Age-related differences in the initial usability of mobile device icons

Mobile devices offer much potential to support older adults (age 65+). However, older adults have been relatively slow to adopt mobile devices. Although much ongoing HCI research has examined usability problems to address this issue, little work has looked at whether existing graphical icons are harder to use for this population compared with younger adults. We conducted a qualitative exploratory study and a follow-up experimental study to determine which icon characteristics help initial icon usability for older adults. We found that our older participants did have more problems using existing mobile device icons, but that particular icon characteristics – semantically close meaning (i.e. natural, close link between depicted objects and associated function), familiar, labelled and concrete (i.e. those depicting real-world objects) – improved icon usability for them. We discuss how these findings can help icon designers to create mobile device icons that are more suited to the abilities and technology experience of older adults.     

Impact of spatial auditory feedback on the efficiency of iconic human–computer interfaces under conditions of visual impairment

This paper investigates the addition of spatial auditory feedback as a tool to assist people with visual impairments in the use of computers, specifically in tasks involving iconic visual search. In this augmented interface, unique sounds were mapped to visual icons on the screen. As the screen cursor traversed the screen, the user heard sounds of nearby icons, spatially, according to the relative position of each icon with respect to the screen cursor. A software prototype of the design was developed to evaluate the performance of users in the search of icons within the proposed interface. Experiments were conducted with simulated visual impairments on volunteer participants to evaluate if the addition of spatial auditory feedback makes the interface more accessible to users with impaired vision. Results demonstrated that spatialization of icon sounds provides additional remote navigational information to users, enabling new strategies for task completion. Directions for future research are discussed and prioritized.     

From action icon to knowledge icon: Objective-oriented icon taxonomy in computer science

Icon plays a critical role in computer interface design. Studies on icon taxonomy explain the way in which various types of icon represent the objects and provide designers creation rules by which icons are more in line with users’ cognitive psychology. However, along with larger and larger use of icons, the previous classification criterion causes the boundary between categories blur. What’s more, Single classification standard is not able to well illustrate the icons applied in today’s computer applications. The purpose of this paper is to present an objective-oriented icon taxonomy which proposes to categorize icons into action icon and knowledge icon. To assess this proposition, we analyzed a sample of icons that applied in computer interface and suggest precise application domains to both action icon and knowledge icon categories. The results of this practice manifested that action icon and knowledge icon implied a high relation with applied environment and explicated the development trace of computer icons. This work is one of the first to point out the notion of knowledge icon and to highlight the importance of objective of icon application. Findings in this paper could enrich icon use in computer interface design, especially provides possible way to improve online knowledge sharing by visual tool like icon.     

Framework and authoring tool for an extension of the UIML language

This paper presents a framework for the design of User Interfaces (UIs). By applying model transformations, the framework allows different UIs to be generated for different computing platforms. The tool presented in this work helps designers to build an abstract user interface which is later transformed into a concrete user interface by means of transformation techniques based on graph grammars. These techniques can be used to generate implementation code for several UI platforms including desktop applications, dynamic websites and mobile applications. The generated user interfaces are integrated with a multi-tier application by referencing external services and communicating with the application core over Web Service protocols. Our tool also allows the concrete interfaces to be enhanced before generating the final UI. The approach uses an adaptation of UIML (User Interface Markup Language). The adaptation focuses on defining a data model and a services model, and it also introduces a navigation model that allows data communication from one UI to another. The obtained UIs together with Web Services can conform complete applications instead of just being prototypes.     

Designing haptic icons to support collaborative turn-taking

This paper describes research exploring the use of haptics to support users collaborating remotely in a single-user shared application. Mediation of turn-taking during remote collaboration provides a context to explore haptic affordances for background communication as well as control negotiation in remote collaboration: existing turn-taking protocols are rudimentary, lacking many communication cues available in face-to-face collaboration. We therefore designed a custom turn-taking protocol that allows users to express different levels of urgency in their request for control from a collaborator; state of control and requests are communicated by touch, with the intent of offloading visual attention. To support it, we developed a set of haptic icons, tangible stimuli to which specific meanings have been assigned.Because we required an icon set which could be utilized with specified, varying levels of intrusiveness in real attentionally challenged situations, we used a perceptually guided procedure that consisted of four steps: initial icon set design, perceptual refinement, validation of learnability and effectiveness under workload, and deployment in an application simulation. We found that our haptic icons could be learned to a high degree of accuracy in under 3 min and remained identifiable even under significant cognitive workload. In an exploratory observational study comparing haptic, visual, and combined haptic and visual support for our protocol, participants overall preferred the combined multi-modal support, and in particular preferred the haptic support for control changes and the visual support for displaying state. In their control negotiation, users clearly utilized the option of requesting with graded urgency. The three major contributions in this paper are: (1) the introduction and first case study using a systematic process for refining and evaluating haptic icons for background communication in a primarily visual application; (2) the usability observed for a particular set of icons designed with that process; and (3) the introduction of an urgency-based turn-taking protocol and a comparison of haptic, visual and multi-modal support of our implementation of that protocol.     

