CIS 320 Final Chapter 10

Name the four cultural dimensions that are relevant to user interface design identified by Hofstede. Why are they relevant? (answers p. 462-463)

- Power distance, uncertainty avoidance, individualism versus collectivism, and masculinity versus femininity. Power distance addresses how the distribution of social power is dealt with in the culture. Uncertainty avoidance addresses to what degree a culture is comfortable with uncertainty. Individualism versus collectivism is based on the level of emphasis the culture places on the individual or the collective, or group. Masculinity versus femininity does not mean how men and women are treated by the culture. But instead, this dimension addresses how well masculine and feminine characteristics are valued by the culture.

What are use scenarios and why are they important?

Use scenarios describe commonly used patterns of actions that users will perform. Use cases describe how users will interact with the system. Use cases are developed for the most common ways of working through the system. These use cases will be valuable in ensuring that the interface permits the users to enact these use cases quickly and smoothly

How important is the proper use of color when developing websites for a global audience? Give some examples of potential pitfalls that you could run into

Very important. The same color can mean totally opposite things in different cultures. For example, using the color black for something that has a connotaion with death, mourning, or religious figures in the united states is common, but in many eastern cultures, white is the symbol for death and religious figures.

With regard to social media, what is the difference between "push" and "pull" approaches to interacting with customers?

When using a pull-based approach, the user must come to you. On the other hand, if you put the information out to the user, you are using a push-based approach.

What is white space and why is it important?

White space refers to areas on an interface that are intentionally left blank. The more white space on an interface, the less dense the information content. Designer need to try and strike a balance between information content and white space. Some white space is necessary to help the users find things on the interface. Generally, more experienced users need less white space than novice users.

What are Krug's three design principles?

• First, the user should never have to think about how to navigate the user interface. As Krug puts it, "Don't make me think." • Second, he suggests that the number of clicks that a user must perform to complete the task is somewhat irrelevant. • Third, minimize the number of words on the screen. (Page 435).

What do you think are three common mistakes that novice analysts make in input design?

• Inputs facilitate the entry of data into the computer system, whether highly structured data, such as order information (e.g., item numbers, quantities, costs) or unstructured information (e.g., comments). Input design means designing the screens used to enter the information as well as any forms on which users write or type information (e.g., timecards, expense claims). Not taking these steps with input design to : 1. Capture Data at the Source--capture data immediately from the source using a trained entry operator or allow users to enter their own data. 2. Minimize Keystrokes--a system should not require a user to type information that can be selected from a list; selecting reduces errors and speeds entry. 3. Input Validation--All data entered into the system need to be validated to ensure their accuracy. It is up to the system to identify invalid data and either make changes or notify someone who can resolve the information problem.

What do you think are three common mistakes that novice analysts make in output design?

• The goal of the output mechanism is to present information to users so they can accurately understand it with the least effort. The fundamental principles for output design reflect how the outputs are used and ways to make it simpler for users to understand them. Not taking these 3 steps in the output design: 1. Understand Report Usage --Reports can be used for many different purposes. In some cases— but not very often—reports are read cover to cover because all information is needed. In most cases, reports are used to identify specific items or used as references to find information, so the order in which items are sorted on the report or grouped within categories is critical. 2. Manage Information Load - Information should be provided in a format that is usable without modification. 3. Minimize Bias --The problem with bias is that it can be very subtle; analysts can introduce it unintentionally.

Explain the purpose and contents of interface metaphors, interface objects, and interface actions, interface icons, and interface templates.

• The interface metaphor provides a concept from the real world that helps the user understand the system and how it works. If the user understands the metaphor being used, he will probably be able to predict where to find things and how things will work even without actually using the system. • Interface objects are the fundamental building blocks of the system. Object names should be based on the most understandable terms. • Interface actions specify the navigation and command language style and the grammar of the system. Action terminology is also defined. • Interface icons are pictures that are used to represent objects and actions in the system, often shortcuts, that are available throughout the system. • The interface template defines the general appearance of all screens in the information system and all forms and reports that are used. The template consolidates all the other major interface design elements - metaphors, objects, actions, and icons.

