This document provides information about an upcoming class that will be rescheduled due to the professor being unavailable. It discusses potential new dates and times for the class. It also summarizes the planned lecture topics, which include usability heuristics like making interfaces intuitive for users without unnecessary complexity. Testing interfaces with users is emphasized as important for evaluating usability. Students are also informed about the process for receiving dissertation supervision and potential topics.

1. IM2044 – Week 12
Dr. Andres Baravalle

2. Before we start
• As I mentioned in class on Friday, I will not
be able to teach the class on Friday 10th
May
• After discussing with the students in class,
you will be able to take the class on any
one of these dates:
– Thursday 9th May in ITC09 at 13:00 OR
– Tuesday 14th May in ITC02 ITC07 at 10:00

3. Lecture content
• Don’t make me think!
• Feedback
• 2012-2013 dissertation supervisions
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4. Usability heuristics
• The first law of Usability Engineering
(according to Steve Krug) is...
• Don’t Make Me Think
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5. #1: Users don’t read web pages
• Users don’t read web pages – they just
scan
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6. #2: Don’t make optimal choices
• Optimal choices are in most cases a waste
of resources
• Typically is not needed to commit the
resources needed to have an optimal
interface rather than a good interface
– People don’t look for perfect plans – they look
for good enough plans
– Are you really going to look for a second price
when you find a book in Amazon at £ 3?
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7. #3: Users have no understanding of how
things work
• Nor they should need to, in many cases
– Knowing the TCP/IP stack is not going to help
you to send an email
• Don’t design interfaces that require
learning from users – most probably users
are NOT going to learn how to use your
interface
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8. The trunk test
• Imagine you are blindfolded in the trunk of
a car
• Driven around
• Dumped somewhere
– Once you are out, you need to assess your
situation
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9. The trunk test (2)
• A usable web site will allow you to “survive” a
trunk test
• On a usable web page you’ll be always able to
answer these questions:
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What site is this
What page I’m on
What are the main sections
What are my options
Where I am
How can I search
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10. The trunk test (3)
• You can use this approach by printing a
set of pages and asking users to circle
some or all of those areas
• You can compare user’s performance on
different web pages to have an indicator of
their usability
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11. Designing home pages
• A typical home page will include:
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Site identity and mission
Site hierarchy
Site search
Teases (e.g. Featured content)
Timely content
Deals (including ads)
Shortcuts to content
Registration
• A home page should always pass the “trunk
test”!
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12. Usability evaluation methods
• Usability inquiry: focus on talking to and/or
observing users
• Usability inspection: focus on expert
analysis
• Usability testing: focus on testing
interfaces with users
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13. Always, always, always TEST
• Testing one user is better than testing
none!
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14. Test soon, test often
• Testing one user early is better than
testing 50 at the end
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15. Testing is iterative
• No point in testing if you don’t correct the
errors that you find...
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16. And this is (nearly) the end...
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17. Feedback
• Module feedback available on UELplus
• Please submit the feedback – let us know
what you liked and how we can improve
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18. Bibliography
• Krug, S. (2009) Don’t Make Me Think
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19. SUPERVISIONS
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20. Final year supervision
• This is for September 2014
• I’m happy to consider supervising (in
2013-2014) students in the following
areas:
– Web APPLICATIONS development
– Open Source technologies
– Usability, accessibility and HCI
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21. Remember!
• It’s your research/dissertation – you have
to pick something that you enjoy
– I’m open to supervise thesis in my areas of
interest
– I’m not interested in supervising thesis that
are not interesting for me too
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22. Supervision meetings
• I hold all my supervision
meetings on one day (currently
Tuesdays)
–It is not negotiable
• If you are not free on that day I
cannot supervise you
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23. Where to find more
• A selection of available dissertation topics
is available here:
baravalle.com/teaching
You can write me at a.baravalle@uel.ac.uk
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