HCI lecture notes by Sanjay Goel, JIIT 2012

Sanjay Goel, JIIT, 2012 HCI Lecture Notes
Human Computer Interaction

1. Lecture #1-2 2 hrs. (24.07.12)
1. Critique the products/systems. Identify your liking and disliking.
2. Motivation and artefacts
(Ref: Ping Zhang, Motivational Affordances: Reasons for ICT Design and Use, Communications of the ACM, Nov
2008, pp 145-147).
3. Maslow (1940 onwards): Hierarchy of human needs (8 levels).
4. Deci and Ryan (1985 onwards): Intrinsic needs – Autonomy, Competence, Relatedness.
5. Map your findings of (1) to these models.
(Ref: a. Richard M. Ryan, Veronika Huta and Edward L. Deci, Living well: a self-determination theory perspective on
eudaimonia, Journal of Happiness Studies, Volume 9, Number 1, Springer Netherlands, pp 139 170, January, 2008.
b. Edward L. Deci and Richard M. Ryan, Hedonia, eudaimonia, and well-being: an introduction, Volume 9, Number 1,
Springer Netherlands, pp 1-11 January, 2008.
c. Deci, E. L., & Ryan, R. M. Intrinsic motivation and self-determination in human behavior, 1985, New York:Plenum).
6. Creating vision statement for improvising a product/service/system through enhancing its response to selected
human needs from these two models.
7. Assignments:
i. Refine your vision (6) and create three alternate solution approaches.
ii. Learn to use few software prototyping tools.

2. Lecture #3 1 hrs. (27.07.12)
1. Sharing of vision statements and proposed solution approaches.
2. Ryff and Singer (2008): Knowing Thyself – 6 basic needs for psychological well being – Self acceptance, autonomy,
control of environment, positive relations with others, purpose in life, personal growth.
(Ref: Carol D. Ryff and Burton H. Singer, Know thyself and become what you are: a Eudaimonic approach to
psychological well-being, Journal of Happiness Studies, Jan 2006, Springer Netherlands, pp 13-39).
3. Reiss (2000): 16 Basic desires – eating, physical exercise, romance, family, saving, acceptance, social contact,
independence, curiosity, order, power, status, vengeance, honour, idealism, tranquillity.
(Ref: a. Steven Reiss, Multifaceted Nature of Intrinsic Motivation: The Theory of 16 Basic Desires, Review of General
Psychology, Educational Publishing Foundation, Vol. 8, No. 3, 179–193, 2004.
b. Steven Reis, Who Am I?: The 16 Basic Desires That Motivate Our Behavior and Define Our Personality, Tarcher,
2000).
4. An understanding of human needs through these models helps in clarifying the purpose of all technological,
business/economic, political, social, and even ritual constructs.
5. Assignments: Complete the pending assignment

3. Lecture #4-5 2 hrs. (31.07.12)
1. Artefacts/Technology help humans modify their environment.
2. Levels of Technology
a. Human  Technology/Artefact  World
b. Human  [Technology/Artefact  World]
c. [Human  Technology/Artefact]  World
d. [Human  Technology/Artefact]  [Virtual world World]
3. New artefacts help in modifying processes.
4. Aspects of human activities:
a. Physical
b. Cognitive
c. Emotional
5. When the point of contact between the product and the people become the point of friction, then the industrial
designer has failed. – Dreyfuss in Designing for People, 1955.
6. Evolution of Human’s role in production process and designer’s challenge:

a. Source of energy: performer’s physical load is the main concern of the designer of artefact that supports
utilization of human energy. Deep study of human anatomy (of performer) is critical.
b. Control function: Cognitive load is main concern. Deep study of human cognition (of performer) is critical.
c. Process design: Cognitive load is main concern. Deep study of human cognition of performer is critical.
7. Human limitations wrt artefact deign
a. Human’s physical limitations: Detailed description of human anatomy by Dreyfuss. Detailed
measurements of average human body wrt artefact design.

b. Human’s cognitive limitation: Miller’s law - the no. of objects an average human can hold in working
memory = 7 ± 2. More than these make the cognitive load unmanageable.
8. Artefacts
a. Systems View: appear to expand some functional capacity of the task performer
b. Personal View: replacement of the original task with new one (may have radically different cognitive
requirements and require radically different cognitive capacities)
9. Artefacts can:
a. Distribute the action across time, or
b. Distribute the action across people, or
c. Change the individual actions/task
10. The form (structure of artefacts) represents the embedded and embedding process.
11. User profile capture questions:
a. Target audience/user?
b. What do you want to accomplish for each audience/user?
c. Describe a typical user?
d. What are your user goals?
e. What action would your user expect to take to accomplish their goals.
f. Do you have storyboards of the sequence required by your user to accomplish typical users?
g. What are the anticipated difficulties with using systems for this type of user?
h. How does your design solve these issues?
12. Assignments: Study the evolution of any artefact/system/process over at least last few hundred years.

4. Lecture #6 1 hrs. (03.08.12)
1. This point of contact and friction can be
a. Physical
b. Cognitive
c. Emotional

2. Engineering Anthropometry
a. Static measurements
b. Dynamic measurements
c. Anthropometric tables
3. Principles in the application of anthropometric data
a. Design for extreme individuals
b. Design for adjustable range
c. Designing for average
4. Design for understandability
a. Designer’s concern for user’s cognitive dissonance

5. Lecture #7,8 2 hrs. (14.08.12)
1. Activity Centred Design: Ref: Robert Hoekrman, Jr., Redefining User Centred design, 2008,
http://www.peachpit.com/guides/content.aspx?g=webdesign&seqNum=355
 Activity Grid:
i. Activity
1. Tasks
a. Actions
i. Operations
2. Action Cycle: 7 stages of Action
i. Forming the goal
ii. Forming the intention
iii. Specifying the action
iv. Executing the action
v. Perceiving the state of the world
vi. Interpreting the state of the world
vii. Evaluating the outcome

3. Gulf of Execution: How well the actions provided by the system match those intended by the person? How well
the system allows the person to do the intended action directly, without extra effort?
4. Gulf of Evaluation: Amount of effort that the person must exert to interpret the state of the system and to
determine how well the expectations and intentions have been met
5. Ref: Donald A. Norman, The Design of Everyday Things, 1988
13. Assignment: Prepare the activity grid for a domain specific study desk. The study desk should offer the books and
other reference material and also the work book.

6. Lecture #9 1 hrs. (17.08.12)
7. Lecture #10-11 2 hrs. (21.08.12)
1. Activity Theory: Vygotsky (1920), Leontyev, Luria, Engerstrom (1987), Kuutti(1991), Nardi (2006)...
a. Activity theory is a philosophical framework for studying different forms of human praxis as developmental
processes, with both individual and social levels interlinked.

b. Activities in which humans participate are the basic unit of development and human life. Hence they can be
used the unit of analysis – a minimum meaningful context for individual actions.
c. Activity is a form of doing directed to an object. Real life situation always features an interconnected web of
activities which can be distinguished by their objects and motive.
d. Human cognition emerges and exists within context of an individual’s interactions with the world and can only
be understood in terms of these interactions and activities. Unity of consciousness and activity. You are what
you do. Human can control their behaviour “from the outside”, using and creating artefacts. Artefacts are
integral and inseparable component of human functioning.
e. Activity is culturally and socially determined. It is a collective phenomenon. The relationships within an activity
are culturally mediated.
f. Activity is realised through conscious and purposeful actions by participants.
g. Activity is a historically developing phenomenon. Mediating terms are historically formed and open to further
development. These are continuously reconstructed during the existence of an activity. The different forces and
contradictions can be uncovered only through a historical analysis.
h. Contradictions are the force behind the development of an activity. Conflicts are surface symptoms of
contradictions. The developmental dynamics of activities are based on the emergence and solving of
contradictions.
i. Activity System: Basic Structure of activity

1) Outcome: desired goal of activity.
2) Object: Problem space. Activity is performed to create (transform) some object (towards some desired
state, into an outcome). Object can have physical/ chemical/ biological/ cultural/ social properties. These
objects can be:
a. Physical product
i. Instruments, Machines
b. Soft product
i. Sign, Notation, Language, Story, Music, Film, Script, Plan, Procedures, Process/method,
Checklist, Computer Program, work organisation forms, ...
c. Conceptual product
i. Relationship, Meaning, Shared Concept, Idea, Model, Theory, Laws, ...
d. Experience/Knowledge
e. People (e.g. a patient to be cured, a student to be taught)
3) Subject: One of more persons who engage in the activity to create/ transform some object. The point of
view used to focus on the activity.
4) Tools: Tools mediate the Subject-Object relationship. carry and embody the history of relationship between
subject and object. Within an activity system, objects created by a subject may become a mediating tool for
another actor. Objects of an activity may mediate another activity.
5) Community: Other actors. All those people and groups who share the object. And whose knowledge,
interests, stakes, and goals shape the activity.

6) Social Rules: Rules mediate the subject-community relationship. Effect the activity and are impose by the
other actors including the larger organisation and professional community. Laws, codes, conventions,
customs, and agreements that people adhere to while engaging in the activity.
7) Division of labour: How the work in activity is divided among participants in the activity. Horizontal/Vertical.
8) Activity system contains two channels of supervision and control: hierarchical power structure embedded in
the division of labour, and control through norms and values embedded in rules.

8. Lecture #12 1 hrs. (24.08.12)
1. Activities are interrelated
Ref: Kate Crawford & Helen Hasan, Demonstrations Of The Activity Theory Framework For Research In Information
Systems, Australasian Journal of Information Systems Volume 13 Number 2 May 2006

2. Typology of Work Support
Ref: i. Kari Kuutti, The Concept Of Activity As A Basic Unit Of Analysis For CSCW Research,
ECSCW, 1991
ii. Kari Kuutti, Identifying Potential CSCW Applications by Means of
Activity Theory Concepts: A Case Example, CSCW, 1992
a. Role of Subjects:
i. Passive participant (predetermined) – using the given artifacts in a pre-specified way
ii. Active Subject – Using given artifacts but deciding actively how, and when to use them
iii. Active developer of the activity (Expansive)- active developer of artifacts in an activity.


