#23303
Does Background Music Impact Computer Task Performance?
The effects of music on performance on a computer-mediated problem-solving task were examined. Participants completed the task in anonymous dyads as they were exposed to either Classical music, Punk music, or No Music. Results indicate that those in the Classical music condition performed better on the problem solving-task than those in the Punk music or No Music conditions. However, those listening to the Classical music offered more off-task comments during the task than those listening to No Music. Implications for website designers are discussed.
Phillips, Christine. Usability News (2004). Articles>Usability>Human Computer Interaction>Audio
#25239
The study reported here assessed the effects of isolation on attention. Is it true, in other words, that isolating an element in a visual display—moving an element away from other elements and surrounding it with white space—will inspire a greater allocation of attentional resources to the isolated element than to other elements on a page or screen?
Williams, Thomas R., Christopher Mulligan, Kent Koprowicz, Jamie Miller, Christy Reimann and Da-Shin Wang. Technical Communication Online (2005). Articles>Usability>Human Computer Interaction
#23911
Ease of Instant Messaging: How the use of IBM Lotus Sametime Changes Over Time 
This article discusses the results of surveys that indicate the IBM Lotus Sametime instant messaging product is a successful 'walk-up-and-use' application, requiring little documentation and no training. Users achieve a commercially significant level of performance within three months. In addition, over a much longer period, users continue to develop their skills (chat behaviors), social networks (chat partners), and attitudes toward the technology (reasons for using IM). This combination of attributes — ease of learning and sustained development of skills and strategies — is unusual in Human-computer interaction, and poses some unique challenges for creating a product that experienced users continue to find useful and usable.
IBM (2004). Articles>Human Computer Interaction>User Interface>Instant Messaging
#30479
Easy, Intuitive and Metaphor, and Other Meaningless Words
A vital skill for designers is to notice fine detail in the other designs which form part of the technological ecosystem in which their design will live. For example, on Mac OS there are now two different styles of text entry fields for forms. One has square corners, and is used for general data entry. The other has rounded ends, and is used for entering searches. I was recently outraged to find a piece of software which used the rounded style for data entry. This kind of design vandalism muddies the rules which users would otherwise learn, and devalues all software on the platform.
Bagnall, Peter. uiGarden (2007). Articles>User Interface>Human Computer Interaction
#13091
Education: Some Progress and Some New Questions
For each of the last five years, there has been a workshop on HCI Education at the annual CHI conference. What makes these workshops so interesting isn't just the variety of people it brings together or issues discussed, it's the way the workshops have changed over the years. Just as HCI has evolved as a discipline, the topics of these and other workshops have also evolved. These changes are one indication of how much we have learned and what we have left to understand.
Sears, Andrew. SIGCHI Bulletin (1996). Articles>Education>Human Computer Interaction>Usability
#23305
The Effects of Perceptual Grouping on Text Entry Performance
One of the primary challenges confronting designers of mobile computing devices is the issue of efficient text entry. One potential solution is to group multiple letters onto single keys, similar to the T9 keyboard currently used on telephones. Two experiments examined the effects of perceptual grouping on soft keyboard transcription rates. Results from Experiment 1 showed significantly slower transcription rates for QWERTY keyboards with grouped keys. Results from Experiment 2 showed various levels of perceptual interference due to the different Gestalt grouping effects. These results indicate that perceptual grouping can negatively affect text entry performance, and placing multiple letters onto single keys reduces the speed at which users can transcribe words.
Hamblin, Christopher J., Michael Bohan and Alex Chaparro. Usability News (2004). Design>Usability>Human Computer Interaction>PDA
#27542
Ergonomic Mice: Comparison of Performance and Perceived Exertion
This study reports a psychophysical comparison of four ergonomic mouse-type devices to the standard mouse. It was hypothesized that muscle activity transferred from the distal to proximal limbs for some of the ergonomic mice may result in increased load on the shoulders and declines in target acquisition performance. Results revealed a potential tradeoff between performance and safety with the devices as participants performed the best with the standard mouse but reported more wrist exertion with this device.