Name three cultural dimensions that are relevant to user interface design identified by Hall. Why are they relevant? (answer on pg 461-462)

- Speed of messages, context, and time. The speed of messages dimension deals with how fast a member of a culture is expected to understand a message and how "deep" the content of a typical message will be in a culture. Context deals with the level of implicit information that is used in the culture versus the information needing to be made explicit. Time addresses how a culture deals with many different things going on simultaneously. Polychromic time culture, members of the cluture tend to do many things at the same time but are easily distracted and view time commitments as very flexible. Monochronic time cultures, members of the culture solve many things by focusing on one thing at a time, are single-minded, and consider time commitments as something that is set in stone.

What are some of the nonfunctional requirements that can influence the design of the human-computer interaction layer?

- These requirements include operational, performance, security, and cultural and political issues, and they are intertwined with the design of data management and physical architecture layers.

How can a system be designed to be used by experienced and first time users?

Experienced users prefer systems that focus on ease of use, while novice users prefer systems that are easy to learn. These two goals are not necessarily mutually exclusive. Generally, systems should be set up so that the commonly used functions can be accessed quickly, pleasing the experienced users. To assist the novice users, guidance should be readily available, perhaps through the "show me" functions that demonstrate menus and buttons.

Describe the basic process of user interface design.

First, identify 'use cases' that describe commonly used patterns of actions that users will perform. These use cases will be valuable in ensuring that the interface permits the users to enact these use cases quickly and smoothly. Next, develop the interface structure diagram, defining the basic structure of the interface (screens, forms, and reports) and how the interface components connect. Third, develop interface standards, the basic design elements that will be used throughout the interface. Fourth, create prototypes of the various interface components (navigation controls, input screens, output screens, forms, and reports). Finally, evaluate the prototypes and make changes as needed.

What are some of the multilingual issues that you may face when developing for a global audience?

Getting good translation from the original language to the new language, screen space (English characters take less space), and reading direction(Western societies read left to right, but this is not true for many foreign countries)

Under what conditions is heuristic evaluation justified?

Heuristic evaluation is probably justified in situations where the interface is well understood. When there is little uncertainly about how the interface should function, then it is probably sufficient to just assess it internally by comparison to a checklist of design principles. It would be dangerous to use this technique (which does not involve users) if there was uncertainty about what should appear in the interface or how it should function.

What do you think are three common mistakes that novice analysts make in navigation design?

One of the hardest things about using a computer system is learning how to manipulate the navigation controls to make the system do what you want. Analysts usually think that: • The users have read the manual • The users have attended proper training classes • The users can seek or rather have external help readily available.

Explain three important user interface design principles.

The authors list six principles of user interface design: 1. Layout - the interface should be a series of areas on the screen that are used consistently for different purposes. 2. Content Awareness - the user is always aware of where they are in the system and what information is being displayed. 3. Aesthetics - interfaces should look inviting and should be easy to use. 4. User Experience - experiences users prefer ease of use, while inexperienced users prefer ease of learning. 5. Consistency - users can predict what will happen before a function is performed. 6. Minimize Effort - interface should be simple to use.

Under what circumstances would you use a drop down menu versus a tab menu?

The drop down menu can be used if the user is new or inexperienced. This is mainly used since the tab menu is used more often when the user needs to change several settings in order to perform several related commands and more over since it is multi-page menu, this could often lead to confusion when the user is new. Drop down menu being the second level of menu is more elaborate and has no abbreviations in it and it performs action or leads to another cascading drop down, pop up or tab menu. This menu is comparatively much more user friendly as compared to the tab menu.

How do you improve the form in figure 10-4?

The form shown in Fig 10-4 is very unpleasant to users and makes it difficult as its density is too high and it has too much information packed into too small of space. It is important to have a good font size, which is no less than 8 points, and it's often preferred to be 10 points. Never use all capital letters, except possibly for titles. Color and patterns should be used carefully and sparingly and only when they serve a purpose. (About 10 percent of men are color blind, so the improper use of color can impair their ability to read information.) The goal is to have a pleasant readability, not art; color and patterns that are use to strengthen the message, not overwhelm it. It's important to focus on: • User Experience • Consistency and Minimize user efforts

Explain differences between object-action order and action-object order.

