11. Some User Interface Heuristics From Neilsen: Visibility of system status The system should always keep users informed about what is going on, through appropriate feedback within reasonable time. Match between system and the real world The system should speak the users' language, with words, phrases and concepts familiar to the user, rather than system-oriented terms. Recognition rather than recall Minimize the user's memory load by making objects, actions, and options visible. The user should not have to remember information from one part of the dialogue to another. Aesthetic and minimalist design Dialogues should not contain information which is irrelevant or rarely needed. Every extra unit of information in a dialogue competes with the relevant units of information and diminishes their relative visibility. And also, Avoid actions that require fine precision The interface should not require precision mouse or pointing skills that interfere with the person’s goals.
12. Other Issues Dialing with a Softphone lacks the cues of dialing on a keypad: With a keypad users memorize the physical actions required to call people they frequently contact. Some experts refer to this as ‘memory in the fingers’. These cues are lost on a softphone. Due to the lack of physical cues, people will need to look at the screen while ‘dialing’ from the Dial Pad. Numbers on a computer keyboard are arranged differently than a telephone keypad: So, how will people dial? A colleague from Panasonic reported that people don’t use numbers to dial cell phones. They work from lists – either lists of recent calls or their phonebook. He reported that they found: The majority of people dialed the same 8-10 numbers 80-90% of the time.
13. Research-based Soft Phones Cooper Design (Alan Cooper is the creator of Visual Basic) created a desktop phone with computer capabilities. The keypad was off to the side, while a soft display screen occupied center stage. The soft screen’s display changed depending on the task. It was a phone list, a call log, a voicemail repository, and gave feedback about call transfer, conference calls, and the like.
20. Research-based Soft Phones Microsoft Real-Time Collaboration’s soft phone eliminated the keypad altogether:
21. Microsoft Enhanced Telephony Feature N Avg Std dev Med-ian Receiving an e-mail when you miss a call 238 3.3 0.7 3 Automatic call forwarding based on your status 137 3.1 0.7 3 Incoming call notification window 235 3.1 0.7 3 Manually transferring a call to another phone (like your cell phone) while your phone is ringing (a.k.a. “Quick Transfer”). (Typically used on a PC away from the desk phone, like a laptop or home PC). 100 3.1 0.9 3 Muting computer’s audio while on the phone 148 3.1 0.8 3 Calling by searching for someone in ET and clicking their phone number 183 3.0 0.7 3 Call forwarding based on who’s calling (see [10] for more results regarding ET’s advanced call forwarding features] 93 3.0 0.8 3 Setting instant messenger status to “on the phone” while on the phone 152 2.9 0.8 3 Being able to search across the corporate address book and your Outlook contacts at the same time 164 2.9 0.7 3 Calling from Outlook Smart Tags 86 2.8 0.7 3 Calling from ET’s Recently Called tab 198 2.7 0.7 3 Seeing people’s free/busy calendars 145 2.7 0.8 3 Calling from ET’s Favorites tab 205 2.7 0.8 3 Call history 185 2.7 0.8 3 Initiating conference calls using ET 36 2.6 0.8 3 Transferring the call while on the phone 70 2.5 0.8 3 Taking notes while on the phone 93 2.3 0.8 2 Seeing people’s pictures 156 2.1 0.8 2 Having ET play a sound when someone calls you (ring tones) 93 2.1 0.9 2 Sharing screens 44 2.1 0.8 2 Feature N Avg Std dev Med-ian Microsoft’s phone was adopted by 7300 employees, who used it for up to eight months. Included in their (CHI 2004) conference paper is a survey-based table of features that users liked or disliked. Least liked was ‘Calling from the Dialpad Tab’ Calling from the Dialpad Tab 1.8
42. Questions raised by Testing Major Questions: 1: Do we need the A-Z area (as currently implemented) so people can click a letter with the mouse, or will the search area be sufficient? - If no A-Z we can reduce the number of buttons - Could allow A-Z and the tabs as a personalization option 2: How will people switch between two active calls? Will they click on the tabs? 3: When people answer a call, what happens to a call already in progress? Is it automatically put on hold? Many lesser questions: 4: Where should we place Transfer and Forward? Not clear-cut since people will need to make use of text entry, the contact list, and notification area 5: Do we need to display Hold/End buttons all the time or only when in call? 6: Terminology questions …
43.
44. Whichever object was learned LAST by the participant (recency effect) Implication : We kept the A-Z widget, but enlarged it for easier clicking. 2: How did people switch between phone calls? They tended to click on the tabs 3: What happens to an existing call when an incoming call is answered? 12 of 16 people thought it would be placed on hold.
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