Users don't always help@sallybieleny

Usability evaluation considered harmfulSaul Greenburg, Bill Buxton - CHI 2008 - Florence, Italy

Web users understand

• We know that we type something into an input box

• Buttons can be pushed

• Links selected

Images on this slide for presentation purposes only, sourced from:

http://www.essexcc.gov.uk/vip8/ecc/ECCWebsite/dis/guc.jsp?channelOid=15524&guideOid=15191&guideContentOid=15579

http://ycjusd.schoolfusion.us/modules/cms/pages.phtml?pageid=42187

Multi-touch users are learning

• New ways to enter information

• New gestures for moving things around

• And yet buttons are still pushed, links selected

But .....But .....

Two new ways to interact

• Multi-person interactions

• Interactions that utilise physical objects

Images on this slide for presentation purposes only, sourced from:

http://www.momlogic.com/2010/03/einstein_didnt_have_a_dvd_player_baby_einstein.php

http://news.cnet.com/8301-13580_3-10128407-39.html

http://pointofviewreport.blogspot.com/2009_01_10_archive.html

Considerations

• Provide opportunities for users to learn

• Test early ideas with an expert team

• Reliance on a single technique could mean a lost opportunity

• Even if it is not understood now, does not mean it won’t be

• Observe, adapt your technique, observe, adapt again

“All that is valuable in human society depends

upon the opportunity for development accorded

the individual.” Albert Einstein

@sallybieleny

sally.bieleny@objectconsulting.com.au

www.touchingthesurface.com.au