Transcript Review for Midterm Spring 2016 Jeff Offutt

Review for Midterm
Spring 2016
Jeff Offutt
http://www.cs.gmu.edu/~offutt/
SWE 205
Software Usability and Design
Parameters & Logistics
• 10:30 – 11:45 (the usual class time)
• Same room
• Closed book / closed notes / closed neighbor
• Covers readings, slides, homework assignments, and in-
class exercises
• Spread out so you are not next to each other
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Concepts
• User friendly doesn’t make sense
• Usability is more than software
• 7 +- 2 rule
• Criteria :
– Time to learn
– Speed of performance
– Rate of user errors
• Know the users
• Nine golden screen design principles
• Visibility, mapping and affordance
• Knowledge in the head, knowledge in the world
• Knowledge must be stored in the UI
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Concepts (2)
• A good UI must be simple
• People are not good at being precise
• We must design for mistakes
– Anticipate, self-correct, help users
• Correlation and causality
• The scientific method
• People blame themselves when they make mistakes
• Mental models
• Nielsen’s top 10 mistakes on the web
• Nielsen’s 10 website design tips
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Concepts (2)
• People do not read pages, they scan them at 70
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mph
Minimize noise
Edit ruthlessly
Overhead and excise tasks
Memory and considerate software
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Preparing & Format
• Re-read the text and handouts
• Study the homework assignments
• Review the in-class exercises
• Get a good night’s sleep
• Expect different kinds of questions
– Short answer
–T/F
–M/C
– Single word answer questions
– Problem solving
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