9. Lecture #13-14 2 hrs. (28.08.12)

1. Ref: V. Kaptelinin, B. Nardi And C. Macaulay, The Activity Checklist: A Tool for Representing the
―Space‖ of Context, interactions, July-August, 1999

1.1 Five Basic Principles of Activity Theory

a. Object Orientedness: The reality around human activity consists of natural, synthetic, cultural,
social, conceptual objects including people.
b. Hierarchical structure of activity: (Source of figure: Victor Kaptelinin & Bonnie A. Nardi, Activity
Theory in HCI: Fundamentals and Reflections, Morgan and Claypool Publishers, 2012, pp 28)

i. Activity unfolds through resolution of tensions
ii. Activities are undertaken to fulfil motives. Motives are top level objectives to fulfil a need/desire.
iii. Actions are goal directed processes. Actions are conscious.
iv. Operations do not have their own goals.
v. Actions transform into operation when they become reutilized and unconscious.

vi. An operation can become an action when conditions impeded an action‘s execution through
previously formed actions (major tensions).

(Source: Irshat Madyarov and Aida Taef, Contradictions in a Distance Course for a Marginalized
Population at a Middle Eastern University, The International Review of Research in Open and Distance
Learning, Vol 13, No 2, 2012)

Few Examples: (Source: Bonnie A. Nardi, Context and consciousness: Activity Theory and Human
Computer Interaction, MIT Press, 1996, pp 33)

c. Internalisation/Externalisation: internal (mental) and external activities constantly transform into
each other.


IPA: Internal plane of action is the human ability to perform manipulations with an internal representation of external objects
before staring actions with these objects in reality.

(Figure source: Victor Kaptelinin, Computer Mediated Activity: Functional organs in social and developmental
context, Bonnie A. Nardi (Ed.), Context and consciousness: Activity Theory and Human Computer Interaction, MIT
Press, 1996 ,pp 45-68).

d. Mediation: Tools shape the way human interact with reality. The experience is accumulated in the
structural properties of tools (size, shape, material) and the knowledge of how tool should be used.
e. Development: All practices are reformed and shaped by historical development.

1.2 Four Perspectives on the use of ―target technology‖

a. Means and ends—the extent to which the technology facilitates and constrains the attainment of users‘
goals and the impact of the technology on provoking or resolving conflicts between different goals.
b. Social and physical aspects of the environment— integration of target technology with requirements, tools,
resources, and social rules of the environment.
c. Learning, cognition, and articulation — internal versus external components of activity and support of
their mutual transformations with target technology.
d. Development—developmental transformation of the foregoing components as a whole.


2. Mwanza’s Eight Step Model - using Activity Theory for identifying the essential elements of human
activity and for examining inter-relationships - (Ref: Mwanza’s PhD thesis (2002) cited by Mwanza-
Simwami, Daisy, AODM as a framework and model for characterising learner experiences with technology.
Journal of e-Learning and Knowledge Society (Je-LKS), 7(3), 2011, pp. 75–85).

Assignment: Describe the Target Activity wrt your final year project.

10. Lecture #15 1 hrs. (31.08.12)
1. Three paradigms of HCI
a. Ergonomics – optimise man/machine fit
b. Cognitive Psychology – optimise mind/machine fit
c. Situated perspectives – support situate action and meaning making

2. Design objectives in HCI
a. Usability
b. Usefulness

c. Acceptability
3. Activity develops through resolution of tensions
4. Levels of tensions (contradictions/misfits/in-congruencies) in activity systems
1) Primary – within each element of the central activity
2) Secondary – between the elements of central activity
3) Tertiary – between the object and motive of the dominant central activity and the object and motive
of a culturally more advanced form of central activity
4) Quaternary – between the central and neighbouring activities.

[excerpts from Irshat Madyarov and Aida Taef, Contradictions in a Distance Course for a Marginalized
Population at a Middle Eastern University, The International Review of Research in Open and Distance
Learning, Vol 13, No 2, 2012......

Engeström (1987) argues that in schooling settings with a capitalist socioeconomic formation, the primary
contradictions within the nodes of activity acquire the nature of use and exchange value. In his example, text
represents the object of learning, which can be studied in exchange for grades or for meaningful use in real
life. Instruments oriented towards exchange value require recall and memorization; whereas, instruments that
call for meaningful use of knowledge provide means for investigation and real-life problem-solving. Division of
labor oriented towards exchange value calls for isolated roles, while division of labor oriented towards use
value encourages cooperation. Community oriented towards exchange value produces a class of separate
individuals, but when it is oriented towards use value, it creates a team of inquiry. Rules oriented towards the
exchange value create competition. Rules oriented towards the use value encourage risk-taking. Finally, a
student as a subject is either a grade-maker when oriented towards the exchange value of the object or is a
sense-maker when oriented towards the use value of his or her object. Thus, an activity where the subject is
oriented towards the exchange value of the object leads to alienation because there is no true collaboration in
the community node. An activity where the subject is oriented towards the use value of the object leads to
inclusiveness and collaboration.

Secondary contradictions occur between the nodes of an activity system, and tertiary and quaternary
contradictions occur between different activity systems. Engeström (1987) provides an example of instruments
that a doctor uses in his practice. A doctor may be faced with a contradiction of how much to spend on the
instruments to maintain his/her cost efficiency (i.e., a contradiction between use value and exchange value of
medical instruments). The secondary contradictions (2) are those that emerge between these nodes within an
activity system. According to Engeström, traditional instruments used in biomedicine (instruments) may be
inadequate for diagnosing the patients with complex illnesses (object).

The tertiary contradictions (3) arise when a culturally more advanced activity within the central activity of
interest introduces a more advanced object or motive. This could be illustrated with a clinic administration
introducing new methods of diagnoses that run counter to the traditions of some doctors in that clinic.

Finally, the quaternary contradictions (4) exist between the central activity system and the outside activity
systems. The latter could be of four types: a) an activity system of object (e.g., diagnosing and treating
patients); b) a rule producing activity system (e.g., the clinic administration); c) a subject producing activity
system (e.g., medical schools that prepare doctors and nurses); and d) an instrument producing activity system
(e.g., a company that provides drugs and other medical instruments).]

3. Some example questions for activity analysis: (Ref: Mwanza‘s PhD thesis (2002) cited by Mwanza-
Simwami, Daisy, AODM as a framework and model for characterising learner experiences with technology.
Journal of e-Learning and Knowledge Society (Je-LKS), 7(3), 2011, pp. 75–85).
· What Tools does the subject use to satisfy the objective and how?
· What Rules affect the way the subject satisfies the objective and how?
· How does the division of labour affect the way the subject satisfies the objective?
· How do the tools in use affect the way the community satisfies the objective?
· What rules affect the way the community satisfies their objective and how?
· How does the division of labour affect the way the community satisfies the objective?

4. Assignment: Analyse the mentoring activity in the CSE/IT deptt at JIIT. Propose modifications and some IT
tools to improve its efficacy and impact.

11. Lecture #16-17 1 hrs. (04.09.12)
1. Affordances
- Possibilities of thinking and doing that are signified by the user during their interaction with artefact.
- Properties of the world that make possible some action to the organism equipped to act in certain ways.
- Actionable properties between world and actor.

(Ref: a. W.W. Gaver, Technology Affordances. ACM 1991, pp 79-84)

- Sequential Affordances

- Nested Affordances: the nested affordance offers itself both as an end in itself, and as a means towards
realizing another affordance.

2. Norman’s four Principles of Good Design
(Ref: Donald A. Norman, The Design of Everday Things, Currency and Doubleday, 1988)
- Give good Visibility of system state and alternatives of action
- Give Good Conceptual Model (including. Avoidance of overloading of control)
- Give Good mapping (between action and result, control and effect, system state and feedback): take advantage of
physical analogies and cultural norms and standards.
- Give Feedback

3. Assignments:
a. Illustrate and analyse the role of false and hidden affordances in industrial accidents.
b. Critique the computing and mobile environments wrt Norman‘s four principles.

12. Lecture #18 1 hrs. (14.09.12)

A. User engineering principles for interactive systems (Hansen, 1971)
1. First principle: Know the user
2. Minimise memorisation
2a. Selection not entry
2b. Names not numbers
2c. Predictable behavior
2d. Access to system information
3. Optimise operations
3a. Rapid execution of common operations
3b. Display inertia
3c. Muscle memory
3d. Reorganize command parameters
4. Engineer for errors
4a. Good error messages
4b. Engineer out the common errors
4c. Reversible actions
4d. Redundancy
4e. Data structure integrity

B. UI Design Guidelines by Shneiderman (1987); Shneiderman and Plaisant (2009)
1. Strive for consistency
2. Cater to universal usability
3. Offer informative feedback
4. Design task flows to yield closure
5. Prevent errors
6. Permit easy reversal of actions
7. Make users feel they are in control
8. Minimize short-term memory load

C. Wundt‘s Curve (1870): Artifacts are interesting if they were sufficiently different from artifacts previously
encountered but not sufficiently different to be non-sequential.


