KEY CONSIDERATIONS IN CHOOSING AN INTERACTION STYLE

 

KEY CONSIDERATIONS IN CHOOSING AN INTERACTION STYLE

Keyboard layout

A keyboard’s layout is essential when interacting with an application that expects the user to type something. Some of the styles that require the user’s typing expertise include command line and form filling. Soegaard (n.d.) states that the command line interaction style, mostly used in UNIX, requires the user to type in commands for the program that affects the execution of the command. Form filling, on the other hand, is where the user inputs data in specific fields. It is mostly implemented by office and database applications. Keyboards are essential from the arrangement of the alphabet, size, and spacing of the keys, functions, and position of the function keys and the cursor movement keys. All the letters of the alphabet must be present and preferably arranged in alphabetic order for a more accessible location, especially by non-typists. The size and spacing between the keys are also important as they should not be too small nor too large; neither should the keys be too close nor very far apart for easier manipulation by the user. Besides, the user should also have the functionalities of the function keys at their fingertips. However, the meaning of each key may vary depending on the application. The cursor movement keys are also crucial in moving the cursor up, down, left and right. On the other hand, small devices use other types of keyboards, including wireless or foldable, virtual keyboards, cloth keyboards, among others.

Pointing devices

These devices are applied to six types of interaction tasks. The first task is the select where the user is required to choose from a set of items. Then there is the position that requires the user to pick a particular point in a one, two, three, or higher-dimensional space. It may also be used in placing a new window or creating a drawing. The third one is called orient, which involves direction choosing in a one, two, three, or higher-dimensional space. There is also the Path, which includes a series of both the position and orient operations. The fifth and sixth are quantify and text, which involves specification of a numeric value and entering, moving, or editing of text in two-dimensional space, respectively. The pointing devices are essential in menus majorly seen in Gopher and MS Windows applications. This style lists possible actions on the screen, and the user is supposed to select one of the actions (Soegaard, n.d.). Examples of pointing devices include a mouse, light pen, joystick touchpad, stylus, touchscreen, and graphics tablet.

Speech and auditory interfaces

These interfaces come in handy when implementing interaction styles that require the user to speak or listen to the computer at some point. One such style is the question and answer style. An application asks the user some questions, the user answers, and the application gives results. This type of interaction mostly has several pitfalls like interference from background noise or variations in the user’s speech. However, it is highly beneficial to individuals who are physically handicapped.

Display

This interaction interface is fast becoming the primary source of user feedback from the computer. It has various crucial features that ensure efficiency and reliability. Some of the features include physical dimensions, resolution, luminance and contrast, power consumption, cost, and the number of colors available. The display is generally applicable to all the interaction styles because in whichever of them, apart from the questions and answers, they all require the user to see what they are doing, which is always displayed on the computer’s screen.

CONTEXTUAL RESEARCH

Contextual research means visiting people in their everyday environment (like their home, work, or school) to observe how they do an activity. Watching someone complete a task in familiar surroundings with their equipment can help you understand what they need from your service (User Research Community, 2018). Contextual research is unique in that it puts you in the user environment. It has a varied role, and while conducting contextual research, you have to consider questions like – what is the goal of this research? Who exactly are you trying to target? How accessible is the audience/location? These will be some of the guidelines as you conduct research.

The various roles of Contextual research include: –

1. You will get to see how your product fits into everyday life – observing people in their everyday environment will give you an insight into what they are doing with your product. Contextual research allows us to see how our product fits into a broader context and the broader problem that you are trying to solve.
2. You will discover new personas – Contextual research brings your research to life. Often our assumptions are so strong, hence going out there and seeing for ourselves the many people and factors that we have not considered in our experiences challenge those assumptions.
3. Contact with hard-to-reach users – One may not have a vast database of contacts that you can call upon for research with a particular focus, but if you know where these users are going to be, contextual research is a great way to get time with them (Malpass, 2018)
4. Understand clients and potential clients – While interviewing is also very important, the information provided during interviews is not always accurate or reliable. To understand what people do, you cannot just ask them; you have to observe them.
5. Compliment to other methods of research – Observation as is involved in contextual research, can act as a complement to other methods like interviews. This is since you can observe without asking questions.

To experience benefits and roles of contextual research to the fullest, you will have to plan the goals of the research, plan your research methods, plan who, where and when to Observe, plan multiple sessions for contextual research and conduct a background research since you will not be able to ask questions throughout the observation session.

 

Conclusion

In conclusion, understanding the various aspects a user needs is essential in determining an interaction style to implement in an application. Some of the critical elements like speech, typing, display, and selection capabilities affect how a user interacts with an application when they need something done. On the other hand, the essence of contextual research comes in handy when comprehending users and how they interact in their everyday life.

References

Soegaard, M. (n.d.). Interaction Styles. Retrieved February 29, 2020, from https://www.interaction-design.org/literature/book/the-glossary-of-human-computer-interaction/interaction-styles

Malpass, C. (2018, December 2). UX Collective. Everything you need to know about contextual research, p. 1.

User research community. (2018, September 1). GOV.UK Service Manual. Retrieved from www.gov.uk/service-manual/user-research/contexual-research-and-observation