Week 3 - 1st November Lecture

As what i understand from today's lecture, it is about ;
Problems with HCI, Interactivity of human with computer.

Problem is that mixing the human context with the computer context. now that;s is a problem due to human is classified as organic with emotions and others. On the other hand, computer falls under the electronic category which consist of datas.

so here are the things that are related to the topic that were lectured today,

1.Gimmicks that affect the usability of an interface;
people are usually prepared to put up with certain aspect of interface while they are visiting to some websites or doing some thing related to computers. one in a while or at first this can be interesting, but as time goes on, this can end up with irritation and frustration.

2. what people like and what people prefer;
problems usually came up with the interface when some people prefer a dialog box (for example) to be in the square form and some people prefer it to be rounded or shaped. So how to solve this problem? Survey had been done and  it turned out that most people prefer the square box are more preferred as it is more simple and easier to see.

3. avoid this in error messages;
-  Avoid using the word FATAL, INVALID, and BAD.
- Avoid using sound warning.
- Avoid using UPPERCASE

4. include this in error message;
- Message should be precise rather than vague
- Provide context sensitive help
- Be gentle in warnings and error, state that it's computer's fault. ( will make the user happy )

5. toys are made for motivation?
toys such as the pocket pokemon were designed to motivate the young children in some ways which i don't know how. but the deal here is that the toys are a interactive method of motivating and it is designed to replace the current method of  motivation, non interactive. this concept is a concept of Anthropomorphism (a human characteristic to inanimate objects used in HCI). which one is better? you choose, different people different perspective and preference.

6. Visual Characteristic ;
this is a special case as usually it gives the user to feel involved with the computers or the HCI objects. but at times it can also irritate the user.

-What user expects;
when something went wrong with your computer, which will you choose?
a. Now Mr.X , that's not right. You can do better than that. Try again
b. Incorrect. Try Again.

or when something is wrong with the computer

a. Sorry guys, there is some problem with this outdated web site, they just don't know technology well
b. internal server error

so which will be your choice? it is all about how we interact with the HCI objects and vice versa that makes something interesting or boring. Design the interactive well!

Post by;
Muhammad Syahmi Abd Aziz
1102700197