Week 3 - by Lee Chen Yau

In week 3, our lecturer still continue the HCI for us. Generally, poorly designed human-machine interfaces can lead to many unexpected problems. The problem is HUMAN + COMPUTER and context of human / context of computers.

Context of humans have the information processing (memory, perception, motor skills, problem solving), language, communication and interaction (syntax, pragmatics, body language) & ergonomics (relationship to environment: health, furniture, lighting, design for disabled).
Context of computers have the input and output devices (hardware, software).

Achieving Fit?
1. Expressive interfaces : Color, icons, sound, graphical elements + animations to make Interface
    appealing.
2. User frustration.
3. Persuasive technologies.
4. Anthropomorphism.
5. Conceptual models : between a ect + user experience.

Error Messages:

“The application Word has unexpectedly quit due to a type 2

error.”

Why not instead:

“the application has expectedly quit due to poor coding in the

operating system”

Shneiderman’s 5 guidelines for error messages :
- Avoid using terms like FATAL, INVALID, BAD.
- Audio warnings.
- Avoid UPPERCASE and long code numbers.
- Messages should be precise rather than vague.
- Provide context + sensitive help.

Reference:
Lecturer's notes