Heuristic Evaluation Weakness And Strength Computer Science Essay

trial-and-error Evaluation Weakness And Strength Computer acquisition EssayWhen choosing a usability rating regularity, it is important to understand what usability rating is. Usability rating adjudicates how the interface of true softw are or overlap works. How the campaign is conducted and how minute the screen nominate be, how it leave behind react on tests and so on. For this study, trial-and-error evaluation is selected as the main uninflected inspection method and for the verifiable method, Usability interrogation is selected.First introduced by Jakob Nielson in early 90s, the evaluation for usability was realized to upgrade evaluation method by taking elements such as, occasionr interface(Rogers and Preece, 2007, p.686), dialog boxes, menus, navigation structure , online help and etc.(Rogers and Preece, 2007, p.686). This evaluation method was c eached heuristic program evaluation and when its early establishment, usability evaluation guideline has a long disceptation of method (Nielsen and Molich, 1990), and Nielson shorten the inclination of an orbit to only ten of main heuristic evaluation which is(Nielsen, 2005)Visibility of system status The system should always keep use of goods and servicesrs intercommunicate ab come to the fore what is going on, through appropriate feedback deep down reasonable meter. brace amongst system and the real world The system should speak the substance absubstance abusers language, with words, phrases and concepts well-known(prenominal) to the user, rather than system-oriented terms. Follow real-world conventions, making information appear in a natural and logical order.substance abuser control and freedom Users often aim system starts by mistake and pass on need a clear marked emergency exit to leave the unwanted state without having to go through an ex angleed dialogue. Support undo and redo.Consistency and standards Users should not give way to wonder whether different words, s ituations, or actions mean the same thing. Follow computer program conventions. misapprehension prevention Even better than good error messages is a careful design which prevents a line of work from occurring in the first place. every eliminate error-prone conditions or check for them and present users with a curb option beforehand they commit to the action.Recognition rather than recall derogate the users memory load by making objects, actions, and options visible. The user should not realize to remember information from one part of the dialogue to another. Instructions for use of the system should be visible or easily retrievable whenever appropriate. flexibility and efficiency of use Accelerators unseen by the novice user whitethorn often speed up the interaction for the expert user such that the system rear end bring home the bacon to both incompletenessd and projectd users. vacate users to tailor frequent actions.Aesthetic and minimalist design Dialogues should not mark off information which is irrelevant or rarely needed. Every extra unit of measurement of information in a dialogue competes with the relevant units of information and diminishes their congress visibility. assistance users recognize, diagnose, and recover from errors Error messages should be expressed in field language (no codes), precisely indicate the hassle, and constructively suggest a solution. alleviate and documentation Even though it is better if the system squirt be apply without documentation, it may be necessary to provide help and documentation. well-nigh(prenominal) such information should be uncomplicated to search, focused on the users task, list concrete steps to be carried out, and not be too large.These sets of rules or guideline set the benchmark on how to evaluate usability on interface designs. For example, Mook (2008) research on Microsoft Windows XP Usability interrogation that is conducted by Bloomberg University, Washington shows that some(pr enominal) functionality testing is conducted with the participation of students from the same University, such as setting up an netmail account, writing an letter, saving a letter copy and sending the concluding were the part of a important study on how those interface function works. trial-and-error Evaluation Strengthheuristic rule evaluation can be seen as one of the usability methods that is knows as Usability discount engineering (Useit, 2001). The main advantages of Heuristic Evaluation can be verified as embody efficient, intuitive, cookery on evaluation doesnt need for each one advance feature and it can be used easily in early development phases (Nielson and Molich, 1990). greet Efficient Cost Efficient or cheap means that it can be implemented in any development phases. For example, when creating a System, evaluation can be make on interfaces that are in mental image Development Phase. This evaluation can be easily do without jeopardizing the cost when evaluating. (Cockton et.al, 2003)Intuitive Intuitive means that is it easy to ask people to evaluate employ Heuristic evaluation method, for example, evaluation can be through both by students or professionals and independently. (Nielsel and Molich, 1990).Advance Planning not involve Heuristic Evaluation also doesnt need advance planning introductory to evaluation, meaning that it is evaluated with the rules or guidelines, with reference to Ten Usability Guidelines.Can be used easily in early development phases Evaluation or test can be done before the final finished product is out. Meaning that it can be tested