The fundamental goal of the navigation design is to make the system as simple to use as possible, by preventing the user from making mistakes, simplifying the recovery from mistakes, and using a consistent grammar order. One of the most fundamental decisions is the grammar order. Most commands require the user to specify an object (e.g., file, record, word), and the action to be performed on that object (e.g., copy, delete). The interface can require the user to first choose the object and then the action (an object-action order), or first choose the action and then the object (an action-object order).

What are the key factors in designing an error message?

All messages should be crafted with care, especially the error messages. The key factors, which need to be kept in mind while designing an error message, are: • Should always explain the problems in polite succulent terms • Should explain corrective action as clearly and as explicitly as possible • In case of complicated errors, the error message should display what the user has entered and suggest probable causes for error. • When in doubt provide either more information than the user needs or ability to get additional information. Error message should provide error number

How do an essential use case and a real use case differ?

An essential use case is one that only describes the minimum essential issues necessary to understand the required functionality. A real use case will go further and describe a specific set of steps. The primary difference is that essential use cases are implementation independent, while real use cases are detailed descriptions of how to use the system once it is implemented. As such, real use cases tend to be used only in detailed design, implementation, and testing.

Under what circumstance would you use an image map versus a simple list menu?

An image map is used only when the graphic image adds meaning to the menu. In other words, it is commonly used when a graphic image has certain area linked to the actions or other menus. The list menu is the second level menu after the menu bar and performs action or leads to another cascading drop-down menu, pop-up menu or tab menu.

Why is it important to perform an interface evaluation before the system is built?

An interface assessment is important before the system is built because we need to do as much as we can to improve the interface design prior to implementation. It is wasteful to wait until after implementation to evaluate the interface because it will be expensive to go back and modify the interface at that point.

Compare and contrast check boxes and radio buttons. When do you use one versus the other?

Check boxes are used when several items need to be selected from the list. This presents a complete list of choices each with a square box in front. These are not mutually exclusive. Radio buttons are used when only one item is selected from a mutually exclusive item list. They are represented by a complete list of mutually exclusive items with a circle in front.

Why is consistency in design important? Why can too much consistency cause problems?

Consistency means that all parts of the same system work in the same way. This enables the users to predict what will happen because a function in one part of the system works the same way in other parts of the system. Users will be confident as they work with different parts of the system if they can predict the behavior of functions throughout the system. The problem with too much consistency is that sometimes the users don't differentiate forms or reports that look very similar to each other, and inadvertently use the wrong one. So, in these cases, there should be enough unique characteristics to distinguish each form and report from the others.

Why is content awareness important?

Content awareness means that the interface makes the user aware of the information delivered through the interface with the least amount of user effort. This is important because if the user is constantly aware of where he is and what he is seeing, he will find the system much easier to use and his satisfaction will be high.

What is context-sensitive help? Does your word processor have context-sensitive help?

Context sensitive help provides information that is dependent on what the user was doing when the help was requested. Word processors do have context sensitive help.

How can you keep your customers engaged with your social media sites?

Enable your customers to share the content you have created. Add buttons for customers to easily email their friend's content from your site. Encourage employees to author their own independent sites that discuss topics of interest to your customers. This will give a more personal feel to the firm and possibly entice customers to stick around on the site longer.

What are the six suggestions to address the mobile computing challenges?

1) Focus on what the user needs, not what the user wants 2) If porting a website/application to a mobile device, remove all the "fluff". Strip it down to the bare essentials. 3) Take advantage of unique abilities of the device. For example, GPS or accelerometer. 4) Linearize the application if built for a phone. Should be built for linear scrolling, not horizaontal. 5) Optimize mobile application for the user. 6) Follow the set of patterns that have been used on mobile devices such as, vertical stack, filstrip, and bottom navigation.

