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From: "HFI" <hfi@humanfactors.com> 
To: <Newsletter@humanfactors.com> 
Subject: UI Design Update Newsletter - July, 2001 
Date: Wed, 1 Aug 2001 15:45:33 -0500 


USER INTERFACE DESIGN UPDATE - JULY, 2001


Insights from Human Factors International, Inc. (HFI)
Providing consulting and training in software ergonomics.
(http://www.humanfactors.com/home/)


Every month HFI reviews the most useful developments in
UI research from major conferences and publications.
__________________________________________________


In this issue:


Dr. Bob Bailey discusses the growing popularity of usability.


The Ergonomic Pragmatist, Dr. Eric Schaffer, gives practical advice.
__________________________________________________


Bob Bailey, Ph.D., Chief Scientist for HFI


Why is computer system usability becoming so popular?


Some of us were interested in usability issues (also known as 
"human factors," "software ergonomics," etc.) when all we had was 
keypunched input and paper printouts for output. Few people 
were interested in the interfaces. Next we dealt with character-
based interfaces (green screens) on moderate-sized monitors, and 
eventually colored interfaces on even larger monitors.


Most of the original users dealt primarily with accessing databases, 
while later users moved to interacting with a multitude of different 
applications. In most cases, the number of users was relatively 
small (from ten to a few hundred), and they tended to use the 
systems enough to become quite experienced. When users did 
have serious concerns about a difficult interface, the major 
complaints were responded to by making changes to the next 
software release. Having a small number of experienced users 
meant that a poorly designed user interface could (and often did) 
go unnoticed.


Times have changed. With most new systems being Web sites, 
hiding poor interfaces is no longer possible. For example, Randy 
Souza reported a revealing study in the Forrester Report (October, 
2000). He conducted a study of shopping experiences using 30 
well-known online retail sites. He found that not one Web site 
delivered both acceptable content and ease of use. Among other 
findings, he reported that only:
 - 63% provided navigation that was available and consistent at 
    all times,
 - 53% had a useful search capability, and
 - 53% had a checkout process that was fast and distraction-free.


Many popular computer systems (Web sites) are now being used 
by millions of people per day. Consider the following number of 
unique visitors reported for one month from Media Metrix:
 - Yahoo! -- 52,000,000
 - Microsoft Sites -- 51,000,000
 - About -- 20,000,000
 - Amazon -- 15,000,000
 - Real Network -- 14,000,000
 - eBay -- 12,000,000
 - eUniverse -- 12,000,000
 - CNET Networks -- 11,000,000
 - Ask Jeeves -- 10,000,000
 - ZDNet Sites -- 9,000,000


Assume that we do usability testing and find and fix 99% of the 
problems, the number of people that will have difficulty using these 
ten Web site each month is still a very large (noticeable) number:
 - Yahoo! -- 520,000
 - Microsoft Sites -- 510,000
 - About -- 200,000
 - Amazon -- 150,000
 - Real Network -- 140,000
 - eBay -- 120,000
 - eUniverse -- 120,000
 - CNET Networks -- 110,000
 - Ask Jeeves -- 100,000
 - ZDNet Sites -- 90,000


Will effective usability tests help to improve the usability? 
Unfortunately, many user interface professionals still use very few 
test subjects when conducting performance tests. Nielsen in his 
March 19, 2000 Alertbox (useit.com) suggested that the best 
results come from testing no more than five users. In fact, he 
concluded that usability testers only need to test with 15 users to 
discover all the usability problems in the design. I suggest that to 
be 90% confident of finding 99% of the usability problems in a 
website requires more like 112 representative test participants.


By using "Nielsen's 15 test subjects," usability professionals will 
detect only about 85% of the problems. This means that 15% 
of users still could have problems. Amazon, which is used by 
15,000,000 people each month, could have 15% or 2,250,000 
people each month having difficulty using their site. 


The large number of users makes poor Web site design more 
apparent than ever before.
__________________________________________________


The Ergonomic Pragmatist
Eric Schaffer, Ph.D., CPE, Founder and CEO of HFI


I can go a step further than Bob. From a business point of view, 
usability has become the SOLE remaining differentiator in the 
information age. Every company can buy servers, build databases, 
and get connectivity. Even my kids can code in HTML. These are 
commodities. What is NOT a commodity is the ability to build 
practical, useful, usable, consistent, and satisfying applications. 
THAT is not well understood by most companies. THAT is critical 
to business success in most applications. So this is why the sleepy 
backwater of usability engineering is suddenly becoming so essential. 
This is enormously satisfying for those of us who have worked in 
that backwater (often a voice alone in the wilderness) for the last 
25-30 years.
__________________________________________________


3-day Annual User Interface Update Seminar presented by
Dr. Robert Bailey.
http://www.humanfactors.com/training/annualupdate.asp.
__________________________________________________


REGISTER for UI Update Seminar:


New York - August 22-24
https://www.humanfactors.com/training/registration/AUregister5.asp


St. Louis - September 5-7  
https://www.humanfactors.com/training/registration/AUregister11.asp
 
Dallas - September 12-14 
https://www.humanfactors.com/training/registration/AUregister7.asp
__________________________________________________


Suggestions, comments, questions?
HFI editors at mailto:hfi@humanfactors.com.


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