1. Assignments: Critique the following wrt these guidelines:
a. Any of your minor project,
b. Any Microsoft product, and
c. Any popular web service

13. Lecture #19-20 2 hrs. (18.09.12)
UI Design and evaluation Guidelines
C. UI Design Guidelines by Nielsen and Molich (1990)
1. Consistency and standards
2. Visibility of system status
3. Match between system and real world
4. User control and freedom
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. Provide online documentation and help
D. UI Design Guidelines by Stone et al. (2005)
1. Visibility: First step to goal should be clear
2. Affordance: Control suggests how to use it
3. Feedback: Should be clear what happened or is happening
4. Simplicity: As simple as possible and task-focused
5. Structure: Content organized sensibly
6. Consistency: Similarity for predictability
7. Tolerance: Prevent errors, help recovery
8. Accessibility: Usable by all intended users, despite handicap, access device, or environmental
conditions
E. UI Design Guidelines by Johnson (2007)
9. Principle 1 Focus on the users and their tasks, not on the technology
 Understand the users
 Understand the tasks
 Consider the context in which the software will function
10. Principle 2 Consider function first, presentation later

 Develop a conceptual model
11. Principle 3 Conform to the users‘ view of the task
 Strive for naturalness
 Use users‘ vocabulary, not your own
 Keep program internals inside the program
 Find the correct point on the power/complexity tradeoff
12. Principle 4 Design for the common case
 Make common results easy to achieve
 Two types of ―common‖: ―how many users‖ vs. ―how often‖
 Design for core cases; don‘t sweat ―edge‖ cases
13. Principle 5 Don‘t complicate the users‘ task
 Don‘t give users extra problems
 Don‘t make users reason by elimination
14. Principle 6 Facilitate learning
 Think ―outside-in,‖ not ―inside-out‖
 Consistency, consistency, consistency
 Provide a low-risk environment
15. Principle 7 Deliver information, not just data
 Design displays carefully; get professional help
 The screen belongs to the user
 Preserve display inertia
16. Principle 8 Design for responsiveness
 Acknowledge user actions instantly
 Let users know when software is busy and when it isn‘t
 Free users to do other things while waiting
 Animate movement smoothly and clearly
 Allow users to abort lengthy operations they don‘t want
 Allow users to estimate how much time operations will take
 Try to let users set their own work pace.
17. Principle 9 Try it out on users; then fix it
 Test results can surprise even experienced designers
 Schedule time to correct problems found by tests
 Testing has two goals: informational and social
 There are tests for every time and purpose

Cognitive Science Based HCI Principles
(Ref: Jeff Johnson, Designing with the Mind in Mind, Chapter 1-3, Morgan Kaufmann, Elsevier, 2010)
A. We perceive what we expect
1. Perception biased by experience:

2. Perception biased by Current context :

Fold napkins. Polish silverware. Wash dishes.
French napkins. Polish silverware. German dishes.

3. Perception bias by Goal:
 Goals Influence where we look
 Goals sensitize our perceptual system to certain features

B. Our vision is optimised to see Structures: Gestalt principles
1. Proximity: Objects that are near to each other (relative to other objects) appear to be grouped.

2. Similarity: Similar objects appear related/grouped.

3. Continuity: tend to continue shapes beyond their ending points

4. Closure: We perceive a whole shape in an incomplete space by filling in the missing information.

5. Symmetry: when we perceive objects we tend to perceive them as symmetrical shapes that form
around their centre.

6. Figure/Ground: Our mind separates the visual field into foreground and background

7. Common fate: objects that move together are perceived as grouped/related

B1. We seek and Use Visual Structures

1. Structures enhance our ability to scan long numbers
2. Data Specific controls provide even more structure
3. Visual hierarchy lets people focus on the relevant information

14. Lecture #21 (21.09.12)
Cognitive Science Based HCI Principles Contd...
C. Reading is unnatural
- Reading involves
- Feature driven (bottom up) reading: letter word sentence  meaning
- efficient, automatic in skilled readers
- Context driven (top down) reading: meaning of sentence words; word  letter
- relevant when feature driven reading is difficult or insufficiently automatic
e.g., Mray had a ltilte lmab, its feclee was withe as sown.
And ervey wehre taht Mray wnet, the lmab was srue to go.

- Poor information design can disrupt reading: AVOID
o Uncommon or unfamiliar vocabulary
o Difficult script and typefaces, All CAPS, e.g.,
ANY INTELLIGENT FOOL CAN MAKE THINGS BIGGER AND MORE COMPLEX... IT TAKES A TOUCH OF GENIUS -
AND A LOT OF COURAGE TO MOVE IN THE OPPOSITE DIRECTION.

o Tiny fonts
o Text on noise background or with poor colour contrast
e.g.,

o Information buried in repetition: Successive lines contain lot of repetition, e.g.,

o Centered text, e.g.,
Simplicity, simplicity, simplicity!
I say, let your affairs be as two or three,
and not a hundred or a thousand instead of a million count half a dozen,
and keep your accounts on your thumb-nail.

- Minimise the need for Reading in UI.
- e.g.,
2002 2003 2007


D. Our Color Vision is Limited
- Vision is optimized for edges contrast, not brightness

- Most easily distinguishable colours: R G B Y W B
- Factors affecting the ability to distinguish colours: TAKE CARE
- Paleness (less saturated)
- Size of color patch
- Distance between patches
- Color blindness: 8% males, 0.5% females are color deficient
- dark red/black; blue/purple; light green/white; green/khaki
(Simulate the color deficient view of images/webpages with Vischeck.com)
- External factors also influence: KEEP IN MIND
- Variation among monitors
- Grey scale displays
- Display angle
- Ambient light
- Don‘t use dark reds, blues, or violets against any dark colors.
- Don‘t rely on colour alone, use other cues.
- Separate strong opponent colours.

E. Our Peripheral Vision is Poor
- Much greater resolution in the centre of the retina (fovea) than elsewhere. It maps to 1-2 cm on screen.

- Our eyes move rapidly and constantly about 3 times/second.
- Peripheral provides low resolution cues to guide our eye movement. It is good for detecting motion.


- Error messages:
- Put it where users are looking
- Mark the error
- Use an error symbol
- Reserve red for error
- Pop up windows: use sparingly
- Nonmodal pop-ups
- Application –level modal pop-ups
- System- modal pop-up
- Use sound : limited use in normal softwares; use often in games
- Flash or wiggle briefly (0.25-- 0.5 second only)

1. Assignments: In the light of above discussed guidelines, Create a visual prototype based on an alternate HCI
design of any interaction rich and popular web service.
15. Lecture #22-23 (25.09.12)
Student Presentations of alternate HCI design of any interaction rich and popular web service
16. Lecture #24 (28.09.12)
F. Our Attention is limited; Our Memory is imperfect
 Information Processing Theory (Miller, 1956)
 Stage Theory (Atkinson, R., & Shiffrin, R., 1968)
 Attention: process to STM
 Repetition: Maintain in STM
 Elaboration: Process to LTM
 Memory:
 Each memory corresponds to a pattern of neural activity extending over a wide area of the brain.
 STM is not a temporary buffer. It is the combined focus of attention- currently activated neural patterns of which we are aware.

Characteristics of Attention HCI Design Implications
 We focus on our goals and pay little attention to our tools  Tools should fade away into the background and allow users to
focus on the goals.
 We use external aids to keep track of what we are doing  Indicate user‘s progress towards their goal.
- Allow users to mark/move objects to indicate which ones they
have worked on versus which ones they have not.
 We follow information ‗scent‘ towards our goal. We don‘t think  Understand the likely goals at each decision point in a task and
deeply about aspects of UI - instructions, command names, option ensure that each choice point provides options for every important
labels, icons, navigation bar items. We see these things in a very user goal and clearly indicates which option leads to which goal.
literal way and only notice things that match our goals.  Guide users to the best path from the beginning
 We prefer familiar path (even if it requires extra work). - Provide short cuts for frequently used functions for experienced
users
 Our thought cycle: Goal, Execute, Evaluate  Goal: Provide clear paths – including initial steps- for the user
goals that are intended to be supported by s/w.
Execute: task based concepts, clear scent at choice points, help
them avoid diversions away from their goals.
Evaluate: feedback and status, reversal
 After we achieve our goals, we often forget cleanup steps  Support users to remember these steps, or
- Eliminate the need to remember by automation.
Characteristics of Memory  Prominently indicate system status and user‘s progress towards
 STM is volatile. their goal.
 STM is limited: short-term memory could only hold  It is too unreliable for designers to assume that users can, without
o 5-9 Chunks (meaningful units) of information - Miller, 1956 clear, continuous feedback, keep track of what mode (different
o 4-6 Chunks – Broadbent, 1975 effects of same action depending upon system‘s mode) the system
o People remember more features of some items than of others – is in, even when the users are the ones changing the systems from
Cowan et al, 2004 one mode to another. Hence, avoid modes or provides adequate

 There is limitation to how much information can be transferred mode-feedback.
from the working memory to the long-term memory at a time.  People viewing search results often do not remember the search
terms they just typed. Hence display the search terms.
 Allow users to refer to instructions for multi-step operations
while executing them until completing all the steps.
 LTM limits are unknown  Avoid developing systems that burden LTM.
 LTM is not accurate, it is error prone; it uses heavy compression.  Learning and long term retention are enhanced by UI consistency
Items are reduced to set of abstract features.
 Information decay – old information not attended to and revised
hence we forget
 LTM is weighted by emotion.
 Interference – new/old information networks block access to the
information.
 LTM is retroactively alterable.
 Recognition is easy; Recall is hard
Recognition is perception + LTM working together.  See and chose is easier than recall and type
o Similar perception in similar context cause similar pattern of  Use pictures where possible to convey function
neural activity.  Use thumbnail images to depict full sized images
o Future reactivation of a pattern is easier after repeated  Make common functions more visible.
activations.  Use visual cues to let users recognize where they are.
Recall is LTM reactivating old neural pattern without immediate  Make authentication information easier to recall
similar perceptual input.

17. Lecture #25 (05.10.12)
(Ref: Jeff Johnson, Designing with the Mind in Mind, Chapter 10, Morgan Kaufmann, Elsevier, 2010)
G. Problem Solving is hard
Brain: We have three parts in the brains. All contribute to our thought and behavior. Old and mid brain react faster.