What are the six challenges you face when developing mobile applications?

1) Screens are tiny 2) Screens come in different sizes 3) keypads are tiny 4) People use mobile devices in multiple different environments 5) Some screens provide haptic feedback, some dont 6) Users are easily distracted from their devices

What are three fundamental parts of most user interfaces?

1. Navigation mechanism - the way the user gives instructions to the system and tells it what to do. 2. Input mechanism - the way in which the system captures information. 3. Output mechanism - the way the system provides information to the user or to other systems.

What is the relationship between use cases and use scenarios?

A use case is a major process that the system will perform that benefits an actor in some way and is labeled using a descriptive verb-noun phase. There are times when a use case includes, extends, or generalizes the functionality of another use case on the diagram. On examining the use case and sequence diagrams analysts interviewed the users to develop user scenarios that describe commonly employed patterns of actions the users will perform so the interface enables users to quickly and smoothly perform these scenarios. A use scenario is an outline of the steps that the users perform to accomplish some part of their work. A use scenario is one path through an essential use case. Use scenarios are presented in a simple narrative description that is tied to the essential use cases developed during the analysis phase. The key point with using use cases for interface design is not to document all possible use scenarios within a use case. The goal is to document two or three of the most common use scenarios so the interface can be designed to enable the most common uses to be performed simply and easily.

What is the relationship between real use cases and use scenarios?

A use scenario is an outline of the steps that the users perform to accomplish some part of their work. A use scenario is one path through an essential use case. Real use cases are derived from the essential use cases. The design of the navigation for a system is done through the use of window navigation diagrams (WND) and real use cases. Real use cases are derived from the essential use cases (see Chapter 6), use scenarios, and WNDs. A real use case describes a specific set of steps that a user performs to use a specific part of a system. As such, real use cases are implementation dependent.

What is a window navigation diagram (WND) and why is it used?

A window navigation diagram defines the basic structure of the interface. These diagrams show all the screens, forms, and reports in the system, how they are connected, and how the user moves from one to another. The diagram helps depict the basic components of the interface and how they work together to provide users the needed functionality. The structure of the interface depicted in the WND can be examined using the use cases to see how well the use cases can be performed. This is an important early step in developing simple paths through the most common activities performed in the system.

Explain three principles in the design of inputs.

Input design means designing the screens used to enter the information, as well as any forms on which users write or type information (e.g., timecards, expense claims). The goal of the input mechanism is to simply and easily capture accurate information for the system. The fundamental principles for input design reflect the nature of the inputs (whether batch or online) and ways to simplify their collection. • Online versus Batch Processing: There are basically two methods of entering inputs into a system online processing and batch processing. With online processing or transaction processing each input item is entered into the system individually usually at the same time as the event or transaction prompting the input. With batch processing, all the inputs collected over some time period are gathered together and entered into the system at one time in a batch. • Capture data at the source: Perhaps the most important principle of input design is to capture the data in an electronic format at its original source or as close to the original source as possible. Minimize Keystrokes: Another important principle is to minimize keystrokes. Keystrokes cost time and money, whether a customer, user, or trained data-entry operator performs them.

Why is input validation important?

Input validation is important as all data which is entered into the system needs to be validated in order to ensure their accuracy.

Why are interface standards important?

Interface standards help define the basic, common design elements in the system. These standards help ensure consistency throughout the system.

Under what circumstances should densities be low? High?

Low densities are preferred by infrequent or novice users of an interface. These users will be unfamiliar with the interface and will be helped by having a balance of information and white space on the interface. High densities can be acceptable to experienced users of the interface, because they are highly familiar with the information on the interface and do not need as much white space to help them find what they are looking for.

Why is it important to keep your social media sites synced?

Makes your job of maintain the different sites easier and allows your customers to have a consistent experience.

Describe five types of messages.

