Publications

The effect of violating visual conventions of a website on user performance and disorientation. How bad can it be?
Santa-Maria, L. and Dyson, M.C.

Abstract

This experiment investigates what happens to user performance and disorientation when visual conventions of a genre are violated. It also looks at what happens to the user performance and disorientation over time. Twenty-eight participants were randomly allocated to two independent groups: one was tested with a conventional website and the other with a convention-violating website. The study comprised of two parts and on each part participants were tested on a different website. Results showed that in the first part participants who used the violating site performed worse and were more disoriented than participants who used the conventional version. But the performance of the participants of the convention-violating group improved over time so that by the end of the first part performance on both groups were equivalent. In the second part performance and disorientation on both groups were equivalent suggesting that users might rapidly adapt to visual convention violations.

Paper presented at the ACM SIGDOC'08 




Visual genre conventions and user performance on the web
Santa-Maria, L.

Abstract
    One problem which designers are faced with is whether they should follow existing conventions of a genre, or break with conventions, and innovate. Understanding the relationship between conventions and user performance is essential in order for designers to make informed decisions. Despite the fact that usability literature claims that not conforming to genre conventions can cause serious usability problems, there is not much empirical investigation on the topic.

    Through a review of the literature, a framework was defined which established genre conventions as having a visual, structural, linguistic and a functional component. This thesis examines the impact that violation of the visual conventions of a digital genre has on user performance. Web discussion forums were the category of websites chosen to be investigated because of the likelihood that they are a truly digital genre which is emerging. A survey was conducted to help establish the existing visual conventions in the genre and to help define the experimental material. A series of empirical studies were conducted to validate the experimental material and to measure the performance of users familiar and unfamiliar with the genre when using

conforming and non-conforming web pages.

    Results show that not conforming to visual conventions of a web forum genre results in poorer performance and disorientation of participants familiar with the genre. But results also indicate that this poorer performance and disorientation is short-lived and participants who use a non-conforming forum over a brief period of time are

able to improve their performance and feel less disoriented. Furthermore, participants who use the non-conforming forum page are able to maintain their performance improvement when using another non-conforming web forum. Results also show that performance varies depending on the conventionality of the website and whether the user is retrieving information from the interface or the content.

   Finally, an empirical study was conducted on conforming and non-conforming online news genre and the findings obtained in web forums were reproduced in this other web genre.

These results suggest that although not conforming to visual conventions can cause a decline in performance, the magnitude of the negative effect on user performance has not been thoroughly investigated in usability literature. The fact that users can quickly recover from problems caused by the violation of the visual conventions of a genre brings a new perspective to the negotiation between innovation and conventions. Furthermore, the results from the interaction between conventionality and the type of task users perform can help inform design decisions based on a task oriented approach. It also empowers designers to better consider when to conform and when to violate conventions, and thus better estimate what impact their decisions will have on the final users.

Ph.D thesis University of Reading, 2008

Optimum line length for text on screen

Hoje recebi um tweet de um blog que dá recomendações sobre o comprimento de linha ideal para leitura de textos online. Eles recomendam que o mesmo comprimento de linha seja seguido em web design.

Eu sou da opinião que este tópico do comprimento de linha para leitura em computadores está longe de estar definido. Apesar do paradigma impresso ter sido sugerido como solução para a Web, Alguns estudos sugerem que o assunto não é tão simples quanto se imaginava (Dyson & Haselgrove, 2001; Ling & van Schaik, 2005).

Podem haver diversas explicaçōes para isso. Pode ser que o comprimento de linha na tela seja diferente do papel simplesmente porque as pessoas lêem de modos diferentes em papel e na tela ou até mesmo não lêem.

O mais importante é manter uma visão crítica no assunto e revisar a literatura atentamente. Ter sempre atenção ao que se lê na Internet por que muitos sites fazem recomendações categóricas sem nenhuma fundamentação teórica, baseados muitas vezes em achismo.


Today I got a tweet of a blog recommending an optimum line length for online text. Their recommendations are that the same print recommendation be followed for web design.

I am of the opinion that the topic of line length on computer screens is far from closed. Although the print paradigm has been suggested as a solution for online text, some studies seem to suggest that the matter is not as straightforward as initially thought (Dyson & Haselgrove, 2001; Ling & van Schaik, 2005).

Many factors could be playing at this, it may be that the optimum line lenght for reading on screen be different from that on print simply because people do read differently on computers or maybe even they do not read at all.

