Usability problem of the day (Unix ln documentation)

In the courses I teach about human-computer interaction, I typically open each class with an example of a usability problem. I'm putting these online, in case others find them useful.

I've been using Unix off and on since the early 1980s. Although I still occasionally write shell scripts, I'm not anything like an expert.

Unix is still my go-to source, though, when I talk about command line interfaces in my HCI classes. The Unix command line is a canonical example of the interaction style: short, powerful commands with a flexible grammar for constructing and combining results. It's also different in abstract ways from more familiar graphical user interfaces, enough to make it worth discussing. For example, on the command line you enter a command and then an optional sequence of flags and file names; in a GUI you typically first choose objects, such as file icons, and then choose a command, such as a menu item, to execute on the objects. The different grammars are appropriate for the different metaphors.

Usability problem of tomorrow (Star Trek user interfaces)

In the courses I teach about human-computer interaction, I typically open each class with an example of a usability problem. I'm putting these online, in case others find them useful.

I sometimes take examples of interaction design from the entertainment industry, whether the systems involved are real or not. Star Trek: The Next Generation is a good standby.

(io9.com)

Usability problem of the day (not a Kindle killer)

In the courses I teach about human-computer interaction, I typically open each class with an example of a usability problem. I'm putting these online, in case others find them useful.

A couple of years ago I decided to test my students' abilities to analyze a novel design, an artificial one in which I'd deliberately inserted a number of design flaws. I'd just bought a Kindle for my wife. We were talking about its usability and thinking about ways in which it could be much, much worse. (This was an early Kindle with a miniature keyboard; while it's fine for reading, some of the navigation facilities are poorly thought out.)

Here's the set-up: Imagine that you've been hired as a usability consultant by a company interested in ebook readers. You're shown the diagram below, a prototype for a new design. The physical device would be about 7 inches wide; all the keys are hardware keys; it doesn't have a touch screen; it's meant to be held in the hand or hands in use. Your job is to identify potential problems.

Usability problem of the day (first impressions)

Gatsby Automobile magazine

In the courses I teach about human-computer interaction, I typically open each class with an example of a usability problem. I'm putting these online, in case others find them useful.

First impressions can be important in user interfaces. We tend to judge the quality of a manufactured object, whether a physical device or a software artifact, by the fit and finish of its exterior. When I come across a Web site that looks if it it were cobbled together by a novice, I wonder about the resources that were available to build the functionality under the hood.

Usability problem of the day (gussied-up machines that aren't infinitely fast)

In the courses I teach about human-computer interaction, I typically open each class with an example of a usability problem. I'm putting these online, in case others find them useful.

In 1987 Alan Dix published a paper titled "The Myth of the Infinitely Fast Machine," in which he describes the problems that can arise when software developers assume that computers respond instantanously to user actions. Dix, originally a mathematician, has devoted much of his career to formalizing what we know about HCI, and Human-Computer Interaction (Prentice Hall, 2004), by Dix, Finlay, Abowd, and Beale, is one of the best graduate-level textbooks in the field.

Usability problem of the day (a revived Facebook hoax)

In the courses I teach about human-computer interaction, I typically open each class with an example of a usability problem. I'm putting these online, in case others find them useful.

Privacy in the digital age is complicated and sometimes confusing. If Randi Zuckerberg can't figure it out, despite being a former marketing director for Facebook as well as the founder's sister...

Sometimes usability problems can make things worse. Let's consider a persistent Facebook hoax. One of your friends posts something along these lines:

To all my FB friends, may I request you to please do something for me… PLEASE place your mouse over my name above (do not click), a window will appear, now move the mouse on “FRIENDS” (also without clicking), then down to “Settings”, click here and a list will appear. REMOVE the CHECK on “COMMENTS & LIKE” by clicking on it. By doing this, my activity amongst my friends and family will no longer become public. Many thanks! Paste this on your wall so your contacts would follow suit too, that is, if you care about your privacy -- which I know we do.

This is a clever bit of malice for a few reasons. Let's walk through the process to see how usability figures in.

Usability problem of the day (representative users)

In the courses I teach about human-computer interaction, I typically open each class with an example of a usability problem. I'm putting these online, in case others find them useful.

Darrell Huff's 1954 book, How to Lie with Statistics, is a classic introduction to statistics. It's very informal; I first read it when I was a teenager. I remember one passage in part because I had no idea what what it was about:

For further evidence go back to 1936 and the Literary Digest's famed fiasco. The ten million telephone and Digest subscribers who assured the editors of the doomed magazine that it would be Landon 370, Roosevelt 161 came from the list that had accurately predicted the 1932 election. How could there be bias in a list already so tested?

Usability problem of the day (Moodle, part 1 of n)

In the courses I teach about human-computer interaction, I typically open each class with an example of a usability problem. I'm putting these online, in case others find them useful.

Moodle is... a Free [sic] web application that educators can use to create effective online learning sites.

I'm ambivalent about Moodle, the system my university has adopted for course management. It's awful beyond reason, but if I'm ever at a loss for a usability problem to show my students in class, I just do something in Moodle and take screen shots as I go.

Usability problem of the day (emergency exits in the interface)

In the courses I teach about human-computer interaction, I typically open each class with an example of a usability problem. I'm putting these online, in case others find them useful.

Jacob Nielsen offers this heuristic (one of ten) for designing a usable interface:

User control and freedom
Users often choose system functions by mistake and will need a clearly marked "emergency exit" to leave the unwanted state without having to go through an extended dialogue. Support undo and redo.

