Year 12 Digital Solutions - Useability Principles

Tick all that apply:

An interface is considered to have good useability if it is:

• Useful

• Learnable

• Accessible

• Effective

• Safe

The utility of an interface is how useful it is. Interfaces must provide appropriate functions for the user to be able to operate the interface. Factors that improve operability, and therefore utility of a user interface are ___________ and responsiveness.

In relation to the utility of a user interface, portability means the interface is platform independent. Some techniques to ensure portability include:

• Using open source code as the basis for development of the UI

• Testing the UI across multiple browser types

• Separating the user interface (client) components from the database (server) components

• Ensuring HTML and PHP are used for development of the UI

Answer explanation

PHP is not the only open-source language available to create user interfaces that communicate with server side components such as databases.

PHP alternatives include Java (and it's related options such as Javascript Node.js), Python, Ruby, C#.

Responsiveness in UI design means:

• The UI responds to user actions such as clicking buttons or links.

• The UI will dynamically adjust to suit the screen size and capabilities of a range of devices.

Another useability principle for user interfaces is learnability.

Tick all statements that accurately describe learnability.

• Users can interact with the UI quickly and easily

• Users can interpret outputs and options intuitively, without needing to refer to instructions or documentation

• Users do not need to understand the underlying complexity of the system

• Both layout and content are critical for learnability

Answer explanation

All of these statements are true.

A good UI layout helps to improve the learnability (and useability) of a UI.

CARP is a set of visual design principles used to design UI layouts.

CARP stands for:

• Correctness,

  Accuracy,

  Retention,

  Placement

• Contrast, Alignment, Repetition, Proximity

• Contrast,

  Accuracy,

  Retention,

  Proximity

• Correctness,

  Alignment,

  Repetition,

  Placement

Answer explanation

If you do an internet search on CARP principles, you will also see results for CRAP principles - which refer to the same set of visual design principles to apply to your UI.

This site has a nice description of each element of CARP:

https://www.instructables.com/CRAP-principles/

Which option is the most appropriate to respond to this statement:

Learnability and Effectiveness are essentially the same thing (with regards to useability principles)

• True

• False

• They are closely related - if a UI is learnable, then it takes less time and effort for a user to learn how to interact with the UI effectively

Another useability principle is accessibility, which considers whether the UI is accessible to a wide range of users with differing abilities.

Accessibility options include (tick all that apply):

• Providing options for altering text size and contrast

• Providing text alternatives for non-text content

• Providing captions and other alternatives for multimedia

• Creating content that can be presented in different ways, including through assistive technology

• Make all functionality available / operable from the keyboard

Answer explanation

W3C is the Worldwide Web Consortium, an international community who develop open standards to guide and ensure the long-term growth of the Web (Internet).

W3C have developed Accessibility guidelines to make the web available to all.

Here are the latest standards, at a glance:

https://www.w3.org/WAI/standards-guidelines/wcag/glance/

Another useability principle is safety. A UI design must incorporate measures and elements that create a safe environment for the user.

Some examples of safety elements include (tick all that apply):

• Consent prompts - for example when capturing sensitive data

• Icons - for example the padlock symbol to indicate a site is secure

• Masking data - such as on password entry

• Data loss - displaying warning or confirmation alerts if records or files are being added, updated, or deleted

The 5 useability principles are ________, learnability, effectiveness, accessibility, safety.