It is worth keeping a critical view on the matter and revise the literature carefully as there are many sites categorically recommend things with hardly, if any, empirical evidence.

References

Dyson, M. C. & Haselgrove - The influence of reading speed and line length on the effectiveness of reading from screen

Ling, J. & van Schaik, P. - The influence of font type and line length on visual search and information retrieval in web pages

Usabilidade de Guerrilha II

Anteriormente eu havia anunciado o Silverback (software para gravar testes de usabilidade) excelente solução da Clearleft não tão completa, mas bem mais barata que o Morae.

Recentemente aqui na empresa começamos a pensar em maneiras de gravar testes de usabilidade em aparelhos móveis. Estes equipamentos geralmente custam uma exorbitância o que os torna inaccessíveis para grande parte dos mortais.

Uma solução barata e simples foi apresentada por Harry Brignull, vale conferir.

http://www.90percentofeverything.com/

Bilingual posts

My idea is to start posting in english and portuguese, this will broaden the number of people discussing the topics. Let's hope I can pull it off. ;)

Innovate or stick to existing conventions? A design dilemma.

Several web usability authors recommend that website conventions should always be followed and Nielsen even adds that even if another, better design solution exists, the conventional one should be used because if something which is “used on the majority of other sites will be burned into the users’ brains”. They add that if conventions are not followed there will be catastrophic usability problems. This guideline then poses a dilemma for interface designers since sticking to conventions can stall or even in some cases totally block innovation. It also makes one lose hope that a website migrated from the desktop to the small screen (which has to have a different layout due to screen size limitations) will be usable at all.

To complicate matters even further, ‘convention’ is quite a broad term and leaves the person trying to follow the guideline confused. This is understandable as, for example, a certain interface can follow the visual conventions of a website genre but have a navigational structure which violates the conventional one. Thus, when referring to a convention it is essential to be specific.

This muddle has even taken hold of the little empirical evidence available on the subject. Results from empirical studies on conventions have been contradictory (Kalbach & Bosenick, 2006; McCarthy, Sasse, & Riegelsberger, 2003; Vaughan & Dillon, 2006). Some found that violating conventions had no impact on user performance (Kalbach & Bosenick, 2006), some found a small usability problem which was quickly overcome (McCarthy et al., 2003) and others found a serious usability problem (Vaughan & Dillon, 2006).

I believe these conflicting outcomes are a result of an ill definition of the word ‘convention’. I propose that the term ‘convention’, especially regarding digital interfaces (such as the web), be divided into the following subgroups: Structural conventions, Visual conventions, Linguistic conventions and Functional conventions.

Examining the studies above under this light it is possible to observe that:
Kalbach and Bosenick as well as McCarthy, Sasse and Riegelsberger have tested violation of the visual conventions (the position of the menu) of a website while Vaughan and Dillon have violated visual and structural conventions simultaneously. These results seem to suggest that violations of different types of conventions may affect the user experience differently.
In a recent study (Santa-Maria & Dyson, 2008), I had the opportunity of test the violation of visual conventions (conventional position, symbolization and configuration of all the interface elements) of a website genre. Results confirmed that users who are familiarized with the visual conventions of a website genre can easily adapt to a new layout and their performance improves very quickly. The study also showed that the users get less disoriented over time when using the violating website.

Although usability problems caused by violations of visual conventions seem to be short-lived, designers should keep in mind that the users will still face problems in the initial phases of their interaction and therefore designers should balance whether the innovation is worth the initial user problems. Although these initial problems may put users off of using the site, if they are given enough motivation to get through learning stage their performance will quickly improve and equal their previous performance on the conventional website.

For further discussion on the topic see:

Feralabs Blog

Concept7 Blog

Kalbach, J., & Bosenick, T. (2006). Web page layout: A comparison between left- and right-justified site navigation menus. Journal of Digital Information, 4(Vol. 4). Retrieved from http://journals.tdl.org/jodi/rt/printerFriendly/jodi-111/93

McCarthy, J. D., Sasse, A. M., & Riegelsberger, J. (2003, 8th - 12th September). Could I have the Menu Please? An Eye Tracking Study of Design Conventions. Paper presented at the HCI 2003 - Designing for Society, Bath, United Kingdom.

Santa-Maria, L., & Dyson, M. C. (2008). The effect of violating visual conventions of a website on user performance and disorientation: how bad can it be? Paper presented at the 26th annual ACM international conference on Design of communication.

