Ask Eric: Questions & Answers

December 26, 2006 – submitted by Gupta of Pune, India

Question: Hi Dr Schaffer. I would like to know the role of usability in automotive design . Do automobile companies around the globe implement user centered design methodologies aggressively which are so common in the software industry. If yes to what extent?

Eric's response: There is actually a whole division of the usability field that specifically concentrates on transportation. Those who specialize in this are generally a bit separate from the usability generalist, and are very focused and advanced. I've seen a lot of good research on control systems; even down to the details of the ratio of steering wheel movement to tire angle change. So the usability technology is very much there. I am, however, not really sure to what extent this is institutionalized. They certainly include usability people in the design process. But I am not sure to what extent this is a mature process with methods, tools, quality assurance, documentation, etc.

September 15, 2006 – submitted by Christina Chang of St. Louis, MO

Question: First of all. I thank you for all the wonderful resources your company provides - your Web site, your books and the white papers, newsletter, etc. I am planning to get on your training track in 2007.

Our company does EMR software and will have a handheld version. I am going to do a usability analyst of it. Do you have any good principles, suggestions or resources that I can refer to. I am pretty new in handheld applications. Thanks very much!

Eric's response: Christina,we are happy you enjoy the material. It is amazing to me that we get 1/3 of a million unique visitors a year on humanfactors.com Also, I'm VERY sure you will enjoy the training program. In many ways the training has become a central repository of HFI's experience and knowledge in the field. Not a bad investment of two weeks total.

When you are working on "Baby Face" interfaces you will find that 92% of the design process and principles are exactly the same as full sized interfaces. Most differences have to do with working in the limited space and with restricted input devices/speeds. This means you end up with more modal interfaces (where a given key means different things depending on the mode you are working in), and more unpacked interfaces (that step the user through an operation in small screen bites). All this makes it harder to show the big picture and keep the users oriented.

February 20, 2006 – submitted by Patrick Williams of Washington, DC

Question: My organization is considering replacing all or part of a large technical document with an FAQ format. Are there standards or references which explain when an FAQ format is appropriate? Are there references which explain how to develop and organize such a site?

Eric's response: Well that won't work.

An FAQ is an effective and often used part of Web sites. But there is a real limit to a basic FAQ format. An FAQ is generally a list of common questions. How many questions can you list and still have users be able to find things? The user will not know how you have phrased the question. So an alphabetic organization won't work. Grouping items logically helps, but in a classic FAQ there is a limit on how many items can be reached even after grouping.

There are certainly advanced FAQ formats, which are usually based on various types of searches. But these are really forms of online documentation.

January 23, 2006 – submitted by Suma Mohan of Singapore

Question: What do you think are the most important usability issues in developing software for cultural diversity?

Eric's response: There are many levels of design challenge in cross-cultural work. There is the obvious and essential translation and conversion of formats. There is also modification of business rules based on legal requirements and local conventions. But some of the most interesting issues have to do with different taskflows and work styles. The single biggest dimension seems to be individualistic vs. communal cultures. This significantly changes many designs. There are many additional dimensions (such as how hierarchical a culture is, or how easily they accept risk or ambiguity.

Finally, I want to mention that our usability engineering METHODS must also change as per culture. The standard methods were mostly developed in the United States. They often work poorly in Asia.