1. Example-1：启发式评估
| Identifier | HE1 — Problem |
| Name | 水平滚动条的使用不符合windows标准 |
| Evidence | Heuristic: Consistency and standards(尤其是Consistency)； 界面方面: 对获奖证书的模版选取是通过滚动条实现的； |
| Explanation | 在通常情况下，如果水平滚动条出现在图像、文本框或是其它对象下方时，都是表示可以通过移动水平滚动条来显示图像、文本框或其它对象内容中水平方向上其它部分的内容。而在这里的应用不是为了显示一个获奖证书模版水平方向上的其它内容，而是用来选择不同的模版。 |
| Severity | 可能只对新用户来说会存在一定问题使用问题。因为当他们认为这个水平滚动条就是用来显示水平方向不同内容时就会忽略它，从而不能有效的使用这个功能。但当用户注意到提示信息后，或通过简单的拖拽试验就会知道水平滚动条是用来进行模的版选择。 |
| Solution/ Trade-offs | 可以考虑用其它表示选择的控件来替代水平滚动条，例如，列表框。 |
| Relationships | 无 |
HE：启发式评估
2. Example-2：Think-Aloud
fig-1:
fig-2:
fig-3:
fig-4:
fig-5:
| Identifier | TA1 — Good Feature |
| Name | Time Zone Tab is noticeable and understandable |
| Evidence | 16:28:08 User reads the task, "... set the time zone to the correct one for your destination."Screen looks as fig-1 16:28:10-16:28:12 "So we're going to Manila, which is in the Philippines, which means that maybe hopefully somewhere there is..." User moves cursor across the control panel. "... Hey look, there's a time zone button! Let's go to the Time Zone tab." 16:28:12 User moves cursor to the Time Zone tab and clicks on it. Control panel responds as fig-2 |
| Explanation | The user's goal is set by the task instruction: set the time zone. The Time Zone tab is visible on the screen, the user sees it, and recognizes it as matching his goal (happy surprise in his voice when he said "Hey look, there's a time zone button!") The user seemed to have previous experience with 'tabs' in interfaces. He said, "Let's go to the Time Zone tab," using the word 'tab' which does not appear anywhere in the interface or in the task instructions. When the application responded to the user's actions by changing in appearance, the user seemed to understand that he had completed a correct action, because he continued on with the task, did not express any negative affect, or begin talking like he felt he was stuck. He did indeed move one step closer to completing the task, since it is necessary to use the Time Zone tab when changing a Windows computer's default time zone. Criteria for identifying this critical incident: Happy surprise |
| Benefit | The label on the Time Zone tab is not likely to confuse new users of the control panel, because it matches with the goal of setting the time zone. |
| Trade-offs | I can see no down side to the Time Zone Tab and its label. |
| Relationships | None at the time this UAR was written. |
| Identifier | TA2 — Problem |
| Name | Map is not labeled with cities and countries. |
| Evidence | 16:28:12-16:28:20 "So we're going to Manila, which is in the Philippines..."(subgoal) User clicks on the Time Zone tab and the following screen appears(fig-3)." 16:28:21-16:28:30 Now, if my knowledge of geography were better, I would probably be able to instantly locate it on the map." User moves the cursor around over the map. "But, I can't." User clicks on the ListBox |
| Explanation | The user's high-level goal (to find Manila, Philippines) is set by the task, which he reiterates at 16:28:12, and, seeing the map, he sets a subgoal to locate Manila on the map (implied by "I would probably be able to instantly locate it on the map"). He moves the cursor over the map. After receiving no feedback indicating that it was possible to find Manila or the Philippines through an interaction with the map, the user explicitly gives up, saying "But, I can't." He clicked on the ListBox and started searching through that. Critical Incident Criteria: Explicitly gives up. |
| Severity | Since the map gives no help in finding cities or countries, the user must turn to the ListBox. This is not severe in itself, just a waste of space on the control panel. (But see TA3, where the user cannot find Manila in the list) |
| Solution/ Trade-offs | If the user needs to find a city, and has no idea where it is located geographically, this control panel could give them some help. A possible solution would be to add some interactivity to the map. The map is really too small to have permanent textual labels, but rollovers indicating the country would be very helpful. It would even be possible to place dots on the map where major cities are located, and add mouse-overs indicating city names as well. The user would be able to explore the map with the mouse cursor until he found the city he was looking for. This will take programming effort and an expanded database of countries (at least) and cities. |
