ITC504 Assessment 3: Interface Usability Evaluation Report

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ITC504
ASSESSMENT 3
INTERFACE USABILITY
(EVALUATION)
Student Name:
Student ID:

Table of Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................3
Interface Evaluation.........................................................................................................................3
I. Evaluated Interface Design......................................................................................................3
II. Framework or Heuristics Used to Support the Evaluation Tasks...........................................3
III. Heuristics and the related Issues found in the Interface Design............................................3
IV. Usability Strategy for the Team............................................................................................7
Conclusion.......................................................................................................................................8
Resources.........................................................................................................................................9
Appendix........................................................................................................................................10
List of Figures
Figure 1: Gift Page.........................................................................................................................10
Figure 2: Home Page.....................................................................................................................10
Figure 3: Login Page.....................................................................................................................11
Figure 4: Movie Description Page.................................................................................................11
Figure 5: Register Page..................................................................................................................12
Figure 6: Parking Extension Page..................................................................................................12
Figure 7: Payment Confirmed.......................................................................................................13
Figure 8: Payment Page.................................................................................................................13
Figure 9: Pre-Book Movie Page....................................................................................................14

Introduction
As a part of the “Assessment 3” task, this report will be a summarization of the interface analysis
carried out by different teams. The analysis report will provide a detailed description of the
techniques, heuristic principles, tasks distribution used to execute the analysis process of the
cinema interface which was designed by another team. The main goal of this analysis is to
develop a proper understanding of the interface principles, help other students in improving their
interface design, and simultaneously developing ideas to improve the current interface design.
Interface Evaluation
I. Evaluated Interface Design
The design which was in focus for evaluation in this assessment was based on a Cinema
application. The interface was designed for a Cinema to help the staff members and the
customers to interact efficiently and smoothly. The exchange of Cinema Application interface
designs that were developed by different teams will help in finding out flaws and incompleteness
in those designs and will guide all the teams towards fulfilling the correction requirements in the
interface.
II. Framework or Heuristics Used to Support the Evaluation Tasks
For supporting the judgments and evaluation made in this evaluation project, various principles
of interface designs were used. These principles are known as “Heuristics” which were
developed and introduced by Jakob Neilsen, along with Rolf Molich, around the early ’90s and
the final Heuristics set was launched by Jacob in 1994. The Heuristics form the backbone of the
errors identified and corrections suggested in this assessment. All the recommendations for
improvement provided in this report are strictly based on the usability and implementation of the
Heuristics and design principles related to them (Nielsen, 1995).
III. Heuristics and the related Issues found in the Interface Design
This part of the report will provide a standardizes arrangement of all the issues in the interface
based on different Heuristics. It will also include the location of the issues in the interface, their
significance and set of remedies to resolve them. The discussions of all the issues along with the
Heuristic related to them are as follows (Ko, Chang & Ji 2013):

1. Proper Visibility of System Page Status
a. Some major issues are -
i. Absence of page heading on the “Movie Description”, “Pre-Book Movie”,
and “Upcoming Movie” pages.
ii. No instructions for use on the “Number of Tickets” page.
b. Identified by Kumar
c. The above issues are problematic when a user accidentally accesses these pages
and have to understand the page design to know the page purpose. Page status
helps the users in quicker identification of the page purpose.
d. The issue is moderate in terms of the usability of the application.
e. Simple page headings and informative status can be added to these pages to solve
these issues.
2. The similarity of the System with Real World
a. Lost Ticket page is not easily accessible or understandable.
b. Identified by Dharma
c. Without the help of any official, the users would not know how to recover their
ticket as there is no indication or button to navigate the users to the lost ticket
page.
d. This is a major issue in providing user convenience
e. The links to this page should be available on every major page inside a menu list.
3. Freedom and sufficient Control for Users
a. No “Home” buttons or breadcrumbs for direct navigation and exits are present in
the majority of pages.
b. Identified by Dharma, Kumar, and Ravi
c. If the user accidentally accesses a page or wants to access a different page, he can
only use the back buttons or, in some pages, the menu bar.
d. This is one of the most crucial issues in the interface design.

e. This issue can be easily solved by adding a Home Icon, breadcrumbs, or a menu
icon which provides a list of different accessible pages.
4. The design should be Consistent and follow some Standards
a. Perfectly identical designs of the “Movie page” page and the “Pre-Book Movie”
page.
b. Identified by Ravi
c. The two pages are identical enough to easily confuse the users about the actual
purpose and need for the page.
d. It is a minor issue.
e. This issue can be easily solved by combining the two pages and providing both
the “Pre-Book” and “Book Now” buttons in a single page.
5. Error Prevention Functionalities
a. There are no pop-up windows or alert boxes with the “Seating” page and
“Payment” page to prevent unintentional actions or errors from confirming.
b. Identified by Kumar
c. The error prevention is executed by using the alert windows and if the windows
are not present the user will enter the wrong page all the time.
d. Major Problem
e. Can be solved by adding a separate page to verify the actions of the user and ask
their confirmation for it.
6. Recognizing and Recalling the previously used features
a. In the Login page and the more movie page, there are separate login and search
options respectively.
b. Identified by Dharma
c. The search options and alternate login options can be used to identify the
previously performed activities but the absence of such features will force the
users to reperform those actions.