Scarlett, Deborah. Usability News (2005). Articles>Human Computer Interaction>User Interface>Usability
#30011
Essential Use Cases for Multiplatform Service Design
This paper addresses the problem of designing service interaction for multiplatform operations and is based on a qualitative study of the services offered by a large retail Portuguese bank in four channels: bank branches, telephone, ATM, and Internet. The functionality of bank services across such channels was captured with essential use cases, which are technology free. When customers are free to decide in which channel they are going to get the service they need, customer experience (non-functional) requirements becoming ever more important. Essential use cases were extended to take account of such customer experience requirements. This additional information in essential use cases is very helpful, as it provides concrete and objective guidelines regarding the most suitable channel for implementing and offering each particular service. Doing essential use case modeling for multiplatform service interaction helps service providers allocate resources to the most likely channels that customers will use. It also allows them to identify areas of interaction experience that need to be improved if services offered are likely to be effectively used in the platform.
Patrício, Lia, J. Falcão e Cunha, Raymond P. Fisk and Nuno J. Nunes. Constantine and Lockwood (2003). Articles>Human Computer Interaction>Usability>Case Studies
#24398
Expertise and Agency: Transformations of Ethos in Human-Computer Interaction
The cases of expert systems and intelligent agents illuminate two dimensions of the dwelling-place we have built for ourselves with our technologies.
Miller, Carolyn R. and S. Michael Halloran. North Carolina State University (2004). Articles>Human Computer Interaction>Rhetoric
#29354
Discusses the various opportunities for eye-movement studies in future HCI research, and details some of the challenges that need to be overcome to enable effective application of the technique in studying the complexities of advanced interactive-system use.
Poole, Alex and Linden J. Ball. Alex Poole (2004). Articles>Human Computer Interaction>Usability>Eye Tracking
#18682
Fitts's User Interface Law Applied to the Web
Interface design is difficult in part because everything requires interpretation. A design that works for one task or one user might not be appropriate for another. In other types of engineering, like architecture or bridge building, designers can always rely on laws of physics and gravity to make designs work. There is at least one immutable rule for interface design that we know about, and it's called Fitts's Law. It can be applied to software interfaces as well as Web site design because it involves the way people interact with mouse or other pointing devices. Most GUI platforms have built-in common controls designed with Fitts's Law in mind. Many Web designers, however, have yet to recognize the powerful little facts that make this concept so useful.
Berkun, Scott. UIWeb (2000). Design>User Interface>Human Computer Interaction>Web Design
#31573
Five Rules for Communication between Machines and People
The Human Research Institute has conducted extensive studies of the proper form of Machine-Human Interaction (MHI). Most of our work has been summarized in our technical report series and was presented at the last global MHI symposium. This report summarizes the key findings in nontechnical language, intended for wider distribution than just the specialized designer machines.
Norman, Donald A. uiGarden (2008). Articles>Human Computer Interaction>Research
#26728
Fonts, Image, Interface Layout Solution under High Resolution
For an application to work well under a high resolution display environment, there are four major elements to consider: Text, Fonts, Image (Picture, Icon and Mouse Cursors), and Layout.
Liu, Steven. uiGarden (2006). Articles>User Interface>Human Computer Interaction
#29822
Framework of Product Experience
In this paper, we introduce a general framework for product experience that applies to all affective responses that can be experienced in human-product interaction. Three distinct components or levels of product experiences are discussed: aesthetic experience, experience of meaning, and emotional experience. All three components are distinguished in having their own lawful underlying process.
Desmet, Pieter and Paul Hekkert. International Journal of Design (2007). Articles>User Interface>Human Computer Interaction>User Experience
#25399
This position paper looks at two examples where the study of fun is at very least systematic, and quite possibly scientific. In the first, Virtual Crackers, a systematic process of 'deconstructing experience'; identifies the individual aspects of an experience (pulling crackers), which are then used to reconstruct a new experience in a new medium (the web).