within the prototype or beta version of the product.Heuristic Evaluation WeaknessNot soon solving identified fusss harmonise to Nielson and Molich (1990), one of the disadvantages of Heuristic evaluation is difficulty are identified regardless of suggestions how to solve them. For example, once the bother has been identified, evaluators doesnt tend to convey information for how to resolve the received problems.Working on septuple number of problems As suggested by Nielsen and Molich (1990), evaluators just tend to identify several small usability issues, though several more are experts are reclaimable to identify multiple problems.Not suitable on complex interfaces Because in heuristic evaluation uses small amount of evaluators, they tend to missed out several issues, such as minor issues in complex interfaces.Usability Testing commentaryThe approach for Usability Testing is the test that is conducted toward a product or web station to ensure that the product or website is in functional state. Meanwhile, empirical uses more approach towards the thorough observation of the current system. The goal of Usability Testing is to get feedback from users whether the product that is being developed is usable by its standards. Usability testing in earlier days is conducted to investigate the usability efficiency features on interfaces (Rogers and Preece, 2007 , p.646). For example, tests conducted on dozen students, by the Wichita State University (Lenz, 2008), to test usability of several gaming peripherals, such as gaming joystick, gaming pad and mouse. Participants of this test firstly need to take out a questionnaire based on their gaming experience (Lenz, 2008) and their bearing is to eliminate 15 enemy robots as quickly and efficiency as possible (Lenz, 2008). These results are recorded and later processed to be viewed as a full video. Data recorded such as how umpteen enemies killed, time to be taken to kill an enemy and how many shots fired per kill are recorded (Lenz, 2008). Usability testing is divided into two groups, which is analytical and empirical, the analytical method means that the evaluated system are thoroughly check up on and examined to crucially identify problems.Usability Testing StrengthUsability Testing is a number that ensures that the final product is meeting the current specification and doing the task s it supposed to do. some(prenominal) advantages of Usability Testing can be identified, such as direct feedback from users, how to react to problems and resolving potential problems, if arises (McGregor, n.d)Direct Feedback from Users Getting the indispensable feedback from users is one of the advantages when using the usability testing. For example, questionnaires are such tools when using usability testing. Hands on users usage on interfaces are also one of the direct feedbacks that are used in usability testing. For example, testers on interactive websites can directly interact with websites and gives feedback to evaluators respectively.How to react to current problem If problem arises, evaluators can react directly to specific problems and options. For example, when evaluating websites, if tried links are not working, the evaluators can directly spot the problems resoluteness potential conundrums Launch of the final product can be done and messing by the final product is launched. For example, once the problems are spotted, any problems can be circumscribeed in mean time before the product is finalized.Usability Testing WeaknessesCostly in regards of equipment, staffing and facility For example, when conducting tests, costs of equipment can be high, because of setting up of computers, questionnaires and so on.Analysis of data roll up is complex Once the tests are conducted, evaluators need to analyze those data. Usually these data are complex, for example going through hundreds of questionnaires to get the final data, this create more time consuming on staff.Require commitments by testers For example, test on websites with a 10 students currently testing interfaces on websites provide need full commitments of students, thus creating inflexible time rate with the testers. line of work 2IntroductionLiveAtc Website is a live Air Traffic obligate online website that enables visitors to hear live ATC from various airports in the world. Although over all look of the website is reasonable, still there are number of issues that will cause problems for users visiting to the site. development heuristic evaluation of the website, users will generally satisfy when visiting the site.Heuristic EvaluationHeuristic Evaluation will be used upon evaluating of the website. The fundamental ten general heuristic areVisibility of system status. dyad between system and the real world.User control and freedom.Consistency and standards.Error prevention.Recognition rather than recall.Flexibility and efficiency of use.Aesthetic and minimalist design.Help users recognize, diagnose, and recover from errors.Help and documentation.Evaluated Website http//www.liveatc.netDate Accessed 20 November 2010.Nielsen(n.d) also suggested that a weighing machine rating from 0(Zero) to 4(Four) should be used to identify the abrasiveness of the problem.RatingDescription0No Usability Problem At All.1Cosmetic problem only need not be fixed unless extra time is ava ilable on project.2Minor usability problem darn this should be given(p) low priority.3Major usability problem important to fix, so should be given high priority.4Usability catastrophe imperative to fix this before product can be released.Table 1 Nielsen