Vaughan, M., & Dillon, A. (2006). Why structure and genre matter for users of digital information: A longitudinal experiment with readers of a web-based newspaper. International Journal of Human-Computer studies, 64, 502-526.

Good value Usability Software!

I have been recently in touch with Techsmith's Morae and was impressed on what the software provides for usability testers. If you haven't heard of the software yet, it is worth a look. It consists of three separate modules which are designed to help the recording and note taking throughout usability tests.
1) The recorder is responsible for capturing the screen activities and recording the video and audio of the user.
2) The observer is used by the experimenter to take notes on the fly through the test
and
3) The manager, which basically puts the outputs of the other two softwares together.

The downside to this is that he price is a bit steep $1,495 for the bundle (and if you want more recorder and observer modules you add $195 for each extra copy).

Another quite good alternative for low budgeted usability analysts is Clearleft's Silverback which is the equivalent of Morae's recorder wih the possibility of adding markers to the video on the fly via a remote control. I've tried this software for 30 days and it definitely does a good job! And better yet, it costs $49.95 (and 10% of the purchase price helps save the gorillas!!! Seriously!)

Of course, there is a downside... It only works on Mac computers.

New UK coins

This one comes from a friend, Jose Marconi who told me about the new coin designs. I've been so busy with the writing of my thesis that I haven't even noticed that the coins were changed...

There has been a lot of discussion about the new designs, most people moaning about it rather than liking it I'm afraid (see some comments here). Changing the currency always makes people assume a conservative posture. Believe me... I know... Brazil has changed currency many times and every single time the population moaned, shouted, protested but in the end accepted it. Come the time for a next currency change, people had grown so attached to the money (forgetting how much they hated it in the first place) that they were averse to changing it.

Back to the UK, on one side, the new coins depict the Royal Shield of Arms either in its whole (pound coin) or in part. On the other side, they show, as usual, the face of the Queen. Below there is a quote from the designer explaining the concept (for the full text click here).

"I thought the six coins could make up a shield by arranging the coins both horizontally, as with the landscape idea, as well as vertically, in a sort of jigsaw style. I liked the idea and symbolism of using the Royal Arms, where individually the coins could focus on specific elements and when placed together they reveal the complete Royal Arms.

I found the idea that members of the public could interact with the coins the most exciting aspect of this concept. It's easy to imagine the coins pushed around a school classroom table or fumbled around with on a bar - being pieced together as a jigsaw and just having fun with them."

The most controversial aspect about the new design seems to be the fact that there are no numbers stamped on the faces. The value of the coin is written (e.g. one, two, five, etc). Here is another picture of the coins in position showing the shield of arms.



Without taking any sides there are, however, some usability and design considerations which need to be taken into account:

1) The new designs are beautiful and a breath of fresh air, there's no doubt about it.
2) The fact that the currency does not have the numbers is a problem. Who ever been abroad has experienced how confusing it can be to use a foreign currency. Now imagine that foreign money with no numbers on it!!

Oh, one may say, 'Bloody foreigners...they should learn english or not come to this country!'. Well, we have to remember that last year alone, tourism brought 86.5 billion pounds into the UK economy!! Spending that much money here, I think tourists shold be considered more thoughtfully on this.

Another may say: 'Well there are still the shapes and colours to guide them, they'll learn'. I do agree that design conventions sometimes have to be broken for innovation to occur. Yes, people struggle a bit initially and then the innovative design becomes the new convention. This process, however, takes some time and remember that tourists do not hang around long enough to transform innovation into new conventions.

3) Why have the words and not the numbers instead? If there was room for the words, certainly there was room for the numbers! Quick check: 'How many of you can read the words 'five pence' in a 5p coin?

Again, one may say:'Well, the pound coin has words and no numbers on it' I ask: 'How many of you know that the words 'one pound' are stamped in the £1 coin?'

Most people eventually learn that that coin which is thicker than the others and sort of golden in colour is worth one pound. But remember that a tourist that only had one (quite distinctive) coin to learn, now has to learn that one and 6 (not so distinctive) coins.

4) Let's be honest...jigzaw puzzle? Who is going to play with that? Kids? What are the odds of kids having one of each coin totaling £1.88 in their pockets. People want to use money to buy things and not to play around.

All in all, as I said before, I think the new design is a breath of fresh air...not the most usable of design of all. People will eventually learn the new conventions and will use the coins automatically. Tourists? Well they will have problems...but they won't probably be life threatening. Who knows? maybe someone will come to senses and put the numbers back in...