Old brain (brain Mid brain: Birds and New brain (cerebral cortex): Mammals. Large in elephants, dolphin, whale, monkeys,
stem): Fish lower mammals apes, humans.
onwards. - Controls and reacts - Controls intentional purposeful conscious activity- planning, interpretation, analysis
- Identify edible, with emotions – joy, - Only creatures with cortex can learn from other‘s experiences
dangerous, sexy. sadness, fear, anger,.. - Possibly only human brain can articulate what they have learnt from experience.
Characteristics HCI Design Implications
 Performing learned action is easy  Make the system familiar
o Performing automatic (routine, well learned) actions consumes  Design such that the learning the tool is easy and it quickly
few or no cognitive resources – STM/attention. So these can be become automatic.
done in parallel with other activities.  Minimize the amount of attention users must devote.
 Controlled processing - Problem solving and calculations are hard  Minimize the gulf of execution
o Problems – Unfamiliar Situations.
o Requires focused attention and constant conscious monitoring.
o Execute relatively slowly and serially,
o Strains the limits of STM.
o Human brain is not optimized for calculations. It is done mainly  Let people use perception rather than calculation
in brain‘s controlled, monitored mode. o Let the computer do the math.
o Problems that are easy for most people:
Involve 1-2 steps, or  Minimize the number and complexity of settings.
Some steps are memorized (automatic), or  Make the system familiar:
Don‘t involve much information o Follow industry standards/conventions.
o Consistency across versions
o Use common metaphors
o Study users to know their familiarity/unfamiliarity

o Hard problems strain our brain:
Exceed our STM limits, or  Don‘t expect users to deduce information. Tell them
Require some information retrieval from LTM, or explicitly and exactly what they need to know.
Encounter distractions
 Don‘t distract users by imposing technical problems and
o Solving technical/domain specific problems require technical/
goals that users don‘t want.
domain specific interest and training.
o Don‘t make users diagnose systems problems.

1. Assignments: Identify the HCI related shortcomings in any popular IDE supporting C compiler wrt the
requirements of 1st year programming students without any prior programming exposure.

18. Lecture #26-27 (09.10.12)
(Ref: Jeff Johnson, Designing with the Mind in Mind, Chapter 11, Morgan Kaufmann, Elsevier, 2010)
H. Many factors affect Learning

Characteristics HCI Design Implications
We learn to use a tool faster when  Thoroughly understand the user goals and tasks
 Operation is task focused, simple, and consistent. o Perform task analysis
o When the ‗gulf of execution‘ is small. - Design task-focused conceptual model (CM)
- Simplify the CM
- Maximize consistency in CM
 Design UI based on task analysis & conceptual model.
o Ensure Keystroke consistency/Follow Look and feel
standards/Follow Style guides
 Vocabulary is task-focused, familiar and consistent  Use task-focused, familiar and consistent vocabulary
o Conceptual model
o Lexicon
o Industry standard
 Risk is low  Provide low-risk environments:
o Prevent error where possible
o Deactivate invalid command
o Make error easy to detect by showing users clearly
what they have done.
o Allow users to undo, reverse, and correct easily

HCI design requires three main steps:
1. Perform a activity/task analysis
2. Design a task-focused conceptual model, consisting mainly of an objects/ actions analysis
3. Design a user interface based strictly on the task analysis and conceptual model
Conceptual Modelling
(Ref: Jeff Johnson & Austin Henderson, Conceptual Models: Begin by Designing What to Design, Interactions, ACM, Jan-Feb, 2002, pp
25-32)
A conceptual model is a high-level description of how a system is organized and operates. It specifies and describes:
1. the major design metaphors and analogies employed in the design, if any.
2. the concepts the system exposes to users, including the task-domain dataobjects users create and manipulate, their attributes, and the
operations that can be performed on them.
3. the relationships between these concepts.
4. the mappings between the concepts and the task-domain the system is designed to support.

Users construct a model in their minds of the system and how it works. This allows them to predict its behaviour and generalize what they
learn to new situations. A conceptual model of an interactive system is therefore:
1. an idealized view of the how the system works—the model designers hope users will internalize;
2. the ontological structure of the system: the objects, their relationships, and control structures;
3. the mechanism by which users accomplish the tasks the system is intended to support.

Designing a conceptual model is: ―Less is more‖ - Keep it simple and task focused.

―If it isn‘t in the conceptual model, the system should not require users to be aware of it.‖

An important component of a conceptual model is an Objects/Actions analysis: an enumeration of all the concepts in the model
 all the user-understood objects in the system,
 user-understood attributes of those objects,
 the actions that users can perform on each of those objects.

Relationships between concepts: If objects in a task-domain share actions, they can probably be organized in a specialization or type
hierarchy, in which certain conceptual objects are specializations of others. objects may also be related by a containment hierarchy, in
which some objects can contain other objects. Concepts in a task-domain are also related to each other in importance. Some concepts are
encountered by users more frequently than others.

Lexicon: Once the development team assigns names to the objects, actions, and attributes enumerated in the conceptual model, they have a
lexicon of terms to be used in the application and its documentation. Software developed without a lexicon often suffers from two
common user interface problems: 1) multiple terms for a given concept, and 2) the same term for multiple distinct concepts.

I. Button Size & Placement: Fitt‟s Law
(Ref: Lukas Mathis, Designed for Use: Creating Usable Interfaces for Applications and the web, Chapter 14, Pragmatic Programmers, LLC,
2011).

a. People can hit a target more quickly if the target is bigger or closer to the user‘s mouse cursor (on a desktop system). If
you want to make things easier to hit, make them bigger. If you want them harder to hit, make them smaller.

―Shut down‖ button is smaller than the clickable areas that start applications.

b. The motion of the cursor should be in line with the form of the target—that is, if the user is moving the mouse horizontally to
hit a target, making the target‘s form horizontal makes it easier to hit

.

, ID (Index of Difficulty); D (Distance to the centre of the target); W (Width of the target)
Time to hit a target, T = a +bID; a (start/stop time of the device); b(inherent speed of the device)

c. Things that are closer to the cursor can be reached by the user more quickly.
d. Things that touch the screen edge are easier to hit. Corners are easiest.

e. Leave some room between different clickable things.

f. Radial (Pie) menu reduce the average distance of buttons from the start point.

J. Real Time deadlines for Interactive Systems
(Ref: Jeff Johnson, Designing with the Mind in Mind, Morgan Kaufmann, Chapter 12, Elsevier, 2010)

Perceptual and Cognitive Functions How Long Does Our Deadlines for Interactive System
Brain Take Design
Shortest gap of silence that we can detect in a 1 millisec (0.001 sec) Maximum tolerable delay or drop-out
sound time for audio feedback (e.g., tones,

―earcons,‖ music)
Shortest time a visual stimulus can be shown 5 millisec (0.005 sec) • Inducing unconscious familiarity of
and still affect us (perhaps unconsciously) images or symbols
Minimum noticeable lag in ink as someone 10 millisec (0.01 sec) • Electronic ink maximum lag time
draws with a stylus
Maximum interval for auditory fusion of 20 millisec (0.02 sec) • Generating tones of various pitches
successive sound pulses into a pitched tone
Maximum interval for visual fusion of 50 millisec (0.05 sec) • Maximum interval between animation
successive images frames
Speed of flinch reflex (involuntary motor 80 millisec (0.08 sec)
response to possible danger)
Time lag between a visual event and our full 100 millisec (0.1 sec) • Feedback for successful hand-eye
perception of it (or perceptual cycle time) coordination, e.g., pointer movement,
Duration of saccade (involuntary eye 100 millisec (0.1 sec) object movement or resizing, scrolling,
movement), during which vision is suppressed drawing with mouse
Maximum interval between events for 140 millisec (0.14 sec) • Feedback for click on button or link
perception that one event caused another event • Displaying ―busy‖ indicators
Time required for a skilled reader's brain to 150 millisec (0.15 sec)
comprehend a printed word
Time to subitize (determine the number of) up 200 millisec (0.2 sec; • Assume users can ―count‖ 1–4 screen
to four to five items in our visual field 50 millisec/item) items in about 100 milliseconds, but more
than four take 300 milliseconds per item
Editorial ―window‖ for events that reach 200 millisec (0.2 sec)
consciousness
Time to identify (i.e., name) a visually 250 millisec (0.25 sec)
presented object
Time required to mentally count items in a 300 millisec (0.3
scene when there are more than four items sec)/item • Allowable overlap between speech
utterances
Attentional ―blink‖ (inattentiveness to other 500 millisec (0.5 sec) • Displaying progress indicators for long
input) following recognition of an object operations
Visual-motor reaction time (intentional response 700 millisec(0.7 sec) • Finishing user-requested operations,
to unexpected event) e.g., open window
Maximum duration of silent gap between turns About 1 sec • Finishing unrequested operations, e.g.,
in person-to-person conversation auto-save
• Time after info presentation that can be
used for other computation, e.g., to make
inactive objects active
• Required wait time after presenting
important info before presenting more
Duration of unbroken attention to a single task 6–30 sec • Completing one step of a multistep task,
(―unit task‖) e.g., one edit in a text editor
• Completing user input to an operation
• Completing one step in a wizard
(multipage dialog box)
Time to make critical decisions in emergency 1–5 minutes Assure that all info required for decision
situations, e.g., medical triage is provided or can be found within this
time

K. Web reading behaviour (Ref: A. Lukas Mathis, Designed for Use: Creating Usable Interfaces for Applications and the web, Chapter
6, Pragmatic Programmers, LLC, 2011; AND B. http://www.useit.com/papers/webwriting/).
 People typically don‘t read text on the Web word by word. Instead, they “scan” the page, looking for sentence fragments that
contain what they are looking for.
 As soon as text becomes too dense, lower-literacy users start skipping.
Scroll breaks lower-literacy users' visual concentration. Search creates problems for lower-literacy users;
Difficulties - spelling and result processing. They often simply pick the first hit on the list of search results.
 Users treat "user agreements" and similar site copy with contempt. In approaching such agreement text, users: read-
10%, scan- 17%, skip- 73%. People click "I agree" without reading what they're "agreeing" to.


