{"id":26,"date":"2021-06-28T20:55:14","date_gmt":"2021-06-28T20:55:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/openbooks.library.unt.edu\/theseworkbook\/chapter\/chapter-7-usability\/"},"modified":"2021-08-10T15:41:10","modified_gmt":"2021-08-10T15:41:10","slug":"chapter-7-usability","status":"publish","type":"chapter","link":"https:\/\/openbooks.library.unt.edu\/seworkbook\/chapter\/chapter-7-usability\/","title":{"raw":"Usability","rendered":"Usability"},"content":{"raw":"
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User interface guidelines<\/strong><\/p>\r\n

In addition to the coding guidelines, your team should also strive to create a user-friendly interface with a consistent look and feel across even though multiple team members may design different parts of the system.<\/p>\r\n

The user interface of a system may have an impact on the popularity of your software. It\u2019s possible that you may have the best design for your code with good choices of data structures and efficient algorithms, but a competitor also does a reasonable job, but with a better user interface. You may lose business if users are not as happy with your user interface. Remember that you are designing the user interface for potential users and not necessarily yourself. Your design should reflect the needs and desires of the target audiences.<\/p>\r\n

While there are entire courses and textbook dedicated to user interface design, we only scratch the surface here in this Software Engineering course. However, this course is an opportunity to start thinking about best practices for user interface design.<\/p>\r\n

Let\u2019s start with an exercise. For each team member, identify two user interfaces that you like. Discuss what you like and dislike about each user interface and then broaden your discussion to opinions that others outside of our class may hold. For instance, would you parents, grandparents, roommates, or other friends hold similar opinions or not?<\/p>\r\n \r\n

Team member 1:<\/strong><\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n
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Favorite user interface<\/p>\r\n<\/td>\r\n

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Team member 1\u2019s likes\/dislikes<\/p>\r\n<\/td>\r\n

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Team discussion of likes\/dislikes<\/p>\r\n<\/td>\r\n<\/tr>\r\n

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Team member 2:<\/strong><\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n
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Favorite user interface<\/p>\r\n<\/td>\r\n

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Team member 3:<\/strong><\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n
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Favorite user interface<\/p>\r\n<\/td>\r\n

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Team member 4:<\/strong><\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n
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Favorite user interface<\/p>\r\n<\/td>\r\n

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Team member 5:<\/strong><\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n
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Favorite user interface<\/p>\r\n<\/td>\r\n

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Team member 1\u2019s likes\/dislikes<\/p>\r\n<\/td>\r\n

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Team member 6:<\/strong><\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n
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Favorite user interface<\/p>\r\n<\/td>\r\n

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<\/p>\r\n<\/td>\r\n<\/tr>\r\n<\/tbody>\r\n<\/table>\r\n \r\n\r\nFor each team member, identify two user interfaces that you dislike. Discuss what you like and dislike about each user interface and then broaden your discussion to opinions that others outside of our class may hold. For instance, would you parents, grandparents, roommates, or other friends hold similar opinions or not?\r\n\r\n \r\n

Team member 1:<\/strong><\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n
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Least favorite user interface<\/p>\r\n<\/td>\r\n

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Team member 1\u2019s likes\/dislikes<\/p>\r\n<\/td>\r\n

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Team member 2:<\/strong><\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n
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Least favorite user interface<\/p>\r\n<\/td>\r\n

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Team member 3:<\/strong><\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n
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Least favorite user interface<\/p>\r\n<\/td>\r\n

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Team member 1\u2019s likes\/dislikes<\/p>\r\n<\/td>\r\n

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Team member 4<\/strong>:<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n
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Least favorite user interface<\/p>\r\n<\/td>\r\n

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Team member 5:<\/strong><\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n
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Least favorite user interface<\/p>\r\n<\/td>\r\n

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Team member 6<\/strong>:<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n
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Least favorite user interface<\/p>\r\n<\/td>\r\n

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Team member 1\u2019s likes\/dislikes<\/p>\r\n<\/td>\r\n

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After discussing your team\u2019s opinions, select 3 user interfaces for each team member to independently collect opinions from two friends and family members. You\u2019ll then share your results and discuss the different viewpoints collected.<\/p>\r\n

Each team member should collect answer to the following questions:<\/p>\r\n \r\n

User interface 1:<\/strong><\/p>\r\n\r\n