Usability risk level evaluation for physical user interface of mobile phone

The mobile phone has become an indispensable device in everyday life. However, many usability problems were generated by the multi-functionality of mobile phones. There was an important increase on the user interface (UI) design and usability. With the introduction of a variety of forms and keypads in mobile phones, the user's need of controllability, grip-stability, and usability were raised in the UI aspect. Therefore, in this study, we investigated the physical user interface (PUI) elements of mobile phones, and defined the degree of usability risk such as key level value, function level value, and grip level value. Also, this study proposed an evaluation framework to quantitatively measure the usability risk in the mobile phone PUI elements. For this, the mobile phone PUI elements were analyzed and classified by key type, function, and form-factor. Hence, in the case study was investigated and evaluated 133 mobile phones in the market by the proposed framework. As a result, the proposed evaluation framework enabled the measurement of the mobile phone usability risk level in the early stages of the concept design. This made possible the prediction of design problems related with the mobile phone PUI.     

基于PCTBTA任务模型的用户界面开发方法

为了适应普适计算环境中用户、设备、使用环境和开发平台的多样性,基于模型的方法被应用于用户界面开发过程中,试图在抽象层次上描述界面,通过模型转换,使其适用于不同的平台.然而,由于目前基于模型的用户界面开发方法（model-based user interface development,简称MBUID）中所采用任务模型的局限性,致使生成的界面难以满足动态环境下用户的可用性需求.提出一种基于任务模型的用户界面开发框架,旨在建模和生成有效、高效、令用户满意的用户界面.在可用性方面,为了准确描述普适计算环境中用户任务,提出一种基于感知控制理论的任务分析方法（perceptual-control-theory-based task analysis,简称PCTBTA）,将使用上下文信息引入到任务分析过程中,并且在较高的抽象层次上反映交互的内容,给可用性设计提供任务空间;在技术方面,为PCTBTA任务模型向界面模型的转换提供技术支持.最后,通过实例说明所提出方法的可行性,并通过与其他方法在可用性和性能方面的比较,表明该方法的有效性.     

Product interface design: A participatory approach based on virtual reality

The usability of the user interface is a key aspect for the success of several industrial products. This assumption has led to the introduction of numerous design methodologies addressed to evaluate the user-friendliness of industrial products. Most of these methodologies follow the participatory design approach to involve the user in the design process. Virtual Reality is a valid tool to support Participatory Design, because it facilitates the collaboration among designers and users.The present study aims to evaluate the feasibility and the efficacy of an innovative Participatory Design approach where Virtual Reality plays a ‘double role’: a tool to evaluate the usability of the virtual product interface, and a communication channel that allows users to be directly involved in the design process as co-designers.In order to achieve these goals, we conducted three experiments: the purpose of the first experiment is to determine the influence of the virtual interface on the usability evaluation by comparing “user–real product” interaction and “user–virtual product” interaction. Subsequently, we tested the effectiveness of our approach with two experiments involving users (directly or through their participation in a focus group) in the redesign of a product user interface. The experiments were conducted with two typologies of consumer appliances: a microwave oven and a washing machine.     

The influence of a knowledge-based system on designers' cognitive activities: a study involving professional web designers

Over the last few decades, several usability knowledge-based systems have been developed to provide user interface designers with usability knowledge (e.g. heuristics, usability guidelines, standards). Such systems are intended to assist designers during the design process, and to improve the usability of the user interface being designed. However, the assumption that such systems actually improve the usability of the resulting user interface remains to be demonstrated: virtually no systems have been empirically tested by designers who create products. In order to confirm this assumption, we conducted an experimental study in which professional web designers had to create webpages, either using a knowledge-based system – MetroWeb – or without it. This study was intended to determine the influence of MetroWeb on the professional web designers' cognitive activity, and to find out whether MetroWeb actually assists them to develop a user-centred design. The results show that the web designers did not very often use MetroWeb while designing webpages; however, rather surprisingly, the designers who did use MetroWeb more often exhibited a user-centred activity than those working without MetroWeb. We conclude this paper by discussing these findings, and suggesting future possible ways of research intended to assist designers to adopt a user-centred approach to their activity.     