Messages are the way in which the system responds to a user and informs him or her of the status of the interaction. There are 5 types: 1. Error message: This pops up when the user does something that is not permitted to inform the user that he or she has attempted to do something to which the computer cannot respond. 2. Confirmation message: When a user selects a potentially dangerous operation such as deleting a file, a confirmation message asks the user if he or she is sure of performing this operation. 3. Acknowledgment message: Seldom used this informs the user that the operation or task was successfully completed. 4. Delay message: More common when the action requested is delayed and informs the user that the computer is working properly. Help message: This is present in all systems and provides additional information about the system and its components.

How can you prevent mistakes?

Mistakes can be reduced by labeling commands and actions appropriately and by limiting choices. Too many choices can confuse the user, particularly when they are similar and hard to describe in the short space available on the screen. When there are many similar choices on a menu, consider creating a second level of menu or a series of options for basic commands

Compare and contrast on-screen list boxes and drop-down list boxes. When do you use one over the other?

On-screen list boxes: Seldom or rarely used, this is only availed when there is insufficient room for check boxes or the radio buttons. This presents the list on the form of a box and helps in making a single or multiple choices. The advantage is that since the box represents the choices to be scrolled on this occupies less space on the screen. Drop-down list boxes: Being the last resort when there is insufficient room to display all choices, drop-down list box comes handy where the selected item is displayed in one-line box that opens up to reveal the list of choices. This is more compact and hides the choices unless it is opened by the user. This type of box simplifies design if the number of choices is unclear, because it takes only one line when closed.

Why is capturing data at source important?

Perhaps the most important principle of input design is to capture the data in an electronic format at its original source or as close to the original source as possible. In the early days of computing, computer systems replaced traditional manual systems that operated on paper forms. Many business processes still operate this way today. For example, most organizations have expense claim forms that are completed by hand and submitted to an accounting department, which approves them and enters them into the system in batches. There are three problems with this approach. First, it is expensive because it duplicates work (the form is filled out twice, once by hand, once by keyboard). Second, it increases processing time because the paper forms must be physically moved through the process. Third, it increases the cost and probability of error, because it separates the entry from the processing of information; someone may misread the handwriting on the input form, data could be entered incorrectly, or the original input may contain an error that invalidates the information

Why do we prototype the user interface design?

Prototyping helps the users and programmers understand how the system will perform. Prototypes can be very useful in helping the users conceptualize how they will actually work with the system, and prototypes can help identify problems or misconceptions in the interface before it is actually implemented.

Describe four devices that can be used for source data automation.

Source data automation refers to using special hardware devices to automatically capture data without requiring anyone to type it. Four devices that can be used are: 1. Bar codes: These automatically scan products and that enter data directly into the computer system. 2. Optical character recognition: This can read printed numbers and text. (e.g., checks) 3. Magnetic stripe readers: This can read information encoded on a stripe of magnetic material similar to a diskette. (e.g., credit cards) Smart cards: These contain microprocessors, microchips and batteries, very similar to credit card sized calculators.

Compare and contrast the three types of interface design prototypes

Storyboards are really just pictures or drawings of the interface and how the system flows from one interface to another. HTML prototypes are web pages that show the fundamental parts of the system. Users can interact with the system by clicking buttons and entering data, moving from page to page to simulate navigating through the system. Language prototypes create models of the interface in the actual language that will be used to implement the system. These will show the user exactly what the interface will look like, which is not possible with the other two methods.

Explain three principles in the design of outputs

The fundamental principles for output design reflect how the outputs are used and ways to make it simpler for users to understand them. Understand Report Usage: The first principle in designing reports is to understand how they are used. Reports can be used for many different purposes. In some cases—but not very often— reports are read cover to cover because all information is needed. Manage information load: Most managers get too much information, not too little (i.e., the information load that the manager must deal with is too great). The goal of a well-designed report is to provide all of the information needed to support the task for which it was designed. This does not mean that the report needs to provide all the information available on the subject—just what the users decide they need in order to perform their jobs. Minimize Bias: No analyst sets out to design a biased report. The problem with bias is that it can be very subtle; analysts can introduce it unintentionally. Bias can be introduced by the way in which lists of data are sorted because entries that appear first in a list may receive more attention than those later in the list

Why are menus the mostly commonly used navigation control?