Max. % of words user
can read @250 wpm
Vs
Words on page
Avg visit duration
Vs
Words on page

Guidelines for web writing:
1. Sites that target a broader audience must make lower-literacy users a priority. Use text aimed at a 6th grade reading level on
the homepage, important category pages, and landing pages. On other pages, use text geared to an 8th grade reading level.
Several online tools are available for testing readability.
2. Use half the word count or less than conventional writing. Use words that make sense to your audience. Write short, clear,
obvious sentences. When you‘re writing, ask yourself, ―Does this sentence help the user?‖ If it doesn‘t, drop it.
3. Use Cloze test, a common empirical comprehension test to measure comprehension. It works as follows:
a. Replace every Nth word in the text with blanks. A typical test uses N = 6, but you can use a higher N value.
b. Ask your test participants to read the modified text and fill in the blanks with their best guesses as to the missing words.
Each person should work alone.
c. The score is the percentage of correctly guessed words. Synonyms and misspellings are allowed. If users get 60% or
more right on average, the text is assumed to be reasonably comprehensible for the specified user profile.
4. Avoid sentences that can be interpreted in two different ways and sentences that lure your readers into an improper
understanding when they have read only part of them. Ask yourself whether a sentence is unambiguous even if you‟ve read
only part of it.
5. Convey one idea in each paragraph. Keep individual paragraphs short.
6. Use Inverted Pyramid style: Start text with conclusions, and include a summary of its content. Introduce the paragraph‘s
idea in the first sentence so people can quickly decide whether to read the paragraph.
7. Prioritize information: Place the main point at the very top of the page, where even readers who typically give up after a few
lines will see it. Place any other important information above the fold, to minimize the risk of users losing their place after
scrolling.
8. Use meaningful headings and subheadings.
9. Highlight keywords.
10. Use bullet lists.
11. Pictures can make your text more understandable and readable.
12. Static text is easier to read. Avoid text that moves or changes.
13. Streamline the page design: Place important content in a single main column.
14. Simplify navigation: by placing the main choices in a linear menu.
15. Optimize search: Make your search tolerant of misspellings.
16. Use legible font size and typefaces: Compare with a book.

17. Be engaging and personal, rather than boring and professional.
18. Outbound hypertext links enhance the credibility.

Assignment: Identify the HCI related weaknesses in any popular IDE supporting C compiler wrt the requirements of
1st year programming students without any prior programming exposure. Propose the conceptual model and UI of an
alternate system addressing these weaknesses. Create your group to implement this project using Open source
software.

19. Lecture #28 (12.10.12)
Designing Technology Support for Changing a Situation of Concern

Examples of Situation of Concern: Point of pain for somebody; situation that needs a change

20. Lecture #29 (2.11.12)

Designing Technology Support for Changing a Situation of Concern
(Ref: William M Newman and Michael G. Lamming, Interactive System Design, Chapter 2, Addison Wesley, 1995)

The situation of concern has a causal link with some human activity.

Design problem: Transform the Situation of Concern into Design problem. Design problem becomes one of changing
particular component of the situation so that the desired overall change is achieved. Interactive systems Replace or augment
exisiting support systems , which themselves may or may not be interactive.

Components of Problem Statement:
 Target Users
 Target user activities to be supported by the new tool/system
 Setting the level of support (principal usability factors, main benefits) that the system will provide.
 Selecting the basic form of solution to the design problem.

Human user
Understanding humans as physical, social, cognitive performers
Pay adequate attention to their skills, expertise, responsibilities, training, and working environment

Activity
Activity consists of individual tasks and processes (interlinked tasks).
Task is a unit of activity that has a goal and usually involves a sequence of steps (actions).
Tasks may depend upon a crucial or task resource.
 Files/lists/database
 People with specific skills and responsibilities
 Other ongoing processes including physical processes in the real world, functioning of machinery and plants,
etc.
Processes are likely to form when activities have multiple dependencies- when the focus of attention shifts from one
resource to another.
Features of processes:
 Use of files and databases: some are shared between people
 Communication between people – direct and indirect
 Synchronisation with real world physical and mechanical processes
 Suspension while waiting for information to become available, for people to respond, or for real world
processes to reach the appropriate state.
Tools provide:
 Provision to perform tasks faster and better
 Support for the link between tasks
 Support for links between information resources tasks share.

 Automate tasks – replace the tsaks by software
 Reduce dependencies
 Simplify/Reduce processes to single tasks.

Usability factors
What aspects of activity performance are affecting the situation of concern
 Speed of performance of the activity, which affects how many people are needed to perform it
 Incidence of errors while performing the activity
 User‘s ability to recover from errors that occur
 The magnitude of the user‘s tasks in learning to use the system
 User‘s retention of learned skills
 User‘s ability to customise the system to suit their way of working or the situation of concern.
 The ease with which people can reorganise activities supported by the system – teir own and other people‘s
 User‟s satisfaction with the system

Form of Solution

 Layers of technology and resources
 Constraints – market pressure, opportunities to exploit new technology or expertise, need for compatibility with
specific software /hardware

21. Lecture #30-31 (6.11.12)

 Requirement Document is a watershed in the specification process, allowing validation in terms of the original situation
of concern

 Some processes and representations of interactive System design


User Study: Interview, Observation, Questionnaires
Interview: Structured/unstructured
Issues to be covered in interview:
 Purpose of interview
 Enumerating activities
 Work methods
 Tracing interconnections
 Performance issues
 Exception handling
 Domain knowledge
Observation:
 Video recording
 Concurrent verbal account
 Passive observation
 Ethnography field study
 Action research
Questionnaire Design Issues:
 Few questions – simple and consistent in wording
 Unambiguous questions
 Gather precise data
 Need to support the intended analysis
User Research (Ref: Lukas Mathis, Designed for Use: Creating Usable Interfaces for Applications and the web, Chapter 1, Pragmatic
Programmers, LLC, 2011).
1. Henry Ford: “If I‟d asked people what they wanted, they would have said faster horses.”
2. People often aren‟t able to tell us how we can solve their problems, or what their problems are. And worst of all, people
are pretty bad at predicting whether how they would use a product if we proposed to build it for them. So designers have to
visit them and observe what they do. Interview several people before coming to conclusions.

Find problem Find Solution
Find out what people are currently doing. Find a way of making what they are already doing easier and more efficient.
Find out what people have to do but really Find a way of making the things they dislike obsolete, or at least more fun.
dislike doing.
Find out what they would like to be doing. Find a way of making what they want to be doing possible.

22. Lecture #32 (6.11.12)
User Research (Ref: Lukas Mathis, Designed for Use: Creating Usable Interfaces for Applications and the web, Chapter 2, Pragmatic
Programmers, LLC, 2011).
Job Shadowing (Observing people to understand what they do – their activities, tools used, interactions with team and
environment, their behaviour) – has a broad scope of understanding user needs, helps in identifying unidentified needs,
understand user‘s mental models and preferred interfaces, helps in designing appropriate user profiles and scenarios.
Deliverables: User descriptions, User needs, Scenarios, Product ideas.
1. Are there specific tasks that this person is spending a lot of time on?
2. Is the person doing the same thing repeatedly?
3. Is the person doing something that looks like a workaround?
4. Is the person doing something that seems to bore or annoy her?
5. Is the person forced to memorize steps or technical aspects of a task or other things that the computer could manage for
her?
6. Is the person using other tools in conjunction with her computer, such as paper lists or a calculator?
Contextual Interviews (observing people performing their tasks and having them talk about what they are doing while they are
doing it, after job shadowing)
1. Are there tasks you often do that I did not see today?
2. What kind of problem are you solving most often?
3. Why are you doing [something you‘ve seen] in this specific way?
4. What happens if you don‘t have all the information you need to complete a task?
5. Who are the people you regularly interact with, and how do you do that?
6. What do you have to do if somebody you need is not at work or if some other problem occurs?
Assignment:
i. Add more questions to these two lists.
ii. Study a potential user from any application domain using these two techniques.

23. Lecture #33 (16.11.12)
Task analysis: (Ref: Jeff Johnson, Designing with the Mind in Mind, Morgan Kaufmann, Chapter 11, Elsevier, 2010)
1. What goals do users want to achieve by using the application?
2. What set of human tasks is the application intended to support?
3. Which tasks are common, and which ones are rare?
4. Which tasks are most important, and which ones are least important?
5. What are the steps of each task?
6. What are the result and output of each task?
7. Where does the information for each task come from?
8. How is the information that results from each task used?
9. Which people do which tasks?
10. What tools are used to do each task?
11. What problems do people have performing each task? What sorts of mistakes are common? What causes them? How
damaging are mistakes?
12. What terminology do people who do these tasks use?
13. What communication with other people is required to do the tasks?
14. How are different tasks related?
Activity Centred Design: (Ref: Lukas Mathis, Designed for Use: Creating Usable Interfaces for Applications and the web, Chapter 4,
Pragmatic Programmers, LLC, 2011).
1. Understanding your users as people is far less important than understanding them as participants in activities.
2. Depending on your product, it may make sense to make activities the focal point of your design process.
3. Do user research to find out what activities you need to support, but don‘t design the activities themselves for specific
people.
4. Be critical when evaluating user feedback. Sometimes, making your product better for a specific audience makes it worse
for everybody else.
5. Keep in mind that people have the capacity to adapt to your product; You don‘t always need to adapt your product to
them.
User Research
(Ref: Preece, Rogers, Sharp, Interaction Design: Beyond Human Computer Interaction, Ch 7 &12, John Wiley & Sons, 2002)

Basic Data gathering Guidelines
 Focus on identifying stakeholders‘ needs by studying their existing behavior and support tools, or other products, e.g.,
competitors‘ product/ earlier version. Try to understand their constraints, context, irritations, and facilitators under which they
operate.
 Involve all stakeholders.

 Use a combination of data gathering techniques
 Support the data gathering sessions with suitable props:
o Task descriptions - existing/envisioned tasks
 Scenario - informal stories focused on specific and realistic activities
 Use cases: focus on user system interaction
 Essential use cases: structured narrative (name for overall user intention; stepped description of user actions, stepped
description of system responsibility
o Prototypes
 Run a pilot session to ensure that your sessions are likely to go as planned.
 Make sensible compromises.

Indirect Techniques:
User Diaries
Interaction Logs


Some Frameworks for Field Study: Help in providing focus and organizing the observation & data-collection.