一种新的笔式交互范式的可用性评估

笔式用户界面是Post—WIMP界面的一种重要形态,具有自然、和谐的交互特性。尽管笔式用户界面广泛应用于无处不在计算环境中,但很少专门对它的可用性进行评估。针对笔式用户界面的特征,提出了一种新的笔式用户界面范式,基于此范式设计并实现了一个面向教学的笔式交互系统(PenOffice),利用此系统对范式从易学性、效率、出错率和用户满意度这几个方面进行了可用性评估,从中分析了笔式用户界面以及这种新的界面范式的优点和不足。     

The scenario‐based usability checklist development for home appliance design: A case study

In the past decade, home appliances have been rapidly developed to satisfy the various requirements of users. Thus, there are increases in requirements to explore appropriate evaluation methods that reflect the usability of home appliances quickly and comprehensively. This study aims to develop a scenario‐based usability checklist for product designers early in the design process. In this study, the scenario‐based usability checklist consists of two parts: 1) a heuristic evaluation checklist, and 2) a scenario evaluation checklist. In heuristic evaluation checklist development, usability factors of home appliances are extracted and then coupled to user interface (UI) elements. In scenario evaluation checklist development, scenarios are developed through brainstorming by focus group interview (FGI), and then evaluation elements are extracted from previous scenarios analysis. The proposed scenario‐based usability checklists can enable designers to evaluate product design quickly and comprehensively early in the development process with users' viewpoints. © 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

A factor combination approach to developing style guides for mobile phone user interface

This paper proposes a systematic approach to developing comprehensive guidelines for mobile phone user interface, and presents a case study to validate the approach. The approach applies a systematic combination of three critical factors: general usability principles, UI components and guideline properties to developing guidelines. In the case study, this factor combination approach was very effective in collecting experts’ ideas, creating guidelines and editing them. The resulting style guide can provide comprehensive and useful guidelines for designing mobile phone UI.

Relevance to Industry

UI designers can use the results of the study as a practical method to develop style guides for mobile phone UIs. The approach taken in the study will also be helpful in managing complex guideline information systematically.     

笔式用户界面交互信息模型研究

笔式用户界面是Post-WIMP界面的重要形态,在许多领域得到广泛应用.笔式界面设计需要设计者和用户的共同参与.捕获用户使用意图是设计笔式用户界面的前提,连接交互信息的表示与控制则是成功构造界面的关键.依据笔式交互信息连续性及模糊性特征,从设计参与者与交互信息管理两个维度建立了笔式用户界面交互信息模型OICM(orthogonal interaction information architecture coordinate model).从问题知识域、交互任务、规则集合以及上下文关联4个不同的象限对模型进行了详细的描述,并给出了基于XML的实现方法.在对模型进行分析后,介绍了基于OICM模型的开发平台和应用系统实例.     

Effects of smartphone icon background shapes and figure/background area ratios on visual search performance and user preferences

Smartphones are becoming increasingly popular, users are provided with various interface styles with different designed icons. Icon, as an important competent of user interface, is regarded to be more efficient and pleasurable. However, compared with desktop computers, fewer design principles on smartphone icon were proposed. This paper investigated the effects of icon background shape and the figure/background area ratio on visual search performance and user preference. Icon figures combined with six different geometric background shapes and five different figure/background area ratios were studied on three different screens in experiments with 40 subjects. The results of an analysis of variance (ANOVA) showed that these two independent variables (background shape and figure/background area ratio) significantly affected the visual search performance and user preference. On 3.5-in (1 in=0.025 4 m) and 4.0-in displays, unified backgroundwould be optimal, shapes such as square, circle and transitions between them (e.g., rounded square, squircle, etc.) are recommended because backgrounds in these shapes yield a better search time performance and subjective satisfaction for ease of use, search and visual preference. A 60% figure/background area ratio is the most appropriate for smartphone icon design on the 3.5-in screen, while a 50% area ratio could be a suggestion for both relatively optimized search performance and user preference on 4.0-in. In terms of the 4.7-in, icon figure is used directly for its better performance and preference compared with icons with background.     

