Human-Computer Interaction

The route

Lessons are in the order that makes each one easier than the last. Each unit ends with a short quiz.

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   Unit 1

   Introduction to Human-Computer Interaction

   Every screen, button and beep was designed by someone. Here is the field that asks whether they designed it for people, and how it grew from punched cards to talking phones.
   1. Meaning, Scope and Importance of Human-Computer InteractionFree Every screen, button and beep was designed by someone, and this is the field that asks whether they designed it for people. 11 min
   3. History and Evolution of Human-Computer Interaction From punched cards to talking to a phone, each era made computers usable by a bigger crowd of ordinary people. 11 min
   4. Interaction Styles Typing a command, picking from a menu, filling a form, dragging an icon or just speaking are five different conversations with a machine. 12 min
   5. Unit 1 quiz6 questions on this unit 8 min
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   Unit 2 Full plan

   Human Factors in Interface Design

   Before designing for people, understand them — what their eyes group together, what their memory drops, how fast their fingers move and why they make the mistakes they make.
   1. Human Perception and the Gestalt Principles Your eyes decide what belongs together long before your brain starts reading the labels. 11 min
   2. Memory, Attention and Cognitive Load Working memory is a tiny desk, and every interface either clears space on it or piles more on top. 12 min
   3. The Model Human Processor, Fitts' Law and the Hick–Hyman Law People are not computers, but a few simple equations predict surprisingly well how fast they point and choose. 13 min
   4. Mental Models and Norman's Seven Stages of Action Every user carries a private theory of how the system works, and the gap between that theory and reality is where frustration lives. 12 min
   5. Human Error: Slips, Lapses and Mistakes Most "user errors" are design errors wearing a disguise. 12 min
   6. Unit 2 quiz8 questions on this unit 10 min
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   Unit 3 Full plan

   Usability Concepts and Design Principles

   A precise meaning for "easy to use", and the rules of thumb from Nielsen, Shneiderman and Norman that help deliver it.
   1. Definitions of Usability: ISO 9241-11 and Nielsen's Quality Components Two apps can do exactly the same things, and one of them still wins every customer. 12 min
   2. Nielsen's Ten Usability Heuristics Ten rules of thumb that can catch most usability problems before a single user ever complains. 13 min
   3. Shneiderman's Eight Golden Rules of Interface Design Eight rules from one of the founders of the field, still pinned above many designers' desks decades later. 11 min
   4. Norman's Principles of Interaction Design Why some doors need a sign that says PUSH, and what that sign is quietly confessing about the design. 13 min
   5. Unit 3 quiz7 questions on this unit 9 min
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   Unit 4 Full plan

   User-Centred Design and Prototyping

   Ask early, ask often, sketch cheaply and go round again — the process that puts real users at the centre of every decision.
   1. The User-Centred Design Lifecycle Build it, show it to real people, learn, and go round again until it fits them. 12 min
   2. User Research and Requirements Gathering What people say they do, what they actually do, and how to find out both. 12 min
   3. Personas and Scenarios Give the research a face and a story, and the whole team starts designing for the same person. 11 min
   4. Task Analysis: HTA, GOMS and the Keystroke-Level Model Break a job into its smallest steps, and suddenly it becomes obvious where the time and the trouble hide. 10 min
   5. Prototyping Techniques: Low-Fidelity and High-Fidelity Prototypes Paper is the cheapest place to be wrong, so be wrong there first. 13 min
   6. Unit 4 quiz8 questions on this unit 10 min
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   Unit 5 Full plan

   Interface Evaluation Methods

   Five ordinary people and an afternoon can beat months of arguing. Here is how to test a design with users, with experts and with a questionnaire.
   1. Usability Evaluation and Usability Testing Five ordinary people trying a design for an afternoon will teach a team more than five months of arguing about it. 13 min
   2. Heuristic Evaluation and Cognitive Walkthrough Two ways for experts to find problems before any user is recruited, one broad and one step by step. 13 min
   3. Surveys, Interviews and the System Usability Scale Ten short statements, a little arithmetic, and a single number that says how usable people found a system. 12 min
   4. Unit 5 quiz5 questions on this unit 6 min
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   Unit 6 Full plan

   Web, Mobile and Accessible Interface Design, Emerging Technologies and Ethics

   The same principles meet scanning readers, small screens, patchy networks, users of every ability, talking machines — and the question of what designers owe the people they design for.
   1. Web Usability and Responsive Design Visitors do not read web pages; they scan, and one layout must now serve a 5-inch phone and a 27-inch monitor. 12 min
   2. Mobile Interaction and Touch-Based Interfaces A thumb, a small screen, a bumpy bus ride and a weak signal, and the design still has to work. 12 min
   3. Accessibility, Inclusive Design and Assistive Technologies Design for the edges, and the middle gets a better product for free. 12 min
   4. The Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG 2.2) Four principles, thirteen guidelines and a set of testable checks that turn "make it accessible" into a to-do list. 10 min
   5. Emerging Topics in HCI: Human-AI Interaction, Extended Reality and Ubiquitous Computing When the computer talks back, surrounds the user or disappears into a wristband, the old principles get new jobs. 13 min
   6. Ethics and Social Issues in HCI: Privacy, Persuasive Technology and Dark Patterns The same skills that make an interface easy can make it easy to trick people, and designers choose which. 13 min
   7. Unit 6 quiz8 questions on this unit 10 min

Practise and remember