recommended severity table.Problem 1 drawing rendering of problem Color hyperlink cryptogram not available thus denying link recognitionProblem for User User has to remember each link scallywag before sorrowful to another one, thus making problem remembering where theyre left before.Heuristic conformed to Recognition rather than recall, because User has to recall where theyve been before rather than having coloring material hyperlink recognition. cruelty of the problem Rating number 3 Major usability problem important to fix, so should be given high priority.Problem 2 picture description of problem Website doesnt nonplus any back exit to the link before it, thus making user have to use the back browser yetton instead.Problem for User User will have problem navigation from each link to another without a back or forward button.Heuristic conformed to User control and freedom, because user doesnt have any control and freedom for each link, thus will limit them on going back and forward on each link. bad of the problem Rating number 4, Usability catastrophe imperative to fix this before product can be released.Problem 3Brief description of problem Website design is complicated. Banner and icons are not mighty aligned. Webpage width and size for different links are not standardized. The sum copyright footer doesnt align flop.Problem for User On some pages, User have to scroll down to just click the active button, because there is no standardization between web links within the pages.Heuristic conformed to Consistency and standards , because the website doesnt have consistency and standards such as , between pages, there is no standard size or page limit, certain web links have different size and confusi ng links.Severity of the problem Rating number 3, Major usability problem important to fix, so should be given high priority.Problem 4Brief description of problem On the Frequently Asked Question (FAQ) page, it links to another site, which is a forum site. This hinder user from get quick help from the website but rather have to ask and wait for a required help.Problem for user User would have to search from a long list of FAQ and by the end of the list they might not find the required answer. Asking in a forum would just make the user wait for answers rather getting the answer immediately.Heuristic conformed to Help and documentation, because of the temper of the FAQ given on the site, long lists of FAQ are given. But not all would cater the needs of the user and the FAQ link is not so implemental on users.Severity of the problem Rating number 2, Minor usability problem fixing this should be given low priority.Problem 5Brief description of problem Website doesnt have an effective navigation menu. For example, the main page has a poor navigation menu. Links are not properly justified and creates confusion.Problem for User User often gets confused on whether the link is as one or not because there is no separation between links.Heuristic conformed to Visibility of system status. This is because lack of features such as effective navigation menu hinders the user to have easy usability of the website.Severity of the problem Rating number 2, Minor usability problem fixing this should be given low priority.Problem 6Brief description of problem There is no accessibility features for users who has problems viewing the icons and nerves on the website. sailplane feature or enlarging the site features should help.Problem for user User who have accessibility problem will have difficulties going through the site as there is no accessibility features such as font enlargement or zoom features.Heuristic conformed to Flexibility and inefficiency of use, because accessibili ty features are not anywhere in the website or in their links.Severity of the problem Rating number 2, Minor usability problem fixing this should be given low priority.SummaryAccording to Nielsen (n.d), related usability problem can be found in four ways, that is, in a single pickle in the interface, at two or more locations that have to be compared to find. Overall structure of the problem interface and something that can be include in the interface but it is missing. In the Heuristic evaluation done above, the biggest single problem with the LiveAtc website is that, the design is too simple and would only cater with experienced visitor or user. Although problems can be identified more than six (6), but the most obvious problem is what has been evaluated above. Problems would occur if inexperience visitor is browsing through the site and would have difficulties such as navigating and understanding regardless the anonymity of the un-standardized of some web links it has. Severity r ating when evaluating the website was from two (2) to four (4) rating, with reference to the Nielsen Severity Rating table. This shows that the website has problems sphere from cosmetic until problems that need to be fixed before publishing it to the internet. According to Nielsen experience with rating severity in heuristic evaluation (Nielsen, n.d), he suggested that, severity ratings from a single evaluator are too perfidious to be trusted and recommend a three (3) evaluator when doing heuristic evaluation. Accuracy and reliability of rating severity determines from how complicated the product or website that would want to be evaluated. LiveATC website is a very simple website and when judging from the Nielsen experience when rating severity, it could be that the accuracy of the evaluation would be more reliable because of the simplicity of the website evaluated.