Lecture Topics in HCI, by Saul Greenberg
Back to: Design guidelines and usability heuristics

Exercise: Applying Heuristic Evaluation to a Paper Prototype


Perform a heuristic evaluation of this system (which was copied from the Molich and Nielson Paper). This system is part of a service from "Alberta Telephone" (ALTEL) to home computer users. Typical users have little knowledge of data processing. They can dial into the system, which will provide the name and address of a telephone subscriber in Canada, given the telephone number of the subscriber.

Assumptions

Specifications. The user enters this system by selecting "Computer Telephone Index" from the main ALTEL menu (not shown). The system then issues the following prompt:

ENTER DESIRED TELEPHONE NO. AND RETURN

If the user enters anything other than exactly ten digits in response to this prompt, the system answers:

ILLEGAL NUMBER. TRY AGAIN.

If the user enters a telephone number which is not in use, the system answers:

UNKNOWN TELEPHONE NUMBER

If the area code of the telephone number is 403 (the area code for Alberta), the system will normally display the screen shown in the figure within five seconds. For other area codes, the system must retrieve the necessary information from an external database; this may take up to thirty seconds.

The Heuristic Evaluation Process. Use the following guidelines to evaluate the system. Compare your notes with 3-5 other evaluators.

Simple and natural dialogue Be consistent Provide shortcuts
Use the user's language Provide feedback Prevent Errors and
Deal with errors in positive and helpful manner,
Minimize user memory load Provide clearly marked exits Provide help and documentation


Last updated September 1997, by Saul Greenberg