Chapter 10

Review Questions 10.13-10.16 & 10.24

10. 13 Describe the prototyping process of designing forms and reports. What
deliverables are produced from this process? Are these deliverables the same for all
types of system projects? Why or why not?

Designing forms and reports is a user-focused activity that typically follows a

prototyping approach. First, you must gain an understanding of the intended user and
task objectives by collecting initial requirements during requirements determination.
After collecting the initial requirements, you structure and refine this information into
an initial prototype. Structuring and refining the requirements are completed
independent from the users, although you may need to occasionally contact users to
clarify some issue overlooked during analysis. Finally, you ask users to review and
evaluate the prototype. After reviewing the prototype, users may accept the design or
request that changes be made. If changes are needed, you will repeat the construction-
evaluate-refinement cycle until the design is accepted. Usually, several iterations of this
cycle occur during the design of a single form or report. The major deliverables
produced from the process of designing forms and reports are the creation of design
specifications. A design specification includes a narrative overview, a sample design,
and a testing and usability assessment section.Some specification information may be
irrelevant when designing some forms and reports. For example, the design of a simple
“Yes/No” selection form may be so straightforward that no usability assessment would
be needed. Also, much of the narrative overview may be unneeded, unless it was used to
highlight some exception that must be considered during implementation.

10. 14 What initial questions must be answered for an analyst to build an initial
prototype of a system output?

The initial questions are listed in Table 8–1; these questions include: (1) who will use
this form or report; (2) what is the purpose of the form or report; (3) when is the form
or report needed and used; (4) where does the form or report need to be delivered and
used; and (5) how many people need to use or view the form or report?

10. 15 When can highlighting be used to convey special information to users?

There are several situations where highlighting is a valuable technique for

conveying special information, including: 1.Notifying users of errors in data entry or
processing.2.Providing warnings to users regarding possible problems such as
unusual data values or an unavailable device.3.Drawing attention to keywords,
commands, high priority messages, and data that have changed or gone outside
normal operating ranges.

10. 16 Discuss the benefits, problems, and general design process for the use of
color when designing system output.

The benefits and problems associated with the use of color are the following:1.Soothes
or Strike the eye.2.Accent an uninteresting display.3.Facilitates subtle discrimination in
complex displays.4.Emphasis the logical organization of information.5.Draw attention
to warnings.6.Evokes more emotional reactions. As the use of color displays
became widely available during the 1980s, a substantial amount of color
versus no-color research was conducted. The objective of this research was to
gain a better understanding of the effects of color on human task performance. The
general findings from this research showed that the use of color has positive effects on
user t a s k p e r f o r m a n c e a n d p e r c e p t i o n s w h e n th e u s e r i s u n d e r t i m e
c o n s t r a i n t s f o r t h e completion of a task. Color is also beneficial for gaining
greater understanding from a display or chart. An important conclusion from this
research is that color is not universally better than no color. The benefits of color
only seem to apply if the information is first provided to the user in the most
appropriate presentation format. That is, if information is most effectively
displayed in a bar chart, color can be used to enhance or supplement the display. If
information is displayed in an inappropriate format, color has little or no effect on
improving understanding or task performance.

10. 24 Provide some examples where variations in users, tasks, systems, and
environmental characteristics might affect the design of system forms and reports.

User-related concerns include experience, skills, motivation, education, and personality.

Task-related concerns include time pressure, cost of errors, and work duration. The
system platform is a system-related concern, and lighting, sound, and task interruptions
are environment-related concerns.

Chapter 11

11. 13 Contrast the following terms:

 a. Dialogue, interface
b. Command language interaction, form interaction, menu interaction,
natural language interaction, object-based interaction
c. Drop-down menu, pop-up menu

A dialogue reflects the sequence of interaction between a user and a system. An interface is a
method by which users interact with information systems.

Command language interaction is a human-computer interaction method where explicit

statements are entered into a system to invoke operations. Menu interaction is a human-
computer interaction method where a list of system options are provided and a specific
command is invoked by user selection of a menu option. Form interaction is a highly intuitive
human-computer interaction method where data fields are formatted in a manner similar to
paper-based forms. Object-based interaction is a human-computer interaction method where
symbols are used to represent commands or functions. Natural language interaction is a
human-computer interaction method where inputs to and outputs from a computer-based
application are in a conventional speaking language such as English.

A drop-down menu is a positioning method that places the access point of the menu near the
top line of the display; when accessed, menus open by dropping down onto the display. A pop-
up menu is a positioning method that places a menu near the current cursor position.

11. 14 Describe the process of designing interfaces and dialogues. What

deliverables are produced from this process? Are these deliverables the same for all
types of system projects? Why or why not?

The process of designing interfaces and dialogues is similar to that of designing forms and
reports (outlined in Chapter 13). Thus, the design process is a user-focused activity that
typically follows a prototyping approach. First, you must gain an understanding of the
intended user and task objectives by collecting initial requirements during requirements
determination. After collecting the initial requirements, you structure and refine this
information into an initial prototype. Structuring and refining the requirements are completed
independently from the users, although you may need to occasionally contact users to clarify
some issue overlooked during analysis. Finally, you ask users to review and evaluate the
prototype. After reviewing the prototype, users may accept the design or request that changes
be made. If changes are needed, you repeat the construction-evaluate-refinement cycle until the
design is accepted. Usually, several iterations of this cycle occur during the design of a single
interface or dialogue. The deliverables produced from the process are design specifications that
include a narrative overview, sample design, testing and usability assessment, and outline of
dialogue sequence.

Some specification information may be irrelevant when designing some systems. For example,
for a simple system, using common modules, the design may be so straightforward that no
usability assessment is needed. Also, much of the narrative overview may be unnecessary
unless it is used to highlight some exception that must be considered during implementation.

11. 15 Describe five methods of interacting with a system. Is one method better than
all others? Why or why not?

Methods for interacting with a system include command language interaction, menu
interaction, form interaction, object-based interaction, and natural language interaction.
Command language interaction is a human-computer interaction method where explicit
statements are entered into a system to invoke operations. Menu interaction is a human-
computer interaction method where a list of system options are provided and a specific
command is invoked by user selection of a menu option. Form interaction is a highly intuitive
human-computer interaction method where data fields are formatted in a manner similar to
paper-based forms. Object-based interaction is a human-computer interaction method where
symbols are used to represent commands or functions. Natural language interaction is a
human-computer interaction method where inputs to and outputs from a computer-based
application are in a conventional speaking language such as English.

Each method is different and all have their strengths and weaknesses. Without specifying the
characteristics of the user, task, environment, etc. it is not possible to flatly state that one
method is “better” than the others.

11. 16 Describe several input devices for interacting with a system. Is one device
better than all others? Why or why not?

11. 27 List and describe the common interface and dialogue design errors found on
websites.

Common interface and dialogue errors found on Websites include: opening a new browser
window, breaking or slowing down the back button, complex URLs, orphan pages, scrolling
navigation pages, lack of navigation support, hidden links, links that do not provide enough
information, and buttons that provide no click feedback. Table 14-15 provides descriptions of
these common errors.