The most common type of navigation system today is the menu. A menu presents the user with a list of choices, each of which can be selected. Menus are easier to learn than languages because a limited number of available commands are presented to the user in an organized fashion. Clicking on an item with a pointing device or pressing a key that matches the menu choice (e.g., a function key) takes very little effort. Therefore, menus are usually preferred to languages.

Describe three basic principles of navigation design.

The navigation component of the interface enables the user to enter commands to navigate through the system and perform actions to enter and review information it contains. The three basic principles of navigation design are: 1. Prevent Mistakes: The first principle of designing navigation controls is to prevent the user from making mistakes. Mistakes can be reduced by labeling commands and actions appropriately and by limiting choices. 2. Simplify Recovery from mistakes: No matter what the system designer does, users will make mistakes. The system should make it as easy as possible to correct these errors. 3. Use consistent grammar order: One of the most fundamental decisions is the grammar order. The grammar order should be consistent throughout the system, both at the data element level as well as at the overall menu level.

How can different parts of the interface be consistent?

The navigation controls can be consistent, using the same icon or command to trigger an action throughout the system. Terminology can be consistent throughout the interface. The content portion of the screen that contains forms and reports should also present consistently designed reports and forms. Messages and information in the status area should be specified consistently throughout the system.

Describe the four types of navigation controls.

There are two traditional hardware devices that can be used to control the user interface: the keyboard and a pointing device such as a mouse. There are three basic software approaches for defining user commands: languages, menus, and direct manipulation. 1. Languages: With a command language, the user enters commands using a special language developed for the computer system (e.g., UNIX and SQL both use command languages). Command languages sometimes provide greater flexibility than other approaches because the user can combine language elements in ways not predetermined by developers. 2. Menus: The most common type of navigation system today is the menu. A menu presents the user with a list of choices, each of which can be selected. Menus are easier to learn than languages because a limited number of available commands are presented to the user in an organized fashion. Direct Manipulation: With direct manipulation, the user enters commands by working directly with interface objects.

Compare and contrast four types of menus.

The types of menus are Menu bar, drop-down menu, pop-up menu, tab menu, tool bar, and image map. Menu bar: This is the main menu of the system. It gives a list of commands at the top of the screen and is always displayed on the screen. • Use the same organization as the operating system and other packages. • Menu items are always one word, never two. • Menu items lead to other menus rather than perform action. • Never allow users to select actions they can't perform Drop-down menu: This is the second level of menu often from the main menu. This is the menu that drops down immediately below another menu and disappears after one use. • Menu items are often multiple words • Avoids abbreviations • Menu items perform action or lead to another cascading drop-down menu, pop-up menu, or tab menu. Pop-up Menu: This mainly serves as a short cut to commands for experienced users. This menu pops up, floats over the screen and then disappears after one use. • Pop-up menus often (not always) invoked by a right click in Windows-based systems. • These are often overlooked by novice users so usually they should duplicate functionality provided in other menus. Tab Menu: This menu is often used when the user needs to change several settings or perform certain related commands. This is a multipage menu with one tab for each page that pops up and floats over the screen and continues to remain on the screen until it is closed. • Menu items should be short to fit on the tab label. Avoid more than one row of tabs, because clicking on a tab to open it can change the order of the tabs and in virtually no other case does selecting from a menu rearrange the menu itself.

Compare and contrast batch processing and online processing. Describe one application that would use batch processing and one that would use online processing.

There are basically two methods of entering inputs into a system online processing and batch processing. With online processing or transaction processing each input item is entered into the system individually usually at the same time as the event or transaction prompting the input. Online processing is most commonly used when it is important to have real-time information about the business process. For example, when you reserve an airline seat, the seat is no longer available for someone else to use. With batch processing, all the inputs collected over some time period are gathered together and entered into the system at one time in a batch. Some business processes naturally generate information in batches. For example, most hourly payrolls are done using batch processing because time cards are gathered together in batches and processed at once. Batch processing also is used for transaction processing systems that do not require real-time information.

