Automating tasks that require extensive memory.

7. What design principles can be implemented to aid user learning of a system?

• Allowing skills acquired in one situation to be used in another somewhat like it. Design consistency accomplishes this.

• Providing complete and prompt feedback.

• Providing phased learning, that is, requiring a person to know only the information needed at the current stage of his or her learning process.

8. Why should the need for a mighty memory be minimized?

Memory is limited and not the most reliable of human attributes. Ways to reduce user memory loads, reduce the need for mental integration, aid recall, and expand working memory, thus enhancing system usability include:

• Presenting information in an organized, structured, familiar, and meaningful way.

• Giving the user control over the pace of information presentation.

• Placing all required information for task performance in close physical proximity. People can only remember a few items for three or four seconds.

• Placing important items at the beginning or end of listing, not in the middle. These items will be learned faster and recalled better.

• Placing information that must be compared in close proximity so memory does not have to be taxed.

• Not requiring people to perform other tasks using working memory if screen reading speed is important.

• Making important items unique or distinctive in some manner to increase the likelihood of their being remembered. Highlighting key elements is one way to do this.

9. There is no average user. People vary greatly in many aspects. What impact do these differences have in design?

Individual differences complicate design because the design must permit people with widely varying characteristics to satisfactorily and comfortably learn the task or job, or use the Web site. In the past this has usually resulted in bringing designs down to the level of lowest abilities or selecting people with the minimum skills necessary to perform a job. But technology now offers the possibility of tailoring jobs to the specific needs of people with varying and changing learning or skill levels. Multiple versions of a system can easily be created. Design must provide for the needs of all potential users.

10. What is a mental model?

A mental model is simply an internal representation of a person’s current understanding of something. As a result of our experiences and culture, we develop mental models of things and people we interact with. Usually a person cannot describe this mental model and most often is unaware it even exists. Mental models are gradually developed to understand something, explain things, make decisions, do something, or interact with another person. Mental models also enable a person to predict the actions necessary to do things if the action has been forgotten or has not yet been encountered.

True/False (Answers highlighted and underlined)

1. The user’s preference is the most important aspect to consider in design.

True or False?

2. Ease of use promotes use.

True or False?

3. Perception is influenced by our expectancies; sometimes we perceive not what is there but what we expect to be there.

True or False?

4. Today, a person’s short-term working memory is thought to be seven plus or minus two items.

True or False?

5. User confusion and annoyance are often a response to poor design.

True or False?

6. A person’s peripheral vision plays no role in viewing a screen.

True or False?

7. In design, understanding and utilizing a person’s learned mental models is important.

True or False?

8. Expert users greatly depend on system features that assist recognition memory: menus, prompting information, and instructional and help screens.

True or False?

9. Understanding the user’s knowledge and experience, tasks and needs, and psychological characteristics is all that is necessary in interface design.

True or False?

10. Developers have been working with users for a long time. They always know everything users want and need.

True or False?

Multiple Choice (Answers highlighted and underlined)

1. What is the average reading grade level in North America?

a) Grades 5 to 6.

b) Grades 8 to 9.

c) Grades 11 to 12.

2. Which of the following are characteristics of human perception?

a) Similarity.

b) Succinctness.

c) Two-Dimensional Projection.

d) Closure.

e) Unity.

f) Balance.

g) Bottom-Down Lighting Bias.

h) All of the above.

3. In terms of physical or cognitive characteristics, older computer users have been found by research to differ from younger users. Which of these characteristics describe the older user, as compared to the younger user?

a) Poorer vision.

b) Poorer hearing.

c) Less educated.

d) Slower cognitive processing.

e) Diminished manual dexterity.

f) Lower vocabulary scores.

g) All of the above.

4. Reducing a user’s physical or kinematic load can be accomplished by:

a) Minimizing the number of steps to accomplish tasks.

b) Minimizing control actions and movements.

c) Minimizing the number of screens.

d) Automating repetitive tasks.

e) All of the above.

5. The human action cycle is:

a) A physical reaction to poor design.

b) A physical movement in interaction with a computer.

c) A psychological model that describes how people interact with computer systems.

d) A psychological reaction to good design.

6. Important user/task considerations in design include:

a) System experience.

b) Frequency of use.

c) Education.

d) Motivation.

e) Social interactions.

f) Disabilities.

g) All of the above.

7. A user’s memory load can be reduced by:

a) Allowing the computer to control the pace of information presentation.

b) Placing all required information for task performance in close physical proximity.

c) Making important items unique or distinctive in some manner.

d) Presenting information in an organized, structured, familiar, and meaningful way.

e) Placing important items in the middle of a listing, not at the beginning or at the end.

f) All of the above.

8. In an interaction with a computer, a screen may be considered as comprised of signals and noise.

A signal has what characteristics?

a) It is the important part of the screen.

b) It is the irrelevant part of the screen.

c) It may change to noise depending upon the needs of the user at the moment.

d) It should be easily distinguishable from noise.

e) It may interfere with the perception of noise.

f) All of the above.

Noise has what characteristics?

a) It is the important part of the screen.

b) It is the irrelevant part of the screen.

c) It may change to a signal depending upon the needs of the user at one moment.

d) It should be easily distinguishable from signals.

e) It may interfere with the perception of signals.

f) All of the above.

9. Which of the following characteristics of human memory are correct?

a) Today, the capacity of short-term memory is viewed as about seven items.

b) Long-term memory contains the knowledge we possess.

c) Knowledge, experience, and familiarity govern the size and complexity of the information that can be remembered.

d) Short-term memory, or working memory, receives information from either the senses or long-term memory and can receive and handle both at once.

e) Memory capacity does not diminish with age.

f) When performing complex tasks, working memory can be increased through applying two senses, vision and audition, rather than one.

g) Performance can be degraded when a person must attend to multiple information sources, and then must integrate the information before understanding occurs.

h) All of the above.

10. Which of the following are characteristics of expert users of systems?

a) Expect rapid performance.

b) Need less informative feedback.

c) Depend on system features that assist recognition memory.

d) Pay less attention to low level details and surface features of a system.

e) Seek efficiency.

f) Have difficulty relating new knowledge to their objectives and goals.

g) All of the above.

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