Introducing User-Centered Systems Design - Foundations for Designing User-Centered Systems - page 27

1 File Home Insert Page Layout References Mailings Review View

2 Home Insert Page Layout References Mailings Review View Add-Ins

[OS Icon] Word File Edit View Insert Font Tools Table Window Work Help

3 Format

File Edit View Insert Format Tools Table Window Help

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Home File Insert Page References Layout Review View Help

6 Home Review

File Edit View Insert Font Tools Window Help

File Edit View Insert Font Tools Review Window Help

7 [OS Icon]

[OS Icon] Home View File Insert Review Layout Table Work

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Word Home File Insert Page Layout References Review View Help

[OS Icon] File Edit View Format Arrange Inspectors Stencils Window Help

Fig. 1.6 Possible views of the top menu on MS Word. Without looking at Word, which of the
ten menus is the one you use?

1.8 Exercises

1.1 The correct ranked order for the buttons in Fig. 1.1 is as follows: (a)
(411 ms 3 ), (d) (469 ms), (b) and (c) (each 539 ms). The lights in D have a
simple rule that users can follow- look to the diagonal. The lights in B and C
have two rules (or at least a more complex rule): if the lights are in the
middle, hit the button below; if the lights are on the end, hit the diagonal
button. The extra conditions, or rules, take extra time to learn and extra time to
perform. They would also lead to more errors.
Ask some of your friends and or family to choose the best designs in
Figs. 1.1 and 1.2 . How do they compare to your performance and to Payne's
subjects? If you have access to interface designers, ask them. How does your
own stove compare to these mappings? What do your results mean for
interface design?
1.2 In Fig. 1.3 the correct coin is Penny A. The point is, most people do not
memorize the features of objects in detail, they memorize just enough to
recognize and differentiate the coin from typical distracters, like other legal
coins, or to find the right menu item when it is in front of them. Try this simple
test for the penny with your friends, and also ask computer users to identify
the correct Word menu in Fig. 1.6 .
1.3 Consider a mobile device (such as a smartphone or tablet). What difficulties
might people encounter in using the device for the first time? What difficulties
might people have in understanding how to use it and what to do with it? How
would they go about learning how to use it?

3

A millisecond is a thousandth of a second, and is abbreviated ms.