Usability for RIA

Donna Maurer - Usability for rich internet applications

Usability？ 使用性、可用性、優使性。簡而言之，就是好不好用。

Donna Maurer在Webstock 2006裡的一份簡報裡，列出她覺得好用服務的特性、應考量的使用者習性，以及11個網路服務的操作錄影檔，分析其中優劣，值得一看，可以體會好用/不好用之間的差異。

Characteristics of a usable application?

• Efficient
• Effective
• Satisfying
• Easy to learn
• Easy to control
• Allow people to reduce, identify & recover from error
• Provides good feedback
• Allow the user control of their experience

Key human attributes to consider

• Visual perception
  • Attention is limited
  • Visual attention is attracted by movement & contrast
  • 3-dimensional perception - shadows, size & depth
• Memory - very poor working memory
• Intuition
  • Intuition is dependent on past experiences
  • Instinct has no experiential element
  • To design something that is intuitive, need to know about the users experiences
• People make errors
  • Slips - intend one action, do another
  • Mistakes - intend the resulting action, not knowing it is in error