CMPUT 301 Lecture 01 Introduction Lecturer Martin Jagersand

CMPUT 301: Lecture 01 Introduction Lecturer: Martin Jagersand Department of Computing Science University of Alberta Notes based on previous courses by Ken Wong, Eleni Stroulia Zach Dodds, Martin Jagersand

HCI and program design • Why worry about the user? 1. People “more expensive” than machines 2. Errors may be unacceptable 3. Can’t sell unattractive and hard to learn SW • Design 1. For the user: Useful, correct, complete, efficient 2. For the programmer: Portable, changeable, extensible, reusable 2

Course content: How to do User Interfaces • Object Oriented SW eng: – Learn the programming skills • The human: – What perceptual skills support what interaction? • Design and evaluation: – Task analysis, usability, evaluation 3

Example: Interaction and interfaces: • The past? – Text based interaction: If A then end 4

The present: Direct manipulation: • xfig drawing program Icons afford use • Results visible • Direct spatial actionresult mapping matlab drawing: line([10, 20], [30, 85]); patch([35, 22], [15, 35], C); % C complex structure text(70, 30, 'Kalle'); % Potentially add font, size, etc 5

The future? Vision and Touch UI • Observe and Interpret Physical Interactions • Make Machines work with Humans • Soon most appliances will have embedded computers 6

Motivation • Clint Eastwood classification: – the good – the bad – the ugly 7

Motivation • The good: 8

Motivation • The bad: 9

Motivation • The ugly: 10

Question • What are some other examples? • In the real world? 11

Why Design? • “Despite the enormous outward success of personal computers, the daily experience of using computers far too often is still fraught with difficulty, pain, and barriers for most people. ” • … 12

Why Design? • “The lack of usability of software and the poor design of programs are the secret shame of the industry. ” — Mitch Kapor 13

Why Design? • There’s more to developing software than just making it work correctly. 14

Why Design? 15

Software Design • User perspective: – meets needs – increase user satisfaction – reduce frustration – increase productivity – reduce errors – easy to learn – easy to use 16

Software Design • Developer perspective: – manage complexity – reduce maintenance and support costs – increase quality – reduce defects – increase reuse – reduce time-to-market 17

Software Design • Selected goals: – bridging users and technology effectively – marry art and science – evolutionary development (design, implement, evaluate) – integrate expertise across disciplines 18

Multiple Disciplines • • industrial design graphic design architecture ergonomics cognitive psychology sociology anthropology ethics • • software engineering computer science visualization experimentation intellectual property arts business … 19

Software Design • • • Think about the user. Focus on goals and tasks. Try it out on the users. Involve the users. Iterate. 20

Book: “Human-Computer Interaction” by Alan Dix, Janet Finlay, Gregory Abowd, and Russell Beale, Prentice-Hall, 1998 http: //www. hcibook. com/hcibook/ 21

Instructor: Martin Jagersand • Office: Athabasca Hall 401 • Office Hours: By appointment • E-mail: jag@ugrad. cs. ualberta. ca • Phone: 780 492 5496 22

Staying in Touch • • • WWW page: http: //ugweb. cs. ualberta. ca/~c 301/ Newsgroup: ualberta. courses. cmput. 301 Emails: 1. Your section TA, e. g. ayman, trysi etc… 2. jag@ugrad. cs. ualberta. ca 23

Project • Complex – Components – Integration (early!) • Vague – Talk to users – Evolution • Team effort – Hold regular meetings – Assign tasks – Peer reviews 24

Grading • • Assignments: 15% Midterm Exam: 15% Project Parts: 40% Final Exam: 30% Note: All assignments and project parts are due on a Monday at 12 noon. The TAs will explain the submission process in the labs. Late submissions will not be accepted. 25

End • What did I learn today? • What questions do I still have? 26