I'm in the Macintosh Finder, looking through my file system. On the top right of the Finder window there's a text box with a standard search icon; I click in it (or press a shortcut key combination, Command-F) to search for a file somewhere within "Applications".

Usability problem of the day (URLs on Facebook and Google+)

In the courses I teach about human-computer interaction, I typically open each class with an example of a usability problem. I'm putting these online, in case others find them useful.

A few months ago Stephanie Buck collected a list of pet peeves from Mashable staff: 20 Things Your Most Annoying Friends Do on Facebook.

Here's number 20:

20. Redundant Links
Pet peeve: people who don't remove the URL once they've copy/pasted it into a status update. Result: ilooklikebarackobama.com on top of ilooklikebarackobama.com. Hurts my eyes.

Usability problem of the day (Post-Its)

In the courses I teach about human-computer interaction, I typically open each class with an example of a usability problem. I'm putting these online, in case others find them useful.

A few years ago I attended a workshop on the future of interactive systems; it was a wonderful chance to talk with world-class researchers in human-computer interaction and to speculate about the directions the field might take.

One of the workshop sessions involved brainstorming, in which we jotted down thoughts about a given topic on Post-It notes and then tried to figure out how they might all fit together. We stuck the notes to the wall, talked about the emerging organization of ideas, and then went off to lunch.

This is how things looked when we returned.

Usability problem of the day (Scrabble)

In the courses I teach about human-computer interaction, I typically open each class with an example of a usability problem. I'm putting these online, in case others find them useful.

This is how the Scrabble app on my iPhone worked for some time (the current interface has gone through a few revisions). Let's walk through it.

I decide that I want to play a game of Scrabble. When I start up the app, this screen appears.

Usability problem of the day (an adventure in an English washroom)

In the courses I teach about human-computer interaction, I typically open each class with an example of a usability problem. I'm putting these online, in case others find them useful.

Okay, not an adventure. Last year, during a layover at the Heathrow Airport, I had occasion to visit the washroom. The fixtures looked familiar, as they do almost everywhere, but they gave me trouble. I couldn't figure out how to turn the water on.

Usability problem of the day (duplicating in iPhoto)

In the courses I teach about human-computer interaction, I typically open each class with an example of a usability problem. I'm putting these online, in case others find them useful.

I'm a casual user of iPhoto. The application is up to version 9, and it's been around since 2002, so you'd expect it to be bulletproof with respect to usability. It's not quite that.

Usability problem of the day (microwave oven controls)

In the courses I teach about human-computer interaction, I typically open each class with an example of a usability problem. I'm putting these online, in case others find them useful.

This is the control panel on my microwave oven.

Usability challenge of the day (Jitterbug)

In the courses I teach about human-computer interaction, I typically open each class with an example of a usability problem. I'm putting these online, in case others find them useful.

A couple of years ago ads for a new cell phone for older users, called Jitterbug, were everywhere on TV. (The ads were annoying, to be honest, but maybe that's just me.) Online, here's how the Jitterbug was advertised:

Introducing the world's simplest, cell phone experience [sic]...

It doesn't play games, take pictures, or give you the weather.

For people like me, who want a cell phone that's easy to use.

That sounds great, doesn't it? I wondered how they manage it, and so I looked up the Jitterbug user manual. Here's the table of contents.

Usability problem of the day (iPhone scrollbar)

In the courses I teach about human-computer interaction, I typically open each class with an example of a usability problem. I'm putting these online, in case others find them useful.

Here are two screenshots of the Settings app on my iPhone, from a couple of years ago.

Orca and usability (HuffPo)

Imagine that it's a few months before the Presidential election. You've just received a call, asking if you'd be willing to offer your services as a usability consultant on a political software project. You're curious; what would something called "Orca" be for? You decide to do it. You're shown a few screen shots, along with brief written instructions for using the system.

Here's how your conversation with the development team might go.

Read the rest on the Huffington Post.

Experiencing Design: New encounters

For a few years I wrote a column on human-computer interaction (HCI) for the British quarterly trade magazine, Interface. This is one, slightly revised.

Advice for building interactive computer systems usually includes something about learnability. The learnability of a system includes two important parts: how easily new users can learn to carry out common tasks and, once they have some experience with the system, how easily they can improve their performance.

There are obvious differences between learning in a software environment and learning in the real world. For example, a few years ago I spent some time in California, and I learned how to skate with inline skates. (I eventually managed to stay upright for minutes at a time.)

Experiencing Design: One’s own experience

For a few years I wrote a column on human-computer interaction (HCI) for the British quarterly trade magazine, Interface. This is one, slightly revised.

Every year I greet a new group of computer science students who have signed up for my HCI course. By the end of the semester, most of them will have a reasonable grasp of the basics of HCI, and some will even be enthusiastic about the topic. Projects turned in by students, working in teams, have included a voice-controlled video game, a gesture-controlled Web browser, a social networking application for gamers, and a variety of personal information organizers, on the desktop as well as on cell phones and other mobile devices.

Over the past ten years or so I've noticed students becoming more interested in applications that push the bounds of what's currently possible. The projects generally target what Jonathan Grudin calls discretionary hands-on use (Three Faces of Human-Computer Interaction, IEEE Annals of the History of Computing, 2005). That is, students are less interested in building a better calendar system, financial planner, or electronic voting ballot; they look to applications and devices that fit into the natural and often optional activities of our everyday lives. How can I contact my friends? Could I play a familiar game in a different way? What would people like to do with their mobile phones that isn't easy to do now?