The Complete Guide to Human-Computer Interaction Design - HCI

What is HUMAN COMPUTER INTERACTION?

HCI is the study of the way in which people interact with computers and, in particular, how to make these interactions more effective and enjoyable. HCI is an interdisciplinary field that draws from psychology, information architecture, and computer science. A major goal of HCI is to make computers easier to use.

In recent decades, the field has expanded to include the study of human-computer interaction in various forms of software and hardware, in addition to studying individual computer users.

The interest in developing this field began in the 1950s when researchers started exploring computers' adverse effects on human behavior. This led to a research interest in how humans could be affected by computers and how they could be used to improve people's lives.

What is the goal of HCI human-computer interaction?

• To design systems to be easy to use
• To design systems that are easy to learn
• To design systems that are easy to adapt to different users

What does a HCI designer do?

• A human-computer interaction designer
•  Designs for people
•  How to make products more usable
•  Uses research and data analysis
•  Is interested in how people interact with technology and how technology affects people

What Makes a Good HUMAN COMPUTER INTERACTION Design?

A good Human Computer Interaction design is one that is easy to use and provides the user with a sense of control over the interface. It should also be clear what each function does and provide meaningful feedback to the user. It should be intuitive, but allow for a certain level of experimentation. , and offer easy and simple navigation through the interface. The user should feel like they are in control of the application and be able to easily accomplish their tasks without too much difficulty.

What is A/B Testing and its Importance to Web Development?

A/B testing is the process of comparing two versions of a web page to see which one performs better.

A/B testing is crucial to web development because it allows developers to compare two versions of a web page and determine which is more successful. A/B testing can be used to compare different versions of a web page or website, ad copy, images, or calls to action. .A/B testing is the process of creating and launching two versions of a website, typically with different content and visual appearance, in order to determine which performs better.

What are the Five Phases of the A/B Testing Process?

• Plan
• Design
• Launch
• Analyze
• Improve
• Repeat

Example of A/B testing

A/B testing is generally used to test two versions of a web page (e.g. a new version vs. the old version) to see which one performs well (usually in terms of a conversion goal).

Classic A/B testing: The more ambitious form of A/B testing is called "split-testing" and involves creating two variations of the same page, where one variation is the control and the other variation is the test. The test variation will typically present an improvement over the control, such as different text, images or layout. In this scenario, the test variation will be made visible to half of the traffic and then to the other half of traffic.

The goal is to optimize the page with the most votes. As an example, a research company might recruit individuals from different backgrounds and races in order to test their hypothesis about whether or not advertising messages could get people into a buying mindset. In this case, one group of people would be shown an advertisement while another group would not be shown any advertisements during that trial period. This is known as "randomized controlled trial" RCT. Outcomes would be recorded and communicate to the researcher.

Within this experiment, data is strictly collected and analyzed in order to find out whether advertising with contact information results in more conversions than no advertising.

What are A/B testing software like Optimize & AB Tasty

A/B testing software like Optimizely & AB Tasty provide the ability to create variations of a webpage, while simultaneously testing which variation performs the best.

These tools allow for the creation of the variations which are then inserted into the website. The variations are usually either different text or different images. The variations are then tested in a controlled environment to see which one performs better. Once the variation that performs better is found, it will be used on the website and the other variation will be removed.

Some of A/B test plan template is here:

• A/B Test Plan Template
• Objectives
• What is the goal of the test?
• What are the benefits of solving this issue?
• What will be the metric to determine if the test succeeded?
• Scope
• What test should be conducted? What should be in scope for this test?
• Who are we testing this out on? What are their demographics? (e.g. age, gender, country)
• How many people should be in the test group?
• How many people should be in the control group?
•  When should the test be conducted?
• Will the test be conducted before, during or after the implementation of the new process?
• How should the test be conducted?
• Should all participants in the test group receive a certain treatment or should everyone who is not in the test group receive a different treatment?
• What type of outcome measure is most appropriate for measuring success/failure?
• Is there a control group to compare this with and to make sure that any changes are due to process change, and not just random chance?
• What is the expected effect size for this type of intervention?
• How many people need to be involved in a program for it to be cost-effective?
• Outcome Measures Success/Failure: patient's functional ability measured as change in performance on a given task, usually using the MSDS (Medical Symptom and Disability Scale) or other similar measure. There is no control group. No effect size estimate provided.

Extra notes about Decision Tree:

What is a Decision Tree?

A decision tree is a graphical illustration of a sequence of events, decisions, or conclusions, with several different possible outcomes and corresponding branches on the tree.

A decision tree is a representation of a process or problem at different points in time and the options available for each point.

It is usually used for analysis, planning, or presentation of problems to be considered. Decision trees are often used in business decision-making, such as product design and marketing strategy.

Decision trees were created by Charles Robert Darwin. He thought that animal behavior could be explained with four levels of complexity: instinctive intelligence, reflex intelligence, conceptual intelligence, and abstract intelligence. He thought that animals were capable of only instinctive and reflexive levels of complexity.

Conclusion

A/B testing is utilized in Human-Computer Interaction Design to improve the usability of a product. A/B testing is a design methodology that is conducted by launching two versions of a product, A and B, and allowing the users to decide which version is the most preferred.