A. Goetz and LeCompte (1984) B. Colin Robson (1993)
1. Who is present? How would you characterize them? 1. Space: What is the physical space like and how is it
What is their role? laid out?
2. What is happening? What are people doing and 2. Actors: What are the names and relevant details of the
saying and how are they behaving? Does any of this people involved?
behaviour appear routine? What is their tone and body 3. Activities: What are the actors doing and why?
language? 4. Objects: What physical objects are present, such as
3. When does the activity occur? How is it related to furniture?
other activities? 5. Acts:. What are specific individuals doing?
4. Where is it happening? Do physical conditions play a 6. Events: Is what you observe part of a special event?
role? 7. Goals: What are the actors trying to accomplish?
5. Why is it happening? What precipitated the event or 8. Feelings: What is the mood of the group and of
interaction? Do people have different perspectives? individuals?
6. How is the activity organized? What rules or norms
influence behaviour?

Checklist of things to plan before going into the field:
1. State the initial study goal and questions clearly.
2. Select a framework to guide your activity in the field.
3. Decide how to record events, i.e., as notes, on audio, or on video, or using a combination of all three.
4. Plan to routinely go through your notes and other records as soon as possible after each evaluation session to flesh out detail
and check ambiguities with other observers or with the people being observed.
5. As you make and review your notes, try to highlight and separate personal opinion from what happens. Also clearly note
anything you want to go back to.
6. Be prepared to refocus your study as you analyze and reflect upon what you see. Identify interesting phenomena that seem
relevant.
7. Think about how you will gain the acceptance and trust of those you observe. It will be tempting to pay attention to those who
receive you well, so make sure you attend to everyone in the group.
8. Think about how to handle sensitive issues. Check what participants are comfortable with and be accommodating and flexible.
Your choice of equipment for data collection will also influence how intrusive you are in people's lives.
9. Working as a team is likely to generate more reliable data because you can compare notes among different evaluators.
10. Consider checking your notes with an informant or members of the group to ensure that you are making good interpretations.
11. Plan to look at the situation from different perspectives - different layers of management, end-users, marketing, product
developers, product managers, suppliers, etc. if possible multiple representatives from each group.


Assignment: Carry out user research wrt any application domain using these techniques.

24. Lecture #34-35 (20.11.12)

[ref: 1. Preece, Rogers, Sharp, Interaction Design: Beyond Human Computer Interaction, Ch 1, John Wiley & Sons, 2002
2. http://usabilitygeek.com/the-difference-between-usability-and-user-experience/]
Interaction design: Designing interactive products to support people in their everyday and working life. Finding ways to support people.
(Winograd, 1997) – Design of spaces for human interaction and communication.


Criteria Usability User experience =
Utility+ Usability + Desirability + Brand experience
Question Can the user accomplish their goal? Did the user have as delightful an experience as possible?
AIM Relates to the ease with which users can achieve their goals Concerned with the way users perceive their interaction
while interacting with a product. To make that product easy to with that product. To make the user happy before, during
use. and after using that product.
Metaphors Science , Freeway Art, Twisting mountain road
ISO Effectiveness, efficiency and satisfaction with which specified All aspects of the user‘s experience when interacting with
Definition users achieve specified goals in particular environments the product, service, environment or facility
Focus goal achievement presentation, functionality, system performance,
interactive behaviour, and assistive capabilities
[Ref: Clanton, Chuck. "An interpreted demonstration of computer game design." InCHI 98 conference summary on
Human factors in computing systems, pp. 1-2. ACM, 1998]
 Create fun game play and ensure that the game interface and game mechanics do not interfere.
Hook „Em Fast & Hard Keep „Em Hooked
1. Establish the quest. 5. Spread Cues, Tools, and Obstacles out but not to much.
2. Provide a gentle on- 6. Avoid lengthy dead-ends: Responses should be visible and localized so that tedious backtracking can be
ramp: Learnability. avoided.
3. When players select a 7. Pressure can be fun.
difficulty, they accept it. 8. Give hints not answers.
4. Let each player progress 9. Avoid linear, monotonous pacing: intersperse simple and parallel problems.
at their own pace. 10. Reward game play with media.
11. Confusion is not fun.
12. Frustration can be fun: make the obstacle appear harder than it is, failure can be fun too.

13. Trial and error is not fun: loosing less and less badly is addictive.
14. It‘s fun to be known.
15. Make great game and players will master its complexity.

[Ref: Federoff, Melissa A. "Heuristics and usability guidelines for the creation and evaluation of fun in video games." MS
Thesis, Indiana University, 2002]

Game Interface Game Mechanics Game Play
1. Controls should be customizable and 18. There should be a clear overriding goal of the game
default to industry standard settings 15. Mechanics should presented early
2. Controls should be intuitive and feel natural and 19. There should be variable difficulty level
mapped in a natural way have correct weight 20. There should be multiple goals on each level
3. Minimize control options and momentum 21. ―A good game should be easy to learn and hard to master‖
4. The interface should be as non- 16. Feedback should be (Nolan Bushnell)
intrusive as possible given immediately 22. The game should have an unexpected outcome
5. For PC games, consider hiding the to display user 23. Artificial intelligence should be reasonable yet unpredictable
main computer interface during game control 24. Game play should be balanced so that there is no definite
play 17. Game Mechanics way to win
6. A player should always be able to and Play: Get the 25. Play should be fair
identify their score/status in the game player involved 26. The game should give hints, but not too many
7. Follow the trends set by the gaming quickly and easily 27. The game should give rewards
community to shorten the learning 28. Pace the game to apply pressure to, but not frustrate the
curve player
8. Interfaces should be consistent in 29. Provide an interesting and absorbing tutorial
control, color, typography, and dialog 30. Allow players to build content
design 31. Make the game replayable
9. Minimize the menu layers of an 32. Create a great storyline
interface 33. There must not be any single optimal winning strategy
10. Use sound to provide meaningful 34. Should use visual and audio effects to arouse interest
feedback 35. Include a lot of interactive props for the player to interact
11. Do not expect the user to read a manual with
12. Provide means for error prevention and 36. Teach skills early that you expect the players to use later
recovery through the use of warning 37. Design for multiple paths through the game
messages 38. One reward of playing should be the acquisition of skill
13. Players should be able to save games in 39. Build as though the world is going on whether your
different states. character is there or not
14. Game Interface and Play: Art should 40. If the game cannot be modeless, it should feel modeless to
speak to its function the player

25. Lecture #36 (23.11.12)

Pinelle, David, Nelson Wong, and Tadeusz Stach. "Heuristic Evaluation For Games: Usability Principles For Video Game
Design." In Proceeding of the twenty-sixth annual SIGCHI conference on Human factors in computing systems, pp. 1453-
1462. ACM, 2008. (Given for Self Study)
1. Provide consistent responses to the user‘s actions: Games should respond to users‘ actions in a predictable manner.
2. Allow users to customize video and audio settings, difficulty and game speed.
3. Provide predictable and reasonable behavior for computer controlled units: Users should not be forced to issue extra
commands to correct faulty artificial intelligence.
4. Provide unobstructed views that are appropriate for the user‘s current actions
5. Allow users to skip non-playable and frequently repeated content.
6. Provide intuitive and customizable input mappings.
7. Provide controls that are easy to manage, and that have an appropriate level of sensitivity and responsiveness: Controls for
avatars, e.g., characters or vehicles, should mirror the real world and should be designed so that they are not too sensitive or
unresponsive.
8. Provide users with information on game status: provide enough information to allow players to make proper decisions while
playing the game.
9. Provide instructions, training, and help.
10. Provide visual representations that are easy to interpret and that minimize the need for micromanagement: radar views, maps,
icons, and avatars, should be designed so that they are easy to interpret

Desurvire, Heather, and Charlotte Wiberg. "Game usability heuristics (play) for evaluating and designing better games:
The next iteration." Online Communities and Social Computing (2009): 557-566. [Revised Desurvire, Heather, Martin
Caplan, and Jozsef A. Toth. "Using heuristics to evaluate the playability of games." In CHI'04 extended abstracts on
Human factors in computing systems, pp. 1509-1512. ACM, 2004.] (Given for Self Study)
Game Play Coolness etc. Usability & Game Mechanics
A. Enduring Play A. Emotional A. Documentation/Tutorial
1. The players finds the game fun, with no Connection: There 1. Player does not need to read the manual or documentation to
repetitive or boring tasks is an emotional play.
2. The players should not experience being connection between 2. Player does not need to access the tutorial in order to play.
penalized repetitively for the same failure. the player and the B. Status and Score
3. The players should not lose any hard won game world as well 1. Game controls are consistent within the game and follow
possessions. as with their avatar. standard conventions.
4. Game play is long and enduring and keeps B. Coolness/ 2. Status score Indicators are seamless, obvious, available and do
the players‘ interest. Entertainment: not interfere with game play.
5. Any fatigue or boredom was minimized by The game offers 3. Controls are intuitive, and mapped in a natural way; they are
varying activities and pacing during the something different customizable and default to industry standard settings.
game play. in terms of 4. Consistency shortens the learning curve by following the
B. Challenge, Strategy and Pace attracting and trends set by the gaming industry to meet users‘ expectations.
1. Challenge, strategy and pace are in balance. retaining the If no industry standard exists, perform usability/playability
2. The game is paced to apply pressure without players‘ interest. research to ascertain the best mapping for the majority of
frustrating the players. The difficulty level C. Humor: The intended players.
varies so the players experience greater game uses humor C. Game Provides Feedback
challenges as they develop mastery. well. 1. Game provides feedback and reacts in a consistent,
3. Easy to learn, harder to master. D. Immersion: The immediate, challenging and exciting way to the players‘
4. Challenges are positive game experiences, game utilizes actions.
rather than negative experiences, resulting visceral, audio and 2. Provide appropriate audio/visual/visceral feedback (music,
in wanting to play more, rather than visual content to sound effects, controller vibration).
quitting. further the players‘ D. Terminology
5. AI is balanced with the players‘ play. immersion in the 1. The game goals are clear. The game provides clear goals,
6. The AI is tough enough that the players game. presents overriding goals early as well as short term goals
have to try different throughout game play.
C. Consistency in Game World 2. The skills needed to attain goals are taught early enough to
1. The game world reacts to the player and play or use later, or right before the new skill is needed.
remembers their passage through it. 3. The game gives rewards that immerse the player more deeply
2. Changes the player make in the game world in the game by increasing their capabilities, capacity or, for
are persistent and noticeable if they back- example, expanding their ability to customize.
track to where they have been before. E. Burden On Player
D. Goals 1. The game does not put an unnecessary burden on the player.
1. The game goals are clear. The game 2. Player is given controls that are basic enough to learn quickly,
provides clear goals, presents overriding yet expandable for advanced options for advanced players.
goals early as well as short term goals F. Screen Layout
throughout game play. 1. Screen layout is efficient, integrated, and visually pleasing.
2. The skills needed to attain goals are taught 2. The player experiences the user interface as consistent (in
early enough to play or use later, or right controller, color, typographic, dialogue and user interface
before the new skill is needed. design).
3. The game gives rewards that immerse the 3. The players experience the user interface/HUD as a part of the
player more deeply in the game by game.
increasing their capabilities, capacity or for 4. Art is recognizable to the player and speaks to its function.
example, expanding their ability to G. Navigation: Navigation is consistent, logical and minimalist.
customize. H. Error Prevention
E. Variety of Players and Game Styles 1. Player error is avoided.
1. The game supports a variety of game styles. 2. Player interruption is supported, so that players can easily turn
2. The game is balanced with multiple ways to the game on and off and be able to save the games in different
win. states.
3. The first ten minutes of play and player 3. Upon turning on the game, the player has enough information
actions are painfully obvious and should to begin play.
result in immediate and positive feedback 4. Players should be given context sensitive help while playing
for all types of players. so that they are not stuck and need to rely on a manual for
4. The game had different AI settings so that it help.
was challenging to all levels of players, 5. All levels of players are able to play and get involved quickly
whether novice or expert players. and easily with tutorials, and/or progressive or adjustable
F. Players Perception of Control difficulty levels.
1. Players feel in control. I. Game Story Immersion: Game story encourages immersion
2. The player‘s have a sense of control and (If game has story component).
influence onto the game world.

