2.4 Efficiency

• Efficiency; how well does the thing do what it’s supposed to do/deliver these outcomes in a way that emphasizes maximum output for minimum input, or maximum gain for minimum effort?
• Efficiency Three Factors:

  1. The number of steps involved in getting from beginning to done.
  2. The difficulty or effort required in moving through those steps.
  3. The amount of abstractions applied to remove the user from the process.
• Methods that are by far the easiest ways to increase the relative efficiency of your product: Reduce Effort, Reduce Number of Steps
• Reduce number of steps;

  • Skip
  • Reuse
  • Get Rid
• Reduce Effort:

  • Minimize efforts of users by any means possible
• The various types of user interfaces include:

  • graphical user interface (GUI)
  • command line interface (CLI)
  • menu-driven user interface.
• Hick-Hyman Law was named after British and American Psychologist Team:

  • William Edmund Hickman
  • Ray Hayman
• Hick-Hyman Law; the more stimuli to choose from, the longer it takes the user to make a decision on which one to interact with.

  • RT = a + b log2(n)
• Hick-Hyman Law; examine how many functions you should offer at any part of your website and how this will affect your users overall approach to decision-making
• Hick-Hyman Law: Reduce the number of stimuli and get a faster decision-making process
• KISS - Keep it Short and Simple
• KISS: States that Simplicity is the key for a system to work in the best way
• Hick-Hyman Law; Try and simplify the decision-making process, not eliminate the process entirely
• Landing Page; first glimpse the user will have of the site
• Draw the users eye with a well-placed image; they'll see that before they start reading
• Make the main option to stand out
• Separate the essential material from the secondary.
• Variables to measure Hick-Hyman Law Application:

  • Time on Site
  • Page Views
• Fitts's Law; the time to acquire a target is a function of the distance to and size of the target

  • T = RT + MT = a + b + log (DIS + 1)
• Fitts's Law; Specifies how fast can you move your hand to a target of a certain size (s) at a certain distance (d) away
• Command Buttons; and any other interactive elements in the GUI must be distinguished from other non-interactive elements by size
• The Outer Edges and Corners of the GUI; can be acquired with greater speed than anywhere else in the display, due to pinning action of the screen
• Pop-Up Menus; better support immediate selection of interactive elements than dropdown menus as the user does not have to move the cursor from its current position
• Selecting Options; Linear menus takes longer than clicking options in pie menus- where choices are arranges in a circle
• Task Bars; impede movement through the interface as they require more time-consuming level of precision than when options are placed on the outer limits of the screen
• Movement and Distances; Placing key site components far apart will increase the amount of time required in completing sequential tasks in your interface
• Movement and Distances; the sorter distances between buttons that are similar to each other makes them easier to use
• Grouping Items; important to keep interface items that are similar in close proximity to each other to reduce the distance between them, and thereby improving usability under the Fitts's law model
• Aim of UI Design; Reduce the distance from one point to the next and make the target object large enough to be enable prompt detection and selection of interactive elements without sacrificing accuracy
• Hick-Hyman Law; states that the more stimuli users face, the longer it will take them to make a decision
• Categorizing Choice; enabling users to find items from higher categories, as if they were looking under sections in a library
• Obscuring Complexity; Breaking up long or complex processes into screens with fewer options
• Fitts's Law; applied to the design of interactive objects in graphical displays