Heuristic Analysis- (Sidekick, Aim, Webnote

Heuristic Analysis

Siddhartha Reddy

Jon Bartlett

Steven Reed

Introduction

The RIT campus has a very diverse community that consists of hearing and deaf

people. Although RIT offers many sign language classes and provides interpreters across

campus, communication outside of class is still difficult. The problem we are trying to

overcome is the communication between hearing and deaf people in real-time and in

person without third-party assistance. Our solution would break down the communication

barriers. Using the best attributes of current communication products and new

technology, we are able to envision a product that would bring forth this new era of

communication.

The products we analyzed were AOL Instant Messenger, WebNote MultiChat

site, and the T-Mobile Sidekick. We choose AOL Instant Messenger because it is the

most popular chat program in the US. We choose WebNote MultiChat because it brings

new features like real-time chat editing with multiple users. The Sidekick was chosen

because it is the leading communication device available on the market today and it is

very popular among deaf students at RIT.

Product Analysis #1 (AOL Instant Messenger)

Siddhartha Reddy

Interface Design

Heuristic Analysis

* Visibility of system status

It is important for the user to be kept informed about what the current condition of the system is so the user knows what is going on. The user is made aware of the condition of the system through feedback. AIM (AOL Instant Messenger) keeps the user updated with the system status through a variety of feedback. Most of the windows on AIM tell you what the window is about, for example when you receive a message from your friend you get your friend's screenname displayed on top of the window.

If you want to message a user, you can select their name from your buddy list and send them a message, when the screenname is selected, it gets highlighted, which tells the user the screenname they picked to send a message to. Feedback is also achieved through sound, whenever a message is sent or received a unique sound is played (sounds are customizable by the user). The system status is displayed by the icon in the taskbar, when AIM is signed on the icon is surrounded by a blue circle and when its offline the AIM is by itself, so by looking the user can tell the status of the system.

* Match between system and the real world

It is important for the system to convey messages in languages and concepts that the user is familiar with. AIM does this pretty well by using languages and concepts that more people are familiar with. AIM uses simple English that most people can comprehend. The icons used in AIM represent everyday things in most people's lives. When a screenname on your buddy list has an away message, a picture of a note is displayed next to the screenname, signifying that this person has a note (away message) up. Another example is the picture of a cell phone, when a user is on a mobile device; a picture of a cell phone is displayed next to the screenname. Menu choices also fit logically into categories that have readily understood meanings.

* User control and freedom

The user needs to be free to select and sequence tasks to their

liking. The system should not interfere with the user's selection process. Users should also be able to leave an unwanted state when desired and be able to undo and redo tasks. AIM partially allows for user control and freedom. A user can customize their buddy list, sounds, buddy icon, profile, privacy settings and so on. Since AIM is a chatting program, at times there are multiple conversations going on at once with different people so multiple windows are open, AIM makes managing this an easy task by using "tabbed" windows (user's choice). A problem with AIM is once you send someone a message, you cannot undo do it. If you said something incorrect, you yourself have to tell the person you messaged about your correction, you cannot undo. If you want to resend a message, you have to copy and paste it; there is no redo function in AIM. As stated, it is not easy for users to reverse their actions.

* Consistency and standards

Consistency and standards provide the user with a familiar feel. This could be accomplished by following standards to keep everything consistent. For the most part AIM is consistent. A lot of the same icons are repeated for the sake of user familiarity, but not all of the icons are labeled but as mentioned before, most if not all of the windows are titled. AIM also uses attention-getting techniques such as sounds. These sounds give the user a sense of what is going on, a pleasant "bing" type of sound is played to let the user know someone messages them, a more alarming sound is played when there is an error, and the type of sounds are consistent throughout AIM unless the user specifically customizes the sounds.

* Help user recognize, diagnose, and recover from errors

It is crucial for systems to expresses messages in plain language so the user can understand whether they are an expert or novice. AIM's messages are expressed in plain language (also grammatically correct) and can be understood by pretty much anyone. As mentioned before, sound is used to deliver messages. The error messages do their job by informing the user about the error's severity and sometimes even suggest the cause of