me at HFI Bangalore

I attended the HFI session held at Bangalore on july16 to july21.

Usability methods

There are variety of methods which can help improve the usability of your site.They can be divided in to two categories: one which gather data from the usersand the other which is applied without actual user.

The follwing are the types of methods:
Cognitive walkthrough
Task analysis
Focus groups
GOMS
Heuristic evaluation
Individual interviews
Usability testing
Prototyping
Online survey

Usability evaluations can be done at many stages during design and development process. it depends upon which method you choose.

GOMS

GOMS stands for Goals, Operators, Methods and Selection rules.It is an approach to Human Computer Interaction observation developed by card, moran and newell in 1983.

Goals represent the goal that the user is trying to achieve
Operators are the set of automatic-level operations with which user use's to attain the goal.
Methods represent the sequence of operations grouped together toattain a goal.
Selection rules it is used to decide which method to use when several are applicable for solving a goal.

Variations of GOMS:
CMN-GOMS Variation
KLM-GOMS Variation
CPM-GOMS Variation
NGOMSL variation

Human Computer Interaction

It is the art and science of making computer applications more usable to user's to achieve their goals.If the interaction is not usable to the user they leave the site,if they are employees company's productivity decreases.

Benefits of usable interaction:
Increased sales and revenue
Increased customer satisfaction
Increased Productivity
Reduced maintenance costs
Decreased training costs

User Centered Design

User-centered design is a structured product development methodology that involves users throughout all stages of Web site development, in order to create a site that meets users'needs.It considers Company's business objectives and user's needs.

User-centered design has various phases for development:
Requirement Phase
Planning Phase
Design Phase
Implentation Phase
Testing Phase
Release Phase

10 Best Intranets of 2006

Allianz Australia Insurance, Australia
ALTANA Pharma AG, Germany
Bank of Ireland Group, Ireland
Capital One, USA
IBM, USA
Merrill Lynch, USA
METRO Group, Germany
O2, UK
Staples, USA
Vodafone Group, UK
Source:useit.com

Focus Group

A focus group is a form of qualitative research in which a group of people are asked about their attitude towards a Website. Questions are asked in an interactive group setting where participants are free to talk with other group members.

From this we can learn users' attitudes, beliefs and their reactions to prototypes.

Task analysis

Task analysis is one of the User centered design methods of learning about user's goals,what they want to do at the site, and their ways of working.

From this we will come to know the user's goal, what they do to achieve the goal and how they are influenced by their physical environment.

Importance of Usability

usability is a necessary condition for survival. user's leave if a web site is difficult to use, If the homepage fails to clearly state what a company offers and what users can do on the site, they leave.

By following a usability engineering process, user's abilities to find information and satisfaction with Web sites improve significantly, which in turn increases company productivity.