4 thoughts on “Open Discussion of Readings for Week 1”
Questions about 7 aspects of design:
1. Are they overlap? (I think is yes)
you mentioned usability is the degree which specific users can achieve specific goals within particular environment effectively, efficiently comfortably in an acceptable manner.
Is that already includes efficiency, functionality, utility? Why we have to emphasis others instead of just usability?
2. I still confused about utility, what is meant by “system shelf life”, any specific examples?
Hi Liquan, yes, these issues overlap – what the 7 aspects do is they shine light on different parts of the whole. So focusing on efficiency allows you to see how fast a system is, focusing on utility allows you to see how well a system works in real life, and focusing on functionality allows you to see how well a system does what it’s intended to do. So, an electronic student record that is very slow, but reliable can’t be used to look things up while talking to students (limited utility), although the function of looking up student data is executed correctly.
“Shelf life” is the life of the system before it is replaced / supposed to be replaced. Think of all the old Android phones who are no longer able to run the latest version of the operating system, or laptops for which you can no longer get spare parts.
I read the material book- user-centered systems. In chapter 1, (1.2.1 Designing Mappings Between Buttons and Lights) there was an example I am not very clear. I can’t really get the point that the author wanted to express. My understanding is that what the designer thought is not always true. they are not users, so they can’t hold the view that all the users are the same. But I am not very sure about this.
Yes, that’s right. But the point of 1.2.1 is that there are ways of making mappings easier to understand for users. Try acting out the example in Figure 1.2 with a friend – they tell you what button to press, and you touch the button.
Questions about 7 aspects of design:
1. Are they overlap? (I think is yes)
you mentioned usability is the degree which specific users can achieve specific goals within particular environment effectively, efficiently comfortably in an acceptable manner.
Is that already includes efficiency, functionality, utility? Why we have to emphasis others instead of just usability?
2. I still confused about utility, what is meant by “system shelf life”, any specific examples?
Hi Liquan, yes, these issues overlap – what the 7 aspects do is they shine light on different parts of the whole. So focusing on efficiency allows you to see how fast a system is, focusing on utility allows you to see how well a system works in real life, and focusing on functionality allows you to see how well a system does what it’s intended to do. So, an electronic student record that is very slow, but reliable can’t be used to look things up while talking to students (limited utility), although the function of looking up student data is executed correctly.
“Shelf life” is the life of the system before it is replaced / supposed to be replaced. Think of all the old Android phones who are no longer able to run the latest version of the operating system, or laptops for which you can no longer get spare parts.
I read the material book- user-centered systems. In chapter 1, (1.2.1 Designing Mappings Between Buttons and Lights) there was an example I am not very clear. I can’t really get the point that the author wanted to express. My understanding is that what the designer thought is not always true. they are not users, so they can’t hold the view that all the users are the same. But I am not very sure about this.
Yes, that’s right. But the point of 1.2.1 is that there are ways of making mappings easier to understand for users. Try acting out the example in Figure 1.2 with a friend – they tell you what button to press, and you touch the button.