A Return on Investment Assessment Model for a Mobile User Interface Project at the Predevelopment Stage

We present a new approach for assessing the business performance of a mobile user interface (UI) project at its predevelopment stage. Traditionally, the performance measurement of a mobile UI is made from the perspective of usability. Yet, as the number of mobile phone users is rapidly increasing, and, given that stakeholders are beginning to realize the importance of the UI, there is a growing demand to measure its business performance quantitatively as well as qualitatively. This article presents a model that can facilitate Return on Investment (ROI) estimations pertaining to the development of a mobile UI before the service with the new UI is launched. We base our method on stated preference data for the purpose of applying a conjoint analysis. Subsequently, we evaluate the viability of the proposed model quantitatively by comparing the estimated ROI at the predevelopment stage with the actual sales revenue achieved after the launch of the service. The proposed model was successfully applied to real‐world mobile UI design projects at Korea Telecom. Its benefits are demonstrated here through a case study. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Preference-Based Human Factors Knowledge Repository for Designing User Interfaces

This article proposes and describes a representational framework and a supporting tool environment for embedding and propagating human factors expertise into high level user interface design and development platforms. The proposed framework allows user interface designers to elicit, accommodate, and articulate user interface guidelines and results of experimental studies into reusable, evolutionary, and "living" design cases. The building blocks of the representational framework are a set of primitive constructs for consolidating the semantics of human factors knowledge into a design representation that characterizes the physical level of interaction. This is achieved through the development of a logical framework based on preference constraints and an initial set of preference and indifference expressions. The preference constraints provide a reasoning engine and a proof strategy for compiling a preference ordering of competing design alternatives and subsequently aggregating them into indifferent classes of design options per interaction element. The article also reports the implications of the proposed technique for user interface designers and the underlying requirements of user interface development platforms. Finally, the representational sufficiency of the proposed approach is discussed in the context of recent case studies aiming to consolidate human factors knowledge into a reusable repository supporting the ergonomic design of user interfaces in two example application domains, namely nonvisual hypermedia accessible to blind people and interpersonal communication aids for speech-motor-impaired and language-cognitive-impaired users.     

Systematic evaluation of design choices for software development tools

Most design and evaluation of software tools is based on the intuition and experience of the designers. Software tool designers consider themselves typical users of the tools that they build and tend to subjectively evaluate their products rather than objectively evaluate them using established usability methods. This subjective approach is inadequate if the quality of software tools is to improve and the use of more systematic methods is advocated. This paper summarises a sequence of studies that show how user interface design choices for software development tools can be evaluated using established usability engineering techniques. The techniques used included guideline review, predictive modelling and experimental studies with users.     

Matching performance of vehicle icons in graphical and textual formats

The current research classified 82 vehicle icons into seven categories (image-related, concept-related, semi-abstract, arbitrary, abbreviation, word, and combined) for their matching accuracy, matching sequence, and matching time. These data can be compared and used as a framework for future icon development. Forty participants, all with a university degree, took part in this experiment. Half of the participants had intensive driving experience, while the other half never driven a car. The results indicated that on average, word icons had a significantly greater matching accuracy than the other icon formats; ranging from 4.7 to 20.8% difference. Regarding the matching sequence, participants matched image-related icons before other icon formats. Arbitrary and combined icons took significantly longer to match than other icon formats by 1.4–6.2 s. Based on the high matching accuracy (86.3%) and high ratings on subjective design features, word format can be used for functions describable using simple English for users with English reading ability. Confusion matrices showed that 63.2% of the misunderstandings were caused by similarity in format or function.     

On the search behaviour of users in the context of interactive social book search

ABSTRACT

Understanding the search behaviour of online users is among the long-tail practices of Interactive Information Retrieval that helps identify the user information needs. The Interactive Social Book Search (SBS), under the umbrella of Interactive Information Retrieval (IIR), aims to understand the user interactions with book collections and the associated professionally-curated and socially-constructed metadata on the baseline and multistage user interfaces (UIs). This paper reports on the book search behaviour of users by reviewing research publications related to the Interactive SBS published during the last two decades. It presents a holistic view of the overall progress of Interactive SBS by summarising and visualising the experimental structure, search systems, datasets, demographics of participants, and findings to identify the research trends and possible future directions. Based on the collected evidence, it attempts to answer how the search system, user interface (UI), and the nature of tasks affect the book search behaviour of users. The article is the first of its kind that attempts to understand the book search behaviour of users in the context of Social Book Search with implications for usability experts and others working in UI design, web search engines, book search engines, digital libraries, collaborative social cataloguing websites, and e-Commerce applications.     

Embarking on Spoken-Language NL Interface Design

Natural language (NL) user interfaces are growing in popularity. Unfortunately, the complexity of NL interaction makes these interfaces difficult to design. For NL interfaces to become successful, universal tools are needed to help support the NL design process. What work practice should these tools explicitly support? Interviews with NL designers and our own experiments have identified a specific work practice that designers should consider as they begin to incorporate NL into user interface designs. The work practice study highlights the value of using Wizard of Oz prototyping in NL design. We describe a tool that we have built, called SUEDE, to explicitly support the first stage of NL design for spoken-language user interfaces. Our tools and tools like it will help make NL in human-computer interaction (HCI) more commonplace.