d. Moderate issue
e. Can be solved by adding a search field with recommendations in the movie page
and by adding alternate login options on the login page.
7. Aesthetic & Minimalist interface design
a. The page designs of parking and payment-completion do not follow this principle.
b. Identified by Ravi
c. The cash option is unnecessary in the payment completion page and the parking
page has too many information without proper separation. The user might get
confused with those pages.
d. The issue is moderate.
e. The issue can be solved easily by removing the cash option from the “Payment
completion” page and the information in the parking page can be divided into a
separate list.
8. Flexible and Efficient Use
a. The Movie Page, food page and the game page do not follow this principle.
b. Identified by Kumar and Dharma
c. The movie and the food page do not have any scroll bar and the circular list
display is not efficient to use by the users.
d. Minor Issue
e. Using a separate list for all the food and games using a scrollbar can be
implemented, and the movie page should include both a pre-book and amount
details.
9. Help the users in recognizing, diagnosing, and recovering from errors
a. In the payment page and the login page, there are no pop-ups for the incorrect
credentials.
b. Identified by Ravi and Dharma
c. If the user enters a wrong password, there is no notification or suggestions
provided in the pages
d. Major problem
e. All the forms and verifications should include error display page in case the user
enters the wrong credentials.

10. Help and Documentation
a. There are no links or pages to provide instructions and policies of the apps. The
upcoming movie page and the login page does not have any instructions to help
the users.
b. Identified by Kumar
c. The lack of instructions and links for help may be problematic for the users as the
users cannot perform the action correctly.
d. Moderate
e. Instructions can be added directly to the pages and the forms.
IV. Usability Strategy for the Team
The usability strategy to be followed by the team for a successful interface design includes 3
major steps and these steps are described as follows:
1. Considerations before initiating the interface design
a. Design a proper strategy for the design
b. Distribute the tasks according to the strategy
c. Consider some previous problems and mistakes
d. Understand new features introduced in the software
e. Design a report or blueprint for the designs
f. Develop a timescale and timetable for the tasks
g. Prioritize functionality and usability over the appearance of Interface
2. Things to be considered during the designing phase
a. Keep in mind the target users for whom the application is being designed
b. Understand the key values each functionality will add in the system
c. Try to make the interface look realistic and simplest.
d. Conduct small meetings to discuss the growth and identify the issues faced by
each member.
e. Based on the meeting make necessary changes in the task distribution

f. Compare the pages with already launched applications to identify the missing
functionalities.
3. Things to be considered after completing the interface design
a. Check whether all the buttons, breadcrumbs and icons are linked properly or not.
b. Conduct an initial test of the interface to confirm a proper working
c. Take help from other students to identify flaws and missing functionalities in the
interface.
d. Implement the new functionalities identified (Mi et al. 2014).
Conclusion
The evaluation assessment carried out as a part of assessment 3 is completely described and
documented in the application. The report shows the step by step procedure and tasks carried out
by each team member while evaluating the assigned interface. The interface was evaluated on
the basis of heuristics developed by Jakob Neilsen, and Rolf Molich. The evaluation, error
detection, recommendation covered in this report are based on these set of heuristics.

Resources
Nielsen, J. (1995). 10 usability heuristics for user interface design. Nielsen Norman Group, 1(1).
Ko, S. M., Chang, W. S., & Ji, Y. G. (2013). Usability principles for augmented reality
applications in a smartphone environment. International Journal of Human-Computer
Interaction, 29(8), 501-515.
Mi, N., Cavuoto, L. A., Benson, K., Smith-Jackson, T., & Nussbaum, M. A. (2014). A heuristic
checklist for an accessible smartphone interface design. Universal access in the information
society, 13(4), 351-365.
Salazar, L. H. A., Lacerda, T., Nunes, J. V., & von Wangenheim, C. G. (2013). A systematic
literature review on usability heuristics for mobile phones. International Journal of Mobile
Human Computer Interaction (IJMHCI), 5(2), 50-61.

Appendix
Figure 1: Gift Page

Figure 2: Home Page
Figure 3: Login Page

Figure 4: Movie Description Page
Figure 5: Register Page