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Benefits of more usable Websites History of HCI Goals of HCI User-Centered Methodology. Human-Computer Interaction Overview. Have you ever:. been unable to find something in a website that you know is there? recevied a useless or misleading error message?
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Benefits of more usable Websites History of HCI Goals of HCI User-Centered Methodology Human-Computer InteractionOverview
Have you ever: • been unable to find something in a website that you know is there? • recevied a useless or misleading error message? • wondered why a website needs to know your e-mail address? • left a site for fear information you provided might be misused?
It should not be that way • Websites can be designed to be: • Pleasant & convenient for users. • where users can acomplish their goals. • The Key is to think about users • Learn about them • Observe them • Interview them
Benefits of usable Websites • Gaining a competitive edge • Reducing development/maintenance costs • Improving user productivity • Lowering support costs
Gaining a competitive edge • Number of hits to a site vs conversion rate • Number of hits only counts visitos not sales • Conversion rate is the percentage of visitors who take an action you want them to take • Higher conversion rates leads to lower sales cost • Most significant factor in higher conversion rate is the ease of use • Average conversion rates were 3.2% in 2003
Reducing development/maintenance costs Learn about users first to avoid: • Implementing features that users do not want. • Features that are annoying or inefficient. • Making changes late in the development cycle (high cost). • Lower life-cycle maintenance cost. • Most maintenance costs come from unmet or unforeseen user needs
Improving User Productivity • e-commerce: users find what they want—and succeed in buying it • company intranet: employees become more efficient
Lowering support costs • Calls to costumer support are very expensive • Average service call is $12 to $250 • Wall-Mart shut down shopping site for three weeks (1999) • Customer confusion affecting support systems • A Website that reduces support calls can result in tremendous savings
What is HCI? “Human Computer Interaction is a discipline concerned with the design, evaluation and implementation of interactive computing systems for human use and with the study of the major phenomena surrounding them.” • Special Interest Group on Human-Computer Interaction (SIGCHI) of the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM)
Interactive Computing Systems Examples: • A PC used for Web browsing: e-commerce, database • Embedded devices: automobiles, planes • Handheld devices: cells phones, GPS, Palm pilots, etc. • Software for multi-user collaboration
Computing Cost Shift 40 year ago: cost of one computer = salary of 200 programmers today: salary of one programmer = cost of 200 computers Now: goal is to make computers easy to use, to save user time
How to make computers easy to use? • Applying principles of Human-Computer Interaction • Consider physical limitations • Consider the environment where it is located • By being and advocate of the user • an HCI practitioner listens to the users and communicates with the development team
Goals of HCI Develop or improve: • Safety • Utility • Effectiveness • Efficiency • Usability • Appeal . . . of interactive systems that involve computers
Safety • Safety of Users • Air traffic control • Hospital intensive care • Hospital radiation unit • Safety of Data • Protection of files from tampering • Privacy and security
Utility • what services a system provides: • Information • Instruction • Purchases • Banking transactions • Investing • Etc.
Effectiveness • User’s ability to achieve goals: • Find desired information • Enter credit card data • Arange a payment • Able to upload a class assignment • A web site might provide all necessary services, but if users can’t find the items they want to buy, the site lacks effectiveness
Efficiency • Measures how quickly users can accomplish their goals using the system
Usability • Ease of learning • Ease of use
Appeal • How well users like the system • First impressions • Long-term satisfaction