INF1520
Revision Questions and Answers
2021
,Revision:
• Discuss four principles that affect robustness.
✓ Observability: Ability of the user to evaluate the internal state of the
system from its perceivable representation. The user compares the current
state with his or her intention within the task action plan.
✓ Recoverability: Ability of the user to take corrective action once an error
has been recognized.
✓ Responsiveness: How the user perceives the rate of communication with
the system
✓ Task conformance: The degree to which the system services support all
the tasks the user wishes to perform and in the way the user understands
them.
• What are the three aspects relating to recognition of diversity of users?
✓ Usage profiles
✓ Task profiles
✓ Interaction styles
• Discuss three techniques which can help reduce errors by ensuring complete
and correct actions.
✓ Correct matching pairs: For example, when a user types a left parenthesis,
the system displays a message somewhere on the screen that the right
parenthesis is outstanding. The message disappears when the user types
the right parenthesis.
✓ Complete sequences: For example, logging onto a network requires that
the user perform a sequence of actions. When the user does this for the
first time, the system can store the information and henceforth allow the
user to trigger the sequence with a single action. The user is then not
required to memorise the complete sequence.
✓ Correct commands: To help users to type commands correctly a system
can, for example, employ command completion which will display
complete alternatives as soon as the user has typed the first few letters of
a command.
• Discuss six usability goals that ensures users have effective and enjoyable
interaction with technology.
✓ Effectiveness: A general goal that refers to how well a system is doing
what is what designed for.
✓ Efficiency: This has to do with how well a system supports users in
carrying out their work. The focus is on productivity.
, ✓ Safety: Protecting the user from dangerous conditions and undesirable
situations.
✓ Utility: The extent to which a system provides the required functionality for
the tasks it was intended to support. Users should be able to carry out all
the tasks in the way they want to do them.
✓ Learnability: How easily users learn to use the system.
✓ Memorability: How easy it is to remember how to perform tasks that have
been done before.
• Define internationalisation in the context of interface design.
✓ Internationalisation that refers to a single design that is appropriate for use
worldwide, among groups of nations. This is an important concept for
designers of web-based applications that can be accessed from anywhere
in the world, by absolutely anybody. Localisation, on the other hand,
involves the design of versions of a product for a specific group or
community, with a unified language and culture. The simplest problem
here is the accurate translation of products into the target language. For
example, all text (instructions, help, error messages, labels) might be
stored in files, so that versions in other languages could be generated with
no or little programming. Hardware concerns include character sets,
keyboards and special input devices. Other problems include sensitivity to
cultural issues, such as the use of images and colour.
• Explain why the ‘trash can’ icon that is used to represent the ‘delete’ operation
in the figure may be problematic for some users. In your answer refer to the
concept of internationalisation
✓ An example of misinterpretation is the use of the ‘trash can’ icon in the
Apple Macintosh user interface. People from Thailand might not recognise
the American ‘trash can’, because, in Thailand the ‘trash can’ is a wicker
basket. Some visuals are recognisable in another culture, but they convey
a totally different meaning. In the United States, the owl is a symbol of
knowledge but in Central America, the owl is a symbol of witchcraft and
black magic. A black cat is considered bad luck in the US but good luck in
the UK. Similarly, certain colours hold different connotations in different
cultures.
, • Critically discuss the designer’s use of a ‘traffic light’ icon to represent the
‘return to main menu’ function.
✓ Natural mappings use physical analogy and cultural standards to support
interpretation. Figure 3.2 shows some icons from a children’s game. The
page backward and page forward icons provide a natural mapping with
their functions. They clearly depict a page, and the arrows indicate the
direction of paging through the document. Their spatial orientation further
strengthens the mapping – the left hand one for backwards and the right
hand one for forwards. The traffic light icon, which is for exiting the page,
does not. There is no logical, spatial or semantic connection between a
traffic light and the exit operation.
Revision Questions and Answers
2021
,Revision:
• Discuss four principles that affect robustness.
✓ Observability: Ability of the user to evaluate the internal state of the
system from its perceivable representation. The user compares the current
state with his or her intention within the task action plan.
✓ Recoverability: Ability of the user to take corrective action once an error
has been recognized.
✓ Responsiveness: How the user perceives the rate of communication with
the system
✓ Task conformance: The degree to which the system services support all
the tasks the user wishes to perform and in the way the user understands
them.
• What are the three aspects relating to recognition of diversity of users?
✓ Usage profiles
✓ Task profiles
✓ Interaction styles
• Discuss three techniques which can help reduce errors by ensuring complete
and correct actions.
✓ Correct matching pairs: For example, when a user types a left parenthesis,
the system displays a message somewhere on the screen that the right
parenthesis is outstanding. The message disappears when the user types
the right parenthesis.
✓ Complete sequences: For example, logging onto a network requires that
the user perform a sequence of actions. When the user does this for the
first time, the system can store the information and henceforth allow the
user to trigger the sequence with a single action. The user is then not
required to memorise the complete sequence.
✓ Correct commands: To help users to type commands correctly a system
can, for example, employ command completion which will display
complete alternatives as soon as the user has typed the first few letters of
a command.
• Discuss six usability goals that ensures users have effective and enjoyable
interaction with technology.
✓ Effectiveness: A general goal that refers to how well a system is doing
what is what designed for.
✓ Efficiency: This has to do with how well a system supports users in
carrying out their work. The focus is on productivity.
, ✓ Safety: Protecting the user from dangerous conditions and undesirable
situations.
✓ Utility: The extent to which a system provides the required functionality for
the tasks it was intended to support. Users should be able to carry out all
the tasks in the way they want to do them.
✓ Learnability: How easily users learn to use the system.
✓ Memorability: How easy it is to remember how to perform tasks that have
been done before.
• Define internationalisation in the context of interface design.
✓ Internationalisation that refers to a single design that is appropriate for use
worldwide, among groups of nations. This is an important concept for
designers of web-based applications that can be accessed from anywhere
in the world, by absolutely anybody. Localisation, on the other hand,
involves the design of versions of a product for a specific group or
community, with a unified language and culture. The simplest problem
here is the accurate translation of products into the target language. For
example, all text (instructions, help, error messages, labels) might be
stored in files, so that versions in other languages could be generated with
no or little programming. Hardware concerns include character sets,
keyboards and special input devices. Other problems include sensitivity to
cultural issues, such as the use of images and colour.
• Explain why the ‘trash can’ icon that is used to represent the ‘delete’ operation
in the figure may be problematic for some users. In your answer refer to the
concept of internationalisation
✓ An example of misinterpretation is the use of the ‘trash can’ icon in the
Apple Macintosh user interface. People from Thailand might not recognise
the American ‘trash can’, because, in Thailand the ‘trash can’ is a wicker
basket. Some visuals are recognisable in another culture, but they convey
a totally different meaning. In the United States, the owl is a symbol of
knowledge but in Central America, the owl is a symbol of witchcraft and
black magic. A black cat is considered bad luck in the US but good luck in
the UK. Similarly, certain colours hold different connotations in different
cultures.
, • Critically discuss the designer’s use of a ‘traffic light’ icon to represent the
‘return to main menu’ function.
✓ Natural mappings use physical analogy and cultural standards to support
interpretation. Figure 3.2 shows some icons from a children’s game. The
page backward and page forward icons provide a natural mapping with
their functions. They clearly depict a page, and the arrows indicate the
direction of paging through the document. Their spatial orientation further
strengthens the mapping – the left hand one for backwards and the right
hand one for forwards. The traffic light icon, which is for exiting the page,
does not. There is no logical, spatial or semantic connection between a
traffic light and the exit operation.
