Dr. Deborah J. Mayhew, Deborah J. Mayhew & Associates
There are two broad dimensions of the software quality of “usability”. One is “ease-of-learning”, which refers to how easy to learn and remember a given software or web site user interface design is for novice, casual and intermittent users. The other is “ease-of-use”, which refers to how efficiently highly trained, practiced and expert users can perform tasks on a given software or web site user interface design. These two dimensions of usability are not the same, and often come in direct conflict with one another. The term “usability” is commonly associated with the dimension of ease-of-learning. This course focuses on achieving the other dimension of usability: ease-of-use, or efficiency.
This course provides a high level introduction to a practical technique for evaluating and comparing the potential efficiency of user interface designs, for anything from a simple interaction (e.g., scrolling vs. paging) to a full user task (e.g., processing a credit card payment), based on Card, Moran and Newell’s Keystroke Level Modeling technique.
This course is an excerpt from updated version of a full day course taught at CHI ’06, which drew an audience of over 100 and received very good reviews. It has also been offered through UPA and CHI local chapters where it has also been very well received.
This course provides an overview of:
This course is at an introductory level. It is appropriate for any kind of user experience professional without any depth of training or experience in designing for efficiency.
The format of this course is roughly 1/2 lecture and 1/2 hands-on exercise to reinforce the method taught. Attendees should bring a laptop computer to class if at all possible. The exercise will be easier and more effective on laptops. Those without laptops will be able to team up with participants who have them, or conduct exercises on paper materials. They should bring a calculator.
Dr. Deborah J. Mayhew holds a Ph.D. in Cognitive Psychology, and has been a usability engineering consultant for the past 25+ years. She has authored, co-edited and contributed chapters to many books on usability. Her consulting clients have included IBM, AT&T, American Airlines, Cisco Systems, Ford Motor Company, the NYC Police Dept., The World Bank and dozens of others. Dr. Mayhew has been teaching CHI Courses since 1986.
Website: http://drdeb.vineyard.net