Csikszentmihalyi's Flow model (1997): feeling of energized focus, full
involvement, and enjoyment in the process of the activity.
Flow is experienced when perceived Challenges and Skills are above actor‘s
average levels.
Apathy: when they are below.
Other experiences: Boredom, Relaxation, Control, Worry, Anxiety, Arousal

Sweetser, Penelope, and Peta Wyeth. "Gameflow: A Model For Evaluating Player Enjoyment In Games." Computers in
Entertainment (CIE) 3, no. 3 (2005): 3-3.ACM
Concentration: Games should require concentration and the player Challenge: Games should be sufficiently challenging and match the
should be able to concentrate on the game. In RTS, concentration is player’s skill level. In RTS, challenge comes from the difficulty of
manifest through detailed worlds, units, and buildings (i.e., animation, the opponent AI in skirmish mode, difficulty settings, mission
sound, graphics), as well as via compelling narrative in the campaign, variation, increasing difficulty in the campaign, mastering a new race
good automation, simple game play and interface, and numerous tasks or faction, and balanced units and races
and objects to monitor. - Challenges in games must match the players‘ skill levels
- Provide a lot of stimuli from different sources - provide different levels of challenge for different players
- Provide stimuli that are worth attending to - The level of challenge should increase as the player progresses
- Quickly grab the players‘ attention and maintain their focus throughout through the game and increases their skill level
the game - provide new challenges at an appropriate pace
- Players shouldn‘t be burdened with tasks that don‘t feel important
- Games should have a high workload, while still being appropriate for
the players‘ perceptual, cognitive, and memory limits
- Players should not be distracted from tasks that they want or need to
concentrate on
Player Skills: Games must support player skill development and Control: Players should feel a sense of control over their actions in
mastery. Player skills are developed with the aid of descriptive tool tips, the game. Players are given more control through path-finding,
online help, an optional tutorial that fits with the story, a simple and attitude adjustment, unit formations, an easily controlled interface
well-designed interface, adherence to RTS conventions, visual and (e.g., hot-keys, bottom-heavy design, shallow menus, clear icons), a
auditory cues, a campaign that gradually introduces the various races, polished game with no bugs, and unique races that allow different
units and buildings, rewards of more skill, abilities or items, and rewards play styles and strategies.
of cut-scenes and story - Players should feel a sense of control over their characters or units
- Players should be able to start playing the game without reading the and their movements and interactions in the game world
manual - Players should feel a sense of control over the game interface and
- learning the game should not be boring, but be part of the fun input devices
- include online help so players don‘t need to exit the game - Players should feel a sense of control over the game shell (starting,
- Players should be taught to play the game through tutorials or initial stopping, saving, etc.)
levels that feel like playing the game - Players should not be able to make errors that are detrimental to the
- increase the players‘ skills at an appropriate pace as they progress game and should be supported in recovering from errors
through the game - Players should feel a sense of control and impact onto the game
- Players should be rewarded appropriately for their effort and skill world (like their actions matter and they are shaping the game world)
development - Players should feel a sense of control over the actions that they take
- Game interfaces and mechanics should be easy to learn and use and the strategies that they use and that they are free to play the game
the way that they want (not simply discovering actions and strategies
planned by the game developers)
Clear Goals: Games should provide the player with clear goals at Feedback: Players must receive appropriate feedback at appropriate
appropriate times. Clear goals are presented through an introduction that times. Feedback involves notifying the player of completion or
provides background, motivation, and overriding goals, in-game cut- failure of missions, keeping a log of mission goals, objectives, and
scenes that present goals and further the story, as well as clear and status, providing a score and summary at the end of the mission, as
specific mission objectives. well as visual and auditory feedback on actions, tasks, and events.
- Overriding goals should be clear and presented early - Players should receive feedback on progress toward their goals
- Intermediate goals should be clear and presented at appropriate times - Players should receive immediate feedback on their actions
- Players should always know their status or score
Immersion: Players should experience deep but effortless involvement Social Interaction: Games should support and create opportunities
in the game. Immersion is achieved through concentration (i.e. tasks, for social interaction. Social interaction comes in the form of a
monitoring, visual and auditory stimuli), feeling a connection to heroes, variety of multiplayer modes, a free online service with matchmaking
units, and the story, feeling excited by the pace of the game and no and rankings, being able to play with or against other players, text
periods where the player is inactive or waiting. chat, and the ability to create and share game content.
- Players should become less aware of their surroundings - support competition and cooperation between players
- Players should become less self-aware and less worried about everyday - support social interaction between players (chat, etc.)
life or self - support social communities inside and outside the game
- Players should experience an altered sense of time
- Players should feel emotionally involved in the game
- Players should feel viscerally involved in the game

Sweetser, Penelope, Daniel Johnson, Anne Ozdowska, and Peta Wyeth. "Gameflow Heuristics for Designing and
Evaluating Real-Time Strategy Games." In Proceedings of The 8th Australasian Conference on Interactive
Entertainment: Playing the System, ACM, 2012.

Narrative
Immersion
1. The opening cinematic should draw the player into the game
2. The campaign should include cinematics that advance the storyline, ground the player in the game world, and add depth to the game world
and characters
3. The campaign should tell an entertaining, involving, and memorable story and progressively add depth to the story
4. The player should become attached to the game world, characters, and story
5. The game should provide additional background information for the races and story through manuals or other sources

Sound and Graphics
Concentration Control Immersion
1. There should The player Graphics
be a variety of should be 1. Detailed graphics should be used to give life and personality to the game world, structures, and
sound effects able to mute characters
and voice some sounds 2. The terrain, structures, and units should be used to set the atmosphere and capture the feel of the game
responses for (e.g., unit world
the player to chatter), 3. The structures, terrain, and units of different races should have a distinctive look and feel that clearly
attend to and without captures the feel of the race they represent
voices muting all 4. Different types of units should have a distinctive look and feel (not the same unit with different clothes
responses sounds (e.g., and weapons)
should not be combat 5. Animations and special effects should be used to give life to the game world and units
repeated too sounds, cut- 6. Animations should not detract from the believability of characters and situations (e.g., repetitive
often scene nodding and awkward arm movements)
2. There should dialogue) 7. Cinematography (e.g., camera manipulation) should be used to enhance believability in cut-scenes and
a visually in-game
rich, 8. The interface should be themed to the game world and race
stimulating Sound
environment 9. Voices should be used to give units distinct and vivid personalities
for the player 10. Sound effects and voice responses should be varied and not repetitive
to attend to 11. Music should be themed for each race and help set the mood of the game

Campaign

Challenge Player Skills Clear Goals
1. The campaign should provide many hours of 1. The campaign should include an optional, introductory 1. The opening
play mission to teach new players about the controls and basics cinematic should
2. The early stages of the campaign should of the game (e.g., movement, combat, base building, clearly give the
provide a good match for the skill level of gathering resources) player the overall
new players 2. The game should provide opportunities for the player to goals for the game
3. The campaign should start slow and ease the learn about and experiment with the game concepts 2. Cinematics during
player into the game contextually through the campaign, including units, the game should be
4. The player should be required to change structures, technologies, and races (for later use in the used to clearly give
races during the campaign, so as to challenge skirmish mode) the player
them to adapt and learn new strategies 3. The campaign should gradually introduce new units, intermediate goals
5. As the player progresses through the structures, technologies, and races so the player learns a 3. The campaign
campaign and their skills improve, the little at a time should give the
missions should ramp up in difficulty to 4. The campaign should consistently reward the player for player more drive
match their skills, without becoming too their effort and achievements and motivate them to keep and direction for the
difficult playing, through cinematics and story developments game

