Announcements

1. Announcements • Office hours to be posted this weekend • Starting Monday, bring clickers to class every day • Reminders: • GoPost bios due by 10pm • UW Computing Lab due 10pm Mon • Clicker Registration due 10pm Mon • Week 1 Discussion due 10pm Wed Katherine Deibel, Fluency in Information Technology

2. Regarding GoPost Discussions • Wednesday by Wednesday schedule • Need to post at least once per week • Can post multiple times • In the same thread • In multiple threads Katherine Deibel, Fluency in Information Technology

3. INFO100 and CSE100 Fluency with Information Technology What the Digerati Know Katherine Deibel Katherine Deibel Katherine Deibel, Fluency in Information Technology

4. GUIs—Graphic User Interfaces • They’re how people interact with computers, phones, and eReaders, etc. • You’re familiarwith them but how did you learn to use them all? HUMAN-COMPUTER INTERACTION HCI Katherine Deibel, Fluency in Information Technology

5. Human-Computer Interaction • HCI is the study of how people use computers and making them better • What interfaces increase productivity? • Is a mouse, a stylus, or touchpad better? • Two key notions for evaluating any computer tool or GUI: • Utility • Usability Katherine Deibel, Fluency in Information Technology

6. Qualities of Good GUIs • Utility: • Does it do what users need? • A spreadsheet GUI is the wrong tool for laying out a magazine • Usability: • Is it easy to use? • Far more complex to study Katherine Deibel, Fluency in Information Technology

7. Usability Heuristics • Visibility of system status / Feedback • Match between system and real world • User freedom / Undo and Redo • Consistency of interaction • Error Prevention / No self-destructs • Recognizable features / Common Icons • Flexibility / Novice and Expert usage • Aesthetically pleasing with a purpose • Minimal / What you see is what you need • Support error recovery Katherine Deibel, Fluency in Information Technology

8. Usability in Practice • The end user (YOU!!) is the ultimate decider of whether a GUI is usable • Some caveats • Do not trust first impressions • Always expect a learning curve • Usability may increase as you learn the specifics of a program Katherine Deibel, Fluency in Information Technology

9. So How Can We Learn A GUI? • Reading the manual? Booorrrring! • Taking a class? Baaadd! • Applying your knowledge and past experience? Yes! • How did you learn to use your music player? • Designers know you come to technology with some experience – you live in a technical world, and people are curious – so designers make their tools familiar • How? Katherine Deibel, Fluency in Information Technology

10. Learning Software • Software designers want you to learn their tool ASAP and therefore strive to make it intuitive • Consistent interfaces build on user's previous user experience • Icons bypass terminology for pictures • Metaphors exploit analogous reasoning Katherine Deibel, Fluency in Information Technology

11. Icons • Icons tell us a lot about software functionality by cultural association Katherine Deibel, Fluency in Information Technology

12. Metaphors Abound • Desktops • Recycle bins • Windows • Clipboard • Sleep mode • Home page • Notepad Katherine Deibel, Fluency in Information Technology

13. Standard Functionality Any guesses as to what program these menus came from? I honestly have no clue. Katherine Deibel, Fluency in Information Technology

14. Invasion of the Pod Programs All the software is the same Katherine Deibel, Fluency in Information Technology

15. Why are applications similar? • Form follows function • Developer tools promote reuse Katherine Deibel, Fluency in Information Technology

16. Form Follows Function • To solve a task, certain operations must always be provided • Text processing requires • typing / accepting keyboard characters • selecting, copying, pasting, finding, etc. • Web browsers require • giving a URL [in the location window] • navigation, clicking links, scrolling, displaying images, etc. Katherine Deibel, Fluency in Information Technology

17. Developer Tools Promote Reuse • Applications are built by programmers using a common set of tools • Sample tools: save file, open file, print, scroll the window, menus, resizing, help, … • Programmers build their own solutions when it is important, but the rest of the time they use the standard tool set • Operating systems perform standard operations (reading and writing files) for all applications s in just one way Katherine Deibel, Fluency in Information Technology

18. Implications of Standardization Fluency is much much easier Katherine Deibel, Fluency in Information Technology

19. Mac or PC—what's the difference? • Mac’s and PCs are waaay more alike than they are different • The companies try hard to emphasizethe differences • Any Fluent personcan use either OS(and Linux, too)! Katherine Deibel, Fluency in Information Technology

20. Extremes of Standardization You can impress your friends with your foreign language skills Katherine Deibel, Fluency in Information Technology

21. Web Applications • Like desktop applications, Web applications use consistent features • Similar to desktop features • Borrow heavily from Web navigation ideas • Look at a Web application that you’ve never seen before … what do you recognize? Katherine Deibel, Fluency in Information Technology

22. What’s Familiar Katherine Deibel, Fluency in Information Technology

23. What’s Familiar Katherine Deibel, Fluency in Information Technology

24. What’s Familiar Katherine Deibel, Fluency in Information Technology

25. What’s Familiar What Do You Recognize? Katherine Deibel, Fluency in Information Technology

26. When there’s no GUI… • You can still guess a lot! Katherine Deibel, Fluency in Information Technology

27. Getting Familiar Speed Dating with Software Katherine Deibel, Fluency in Information Technology

28. Teach Yourself Applications • What do you know to start? • Your experience tells you … • Applications use a consistent interface • If you see an icon you recognize, its meaning is probably the same as last time • Form follows function means if you know what the application does, you should be able to guess a lot Katherine Deibel, Fluency in Information Technology

29. “Click Around” • Because of the consistent interface, all you need to do is look • To learn a new application, explore it out by clicking around • Take a minute to ... • Look under all menus to see operations • Follow the “…” for menu operations • Try to recognize what the icons mean Katherine Deibel, Fluency in Information Technology

30. “Blazing Away” • What does it mean? • Learn an application fast by trying it • Beginning with a new instance, assertively trying menu items • Expect to fail and make a mess • Exit the application, and if you are asked “Save?” reply “No” • Try repeatedly until it becomes familiar Katherine Deibel, Fluency in Information Technology

31. [Almost] Nothing Will Break • Clicking Around and Blazing Away will not break anything, so be bold! • Usually, the software catches errors • Operations are often reversible • “Deleted” information is usually sitting there in the trash • Undo is the first try at recovering, then restarting the application, then rebooting, then cycling power Katherine Deibel, Fluency in Information Technology

32. But Still Be Careful • Undo has limitations • Make backups/copies of files you work on • Some playing around can be permanent • Control panel • Configuration • Options • Take written notes if you need to go back to a previous state Katherine Deibel, Fluency in Information Technology

33. Summary • As you have used some software, you should assume you can use any software • Will it always be true? • No, some tools (E.G. Photoshop, GIMP) take some study • The reasons you can teach yourself apps • Consistent Interfaces • Form Follows Function • Nothing will break, so you can be BOLD Katherine Deibel, Fluency in Information Technology