| Relationships | TA3 Problem ListBox is ineffective when city is not listed. |
| Identifier | TA3 — Problem |
| Name | ListBox is ineffective when a city is not listed. |
| Evidence | 16:28:32-16:28:40 "So, we can look for Philippines, and of course, it isn't in any kind of order..." User begins to scroll through the ListBox.(fig-4) 16:28:40-16:28:56 "So we just have to sit here and scan through lots and lots and lots of cities..." User continues to scroll through the ListBox, until he reaches the end. "And then when we realize we've gone the wrong direction we have to go alllll the way back up..." User scrolls the ListBox back up to the top and, with a sigh, begins to scroll down a second time. 16:28:57-16:29:13 "Wow, I have missed it completely... So let's look again." User continues to scroll through the ListBox. 16:29:13-16:29:31 The user says, "OK, I give up..." with a frustrated tone of voice, and continues to scroll down until he reaches the end of the ListBox for the second time. 16:29:31-16:29:40 "So basically the problem here is that I can see the map, but I don't know where it is on the map. And I can see the names of these cities, but none of them is ringing any bells." 16:30:01-16:30:09 The user stops interacting with the ListBox and clicks on the map with the mouse. The screen looks as fig-5. Experimenter says, "If you feel that you can't complete the task, you can go ahead and move on to the next one." User says, "OK, "I'm going to go ahead and move on to the next one..." |
| Explanation | The user's goal is set by the task and reiterated in 16:28:32: "we can look for Philippines." The user's first observation was that the items in the ListBox are not in any order. This observation is in fact false, as the items in the ListBox are ordered by their relationship with Greenwich Mean Time (GMT), but this is not apparent to the user. The user then proceeded to scroll through the entire list, visually searching for Manila or the Philippines, commenting about "lots and lots" and sighing as he searches. Upon reaching the last entry in the list, he assumed that he had missed it the first time and scrolled through the entire list again. After viewing the list twice, he realized that the city he was looking for was not in the list, at which point he articulated his frustration with the situation (16:29:31-16:29:40). He explicitly says, "I give up," but continues to interact with the ListBox. He stopped using the ListBox and clicked a few times on the map in a futile attempt to accomplish his goal. At this point the experimenter sensed that he was unwilling to arbitrarily guess at a time zone for Manila, and advised him that it was acceptable to move on to the next task. The user proceeded to do just that, never changing the time zone. Critical Incident Criteria: Explicitly gives up, Unable to complete task |
| Severity | This problem is severe. It resulted in the user being entirely unable to complete the task, and caused the user to feel frustrated and even somewhat inadequate because he didn't have the geographical knowledge to complete the task. |
| Solution/ Trade-offs | One possible solution would be to include more cities or countries in the pull-down list. This solution on its own would add to the usability problem of forcing the user to visually scan through the list, so allowing users to search the list for the name of a city or country would become necessary. A different solution might be to build upon the suggested solution in TA2 and make the map clickable as well as showing rollovers of cities and countries. A possible interaction might go like this: Step 1. The user moves the mouse over the map on the Time Zone tab until they find the Philippines. Step 2. The user clicks on the Philippines, and the time zone displayed in the ListBox is automatically updated to read "Philippines (GMT +08:00)". Step 3. The user clicks OK, and the time zone has been changed. |
| Relationships | TA2 Problem Map is not labeled with cities and countries. |
TA：Think-Aloud