Mission
Concentration Challenge Control Feedback
1. The campaign should 1. The campaign should include a range of mission 1. Missions should be 1. The player should be
include optional side objectives and not just typical RTS "build up and creative and offer the given feedback on
quests that give the destroy" objectives player many choices how well they
player alternatives to the 2. The missions in the campaign should vary in 2. The player should be achieved each
main objective and story complexity able to be inventive mission, including a
2. The player should not 3. The missions in the campaign should have normal about how they score and statistical
spend the majority of a and hard difficulty settings achieve the objectives information on the
mission expanding their 4. There should always be a way for the player to 3. Missions should be mission
forces or performing finish a mission, so that they don't experience free of bugs that may 2. The player should be
tasks that feel like a feelings of hopelessness cause player frustration notified immediately
slow grind 5. The missions in the campaign should not be easier 4. The enemy should not if they have failed to
3. Missions should require or harder than most RTS games be seen to "pick on" complete a mission
the player to perform 6. Missions should be sufficiently challenging to force the player and not or if they will be
multiple tasks in unison the player to explore different strategies attack the player's unable to complete a
to achieve success 7. Finishing missions should require tactics, strategy, computer-controlled mission due to some
and skill, rather than just superior firepower allies action

Races

Challenge Player Skills Control
1. Each race should necessitate its own style of play 1. Races should have some 1. The player should be able to
2. Different races should be different to play, but evenly matched and level of commonality, in choose a race that suits their
balanced terms of types of buildings, style of play
3. Each race should include units that are specific to that race, with technology, and units, to 2. The game should have
functional and strategic differences allow players to easily learn multiple races, each of which
4. Each race should have units that counter the units in the other races how to use new races and favours a different style of
5. Different races should not include units that are functionally the switch between different play
same races 3. The player should be able to
6. Hero units shouldn't become so powerful that other units become 2. Races should vary in make choices that further
worthless function (beyond the surface customize and develop their
7. The player should never know exactly what they will be facing, level), to challenge the chosen race, rather than
even though they know the race of their opponent player to develop new skills having predetermined
8. Races should include enough strategic variation that each game is a and strategies strengths and weaknesses
different experience

Artificial Intelligence (AI)

Concentration Challenge Control
The player 1. The opponent AI should use varied strategies, not just rush tactics 1. The player should be able to customize
should not be 2. The opponent AI should maintain a balance between expanding, and control their units' behavior, by
required to defending, and building an economy setting unit attitude, stance, and
micromanage 3. The opponent AI should be unrelenting, but not overwhelming formations
unit movement, 4. The opponent AI should not attack with small, intermittent groups of 2. The player's units should move where they
combat, or unit units that are easy to dispatch are ordered, without requiring intervention
abilities 5. The opponent AI should not be overly aggressive and crush the player 3. Grouped units should move in formation,
6. The opponent AI should not make obvious mistakes (e.g., leaving armies so that they can easily move as a group
idle while its base is attacked) without requiring player intervention
7. The opponent AI should be robust and flexible and not rely on preset 4. Units should feel responsive, by
conditions and scripted sequences immediately carrying out player orders
8. The game should have multiple difficulty settings that accommodate for 5. Units should not just aggressively pursue
all player skill levels, by adjusting the aggressiveness and efficiency of enemies beyond reason
the opponent AI.

Game play
Concentration Challenge Player Skills
1. The player should have many 1. Units and structures should have sufficient health, so as to focus 1. The game should
tasks to concentrate on during the game-play more on combat than production conform to RTS
game (e.g., collecting resources, 2. Game-play should maintain a fast pace, by not having lengthy conventions (e.g.,
scouting, expanding, troughs for unit production or research resource gathering, base
constructing, producing, 3. Upgrading units should have a significant impact on unit building, unit capacity,
researching, upgrading, effectiveness unit control, technology
managing heroes, attacking, and 4. Combat should focus more on unit manipulation than oncontrolling advances, building tree,
defending) large numbers of units managing defences,
2. The player should need to split 5. The game should rely more on management than on overwhelming forming an army,
their attention, time, and effort the opponent with large waves of units attacking the enemy) to
between their many tasks 6. The pace of the game should be fast enough to be exciting and allow the player to have
throughout the game should increase as the game progresses, ending in all-out tactical an inherent
3. Early stages of the game, which combat understanding of the
are potentially slow in RTS 7. The game should provide new and unique twists on conventional game
games, should include sufficient RTS gameplay, to provide new challenges to experienced RTS 2. The game play should
elements to support player player and to give the game appeal, depth, and lasting value conform to the
concentration 8. The game should include numerous diverse maps that provide the traditional RTS model
4. The amount of player with varied challenges (e.g., building a base,
micromanagement required in 9. Small population limits should be used to force players to make hard collecting resources,
bases should be minimized decisions about what kinds of units to use producing units,
5. Units should not have inventories 10. Players should be discouraged from overly defensive play and upgrading and
that the player needs to forced outside of their comfort zones, by making defensive researching, amassing
micromanage structures weaker, siege weapons more powerful, and by not starting an army, attacking the
6. Micromanagement should be with enough resources to win the game enemy, defend own
minimized by automatic unit 11. Map terrain should be varied and setup for tactical gameplay by base) to meet the
formations, unit attitude settings, including choke points and high ground benchmarks of the genre
good path-finding, production, 12. As the player progresses through the game, new structures, units, 3. The hierarchy of
research queues, and intelligent and technologies should become available structures, units,
autonomous unit behaviour 13. The economic aspects of the game should be compelling technology, and special
7. Building units, researching 14. The game should use the classic RTS rock-paper-scissors format for abilities should be kept
upgrades, and collecting combat between different categories of units (e.g., infantry, archers, simple
resources should not be so slow and cavalry) 4. The game should
that the player will be waiting 15. The game should be accessible to inexperienced RTS players, who indicate which unit
with nothing to do should be able to play without being overwhelmed types are best suited to
8. Battles should be busy with 16. The game should not have overpowered units that make all other attack other unit types
many things to attend to units redundant
17. The game must be sufficiently complex and challenging for
experienced RTS players

Control Feedback Immersion
1. The player should not feel overwhelmed by the number of units under their command The player should The game elements
2. The pace of the game should allow the player to manage their forces and use special abilities be able to should build up a rich
3. The player should be able to play the game in the way that they want immediately see and detailed world
4. The player should be able to modify the speed of the game the effect of that is more like
5. The choices that the player makes should affect the outcome of the game attacking an enemy visiting a fully
6. The player should not feel like their base is too large to manage or defend unit (e.g., hit point realised location than
7. The player should be able to choose from a wide variety of map and game settings meter reduces) a constructed map

Interfaces and Control
Player Skills Control Feedback
1. The game's interface should be 1. The game should have keyboard hotkeys to allow the 1. There should be a mini-map that
uncomplicated and uncluttered player to quickly perform important actions clearly displays the surroundings
2. The game's interface should be 2. Setting attack and move orders, casting spells, and 2. The player should be clearly
intuitive and easy to use controlling groups should be simple notified when there are things that
3. The game's controls should be 3. The player should be able to customize the keyboard need their attention (e.g., events,
straightforward hotkeys and mouse controls idle units)
4. The game's controls should 4. The player should be able to customize the interface, by 3. The player should be able to
conform to RTS conventions moving, minimizing, and opening control panels clearly see the contents of groups
(e.g., point and click with mouse, 5. Creating custom matches should be intuitive of units
hotkeys, command icons, drag 6. The fonts and icons on the interface should be easy to 4. The game should include
boxes around units to select) read memorable audio cues to signify
5. The game's interface should use 7. There should be multiple paths to achieve the same goal in-game events deserving attention
RTS conventions (e.g., bottom- via the interface and controls (e.g., buttons should be 5. The game should provide clear
heavy menu) available in multiple locations and/or accessible from feedback on where a player can
6. Detailed tool tips (i.e., different menus) and cannot build and it should be

descriptions of what it is, what it 8. Controlling the camera during the game should be smooth clear why a player is unable to
does, what it's good for) should and intuitive build on a certain spot
appear when the player mouses 9. The player should be able to quickly jump to important 6. The game should give clear
over items events that are happening in the game feedback when a unit has received
10. The player should be able to easily group units and cycle experience or increases in statistics
between groups and between units within groups

Editor

Challenge AI Social Interaction
The game should include an editor that allows 1. The game should include a map and mission editor that Players should be able
players to create and share missions, which allows players to create custom content, maps, and to create custom maps to
extends the re-playability and life of the game. campaigns share online
2. The game's editor should be easy to use, robust, and flexible

Multiplayer
Challenge Social Interaction
1. Multiplayer games should be 1. The game should provide an online service for playing multiplayer games
accessible to new players 2. The game should make it easy to connect to multiplayer games and start playing
2. Players in multiplayer games 3. The online server should match opponents automatically based on skill level or game-type preference
should be allowed time to build 4. Teams of players should be able to play against other teams
up a base before they are 5. The online server should include features such as rank ladders, auto-handicap, ladder statistics, a chat
rushed by other players client, and facilities for tracking friends
3. Multiplayer games should not 6. The online play mode should be integrated into the game
be too slow before hostilities 7. The online server should run smoothly and stably
erupt 8. The game should include multiplayer support in-game, such as the ability to vote on the course of
4. The game should have a action if one player drops out and the ability to talk to other players
skirmish mode that allows a 9. The game should support cooperative gaming, so that players can effectively play as a team (e.g., the
large number of players on a ability to build walled-in cities next to each other)
single map (e.g., 12 players) 10. Multiplayer games should require team work to achieve victory

Help
Player Skills Social
Interactions
1. The player should be able to record and watch matches to learn from previous games Players
2. The game should have a manual that covers the basics and allows novices to establish the essentials quickly and start should be able
playing to record
3. The game should include a technology tree to give an overview of some of the strategic avenues matches to
4. The game should have a comprehensive in-game help system that includes detailed information on technology, structures, replay them to
and units recount the
5. The player should be able to click a button to view detailed information on a selected unit (e.g., combat statistics and events of the
interesting information) game and
6. The player should be able to click on most things in the game to access well laid-out help and information screens learn from
7. The player should be able to access the technology tree ingame, with hyperlinks to detailed information on each element their previous
in the tree experiences
8. The game should have a tutorial, so that many of the more unique in-game features do not go unnoticed by the player
9. The game should have a tutorial that explains the basics (e.g., building and combat)

Assignment: (Group of 2 or 3) - Rate (on the scale of 1-5) and compare two RTS games wrt above mentioned 165
heuristics.

------------End of Course-------------Good Luck--------------------

HCI lecture notes by Sanjay Goel, JIIT 2012

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