Dix, Alan. uiGarden (2004). Articles>User Centered Design>Human Computer Interaction
#29423
Garbage In, Garbage Out: Using Affordances
The trick is to make data-entry forms clear enough that workers understand what you require of them without having to ask. This understanding alone can drastically reduce the frequency of errors, but to turn that understanding into a payback, you'll have to design a label for each field that is truly obvious to the workers. Information designers call these clues "affordances", and if you're lucky enough to have technical writers or editors in your organization, you can probably enlist their aid in designing these clues.
Hart, Geoffrey J.S. Geoff-Hart.com (1999). Articles>Human Computer Interaction>Usability>Forms
#13081
This collection of recommended books for user interface developers is based on searches of The HCI Bibliography, a free-access online bibliography on Human-Computer Interaction. Over 29,000 bibliographic entries on books, conference proceedings, journal articles, and internet resources can be accessed electronically.
Perlman, Gary. HCIbib.org (2001). Resources>Bibliographies>Human Computer Interaction
#18580
Giving the Human Touch to Software
Making too many assumptions about users’ expectations and levels of competence can get software developers into a lot of trouble. Here, Yogita Sahoo tells her own story about designing an application for an industry she was deeply familiar with—but that industry knowledge didn’t keep her from making some big usability blunders.
Sahoo, Yogita. StickyMinds (2003). Design>Human Computer Interaction>Software
#10372
This introduction previews the articles in this special issue and argues that developing information products for a global audience forces us to confront differences of language, culture, and experience. It also maintains that open and global collaboration strategies offer our best approach to “dealing with difference.”
Hoft, Nancy L. Technical Communication Online (1999). Articles>Human Computer Interaction>International
#26398
Good Ergonomics Is Good Economics
Illustrated case studies of how the application of ergonomics principles has resulted in cost savings and injury reduction for several companies.
Hendrick, Hal. HFES (2005). Articles>Human Computer Interaction>Ergonomics
#20825
Guerrilla HCI: Using Discount Usability Engineering to Penetrate the Intimidation Barrier
When asking how many usability specialists it takes to change a light bulb, the answer might well be four: Two to conduct a field study and task analysis to determine whether people really need light, one to observe the user who actually screws in the light bulb, and one to control the video camera filming the event. It is certainly true that one should study user needs before implementing supposed solutions to those problems. Even so, the perception that anybody touching usability will come down with a bad case of budget overruns is keeping many software projects from achieving the level of usability their users deserve.
Nielsen, Jakob. Alertbox (1994). Articles>Human Computer Interaction>Methods>Usability
#22523
This site is meant to be an online museum of graphical interfaces, especially those old, obscure and in desperate need of preservation. For those interested in seeing how the GUIs evolved throughout the decades.
GUIdebook (2004). Design>User Interface>Human Computer Interaction
#25394
Hands Across the Screen: Why Scrollbars are on the Right and Other Stories
Why are scrollbars on the right, and is it the best place for them? There are good reasons to think that the left-hand side may be the better choice. In this short paper we'll talk about two cases, from which we can find: the best placement does not look right when you see it statically, but feels right when it is used.
Dix, Alan. uiGarden (2005). Articles>Human Computer Interaction>User Interface
#19397
HCI Books: Bibliographies and Reviews
This section contains information on books on HCI. Specifically, it points to the main bibliography of HCI publications, recommended reading lists, websites related to specific books, and announcements from publishers.
de Graaff, Hans. HCI Index. Resources>Bibliographies>Human Computer Interaction
#23300
Blog on all aspects of HCI, technology, design, usability, and its impact of society, users, ethics and life.
Beale, Russell and Peter Lonsdale. University of Birmingham. Resources>Human Computer Interaction>Usability>Blogs