Describe five types of input.

There are many different types of inputs: 1. Text: As the name suggests, a text box is used to enter text. Text boxes can be defined to have a fixed length or can be scrollable and can accept a virtually unlimited amount of text. In either case, boxes can contain single or multiple lines of textual information. 2. Numbers: A number box is used to enter numbers. Some software can automatically format numbers as they are entered, so that 3452478 becomes $34,524.78. Dates are a special form of numbers that sometimes have their own type of number box. 3. Selection Boxes: A selection box enables the user to select a value from a predefined list. The items in the list should be arranged in some meaningful order, such as alphabetical for long lists, or in order of most frequently used. The default selection value should be chosen with care. There are different types of Selection boxes • Check boxes • Radio buttons • Onscreen list boxes • Drop-down list boxes • Combo boxes • Sliders

When would you use electronic reports rather than paper reports and vice versa?

There are many different types of media used to produce reports. The two dominant media in use today are paper and electronic. 1. Paper report: Being more traditional and permanent, paper is easy to use and is accessible in most situations. Highly portable at least in short reports. Considering the fact that they are inflexible, once information printed of any changes done then the entire report needs to be reprinted which is expensive affair. They also require large storage space and are hard to be moved quickly on long distances. Electronic report: Considering the above-mentioned drawbacks about paper, more organizations are moving to electronic production of reports where reports are printed but stored electronically on file servers or web servers. Electronic reports can be produced on demand; they also enable users to search for certain words. They also provide a means to support ad-hoc reports where users customize the contents of the report at the time the report is generated. Some users still print the electronic report on their own printers, but the reduced cost of electronic delivery over distance and the ease of enabling more users to access the reports than when they were only in paper form usually offsets the cost of local printing.

Describe five types of outputs.

There are many different types of reports, such as detail reports, summary reports, exception reports, turnaround documents and graphs. Detailed report: Lists detailed information about all the items requested. Summary report: Lists summary information about all items Turn around document: Turn around documents is a special type of report that is both outputs and inputs. In other words, outputs which turn around and become inputs. Graphs: Charts that are used in addition to and instead of tables of numbers. Exception report: Lists detailed information about certain specific items.

Describe five types of input validation methods.

There are six types of validation methods. Five of which are described below: 1. Completeness check: When several fields need to be entered before the form can be processed, completeness check ensures that all required data have been entered. If the completeness check is not done and the information provided id incomplete then the form is returned to the user unprocessed. 2. Range check: A range check permits only numbers between correct values. It ensures that all numeric data entered are within correct minimum and maximum values. 3. Consistency check: Data fields are often interrelated. When this happens, consistency check ensures that the combination of the data is valid. Although it is impossible for the system to know which data are incorrect, it can report the error to the user for correction. 4. Format check: When fields are numeric and contain coded data, format check ensures that the data are of right type. Ideally numeric fields should not permit users to type text data but if this is not possible, then the data entered should be checked to ensure that it is numeric. Database checks: Usually data are compared against information in the database to ensure that they are correct. When this occurs, the database check ensures that the comparison of the data against the data base is correct

Compare and contrast the four types of interface evaluation.

These techniques vary in terms of the degree of formality and the amount of user involvement. Heuristic evaluation involves assessing the interface based on a checklist of design principles. Team members, who independently assess the interface and then compare their assessments, usually perform this assessment. Weaknesses that are common in all the evaluations then point to areas that need modification. Users are not involved in this process. In a walkthrough evaluation, the users see the interface at a meeting presentation, and they are "walked-through" the parts of the interface. The interactive evaluation can be used when the prototype as been created as an HTML or language prototype. The users can actually interact with the interface as if they were using the system, and can give direct comments and feedback based on their experience. Problems or areas of confusion can be noted and corrected by the team. Formal usability testing has the users interacting with the interface without guidance from the project team. Every move made by the user is recorded and then analyzed later in order to improve the interface.

What type of interface evaluation did you perform in the Your Turn Box 10.1?

This is an example of heuristic evaluation, since the interface is being compared to a set of design principles.