HFI's Usability Course » June 2007 Batch

Recently, I have attended HFI's Usability Course from 18th June '07 to 28th June '07 (10 Days). It has changed my vision of designing web pages and application interfaces.

It has improved my thought process before designing anything and now it became the habit of asking myself :
• "WHY"... why I am designing this way and not the other way?
• Will this be useful for the actual user and serve their purpose?
• Will this be user friendly and easy to understand?
• Will they be able to complete their task successfully?
• Will this satisfy users?
and many more...

My experience througout the course was excellent and my take home from this course were:
• User's Conceptual Model (their needs and behaviour)
­• Industry Standards related to Designs
• Design Principles
• User Centric Analysis Process
• Importance of Usability Testing throughout product development
• How to put Research into Practice
• How to design effective websites & web applications
and many more ...

Topics of HFI's Usability Courses are:
• User Centric Analysis and Conceptual Model (3 Days)
• The Science and Art of Effective Web & Application Design (3 Days)
• Practical Usability Testing (2 Days)
• Putting Research into Practice (2 Days)

I strongly recommend this course for designers to attend it.

Certified Usability Analyst exam's paper pattern and guidelines

Recently, I had a talk with Chirutha Dalal about CUA (Certified Usability Analyst) exam. As I got few useful information about it, here I am noting down few DO's and DONT's for the exam and paper pattern as per what she explained me:

• Exam will be devided in 4 sections
• Each section will be having few set of questions (UCD-26, Design-38, UT-26, PRP-10)
• No Negative Marking
• 70 % passing score
• Suggestive time to spent on each section will be mentioned

• prepare separate notes or stick yellow notes on given material for easy reference
• Objectives type of Questions (Choose answer from 1-4)
• Can't Jump from one section to another (Sequential Navigation :) )
• Can Jump from one question to another within that section (Persistent Menu :))
• Questions will be more of scenario based and need to apply your experience
• Can flag a question to get back to it again
• Got to attend sections in form of (1 >> 2 >> 3 >> 4)

• Once a particular section submited can't go back to previous one (very important)
• Research Section (4th) is the easiest one so, spare 10-12 mins for it and you can score high
• go through given Study Guide thoroughly

I hope this would be useful.

Orkut Blog - Arrived!!!

Orkut Blog - Arrived!!!

On Monday, June 25, 2007 Orkut has launched it's on blog for users. Have a look at the site to check what's there inside.

User Centric Design at Glance

[Source - businessinnovationinsider]

Following is the process to accomplish User Centric Design approach.

1. Design Strategy
   • To understand Stake Holder's Goals and Expectations
   • To gather background information
   
   
2. Profiles and Personas
   Collect various profiles of:
   • User Profiles
   • Environmetal Profiles
   • Task Profiles



3. Data Gathering
   To collect data by way of:
   • Interviews
   • Contextual Inquiry
   • Focus Groups
   • Surveys & Questionnaires



4. Scenarios and Task Analysis
   • Scenarios to use across design life cycle
   • Define Task Steps



5. Primary Nouns
   • "Things" user take action on or manipulate
   • It needs to be obvious on pages



6. Information Architecture
   • Labelling Systems
   • Categorical Schemes
   • Hybrid Schemes
   • Hierarchical Organisation
   

Course II - The Art and Science of Effective Web and Application Design, HFI

One another course completed with HFI (Course II - The Art and Science of Effective Web and Application Design). It was good course to attend as it gives clear understanding on how one should design the website and application by keep in mind the user's mental model.

Shortly, i will write more about it!!! Do share your comments.

Pictures of All Courses .

User Centered Analysis and Conceptual Design - HFI Course

Just completed 3 days (18th Jun - 20th June) course on User Centered Analysis and Conceptual Design of Human Factors International conducted by Abhijit Thosar at Residential Hotel. It was really wonderful experience to know about "users", their behaviour, their mental models.

I will write more about it shortly.

Blackle.com - Saving energy one search at a time

Blackle is the new product of Google, which is created on theory of saving energy. Isn't it sound funny? but, that's true, very true thing.

Blackle saves energy because the screen is predominantly black. "Image displayed is primarily a function of the user's color settings and desktop graphics, as well as the color and size of open application windows; a given monitor requires more power to display a white (or light) screen than a black (or dark) screen." Roberson et al, 2002

There are a lot of great web sites about saving energy and being more environmentally friendly. They are full of great tips covering the little things that we can all do to make a difference today. Try Blackling "energy saving tips" or visit treehugger.com a great blog dedicated to environmental awareness.

HFI’s 10-days 4 part Usability Training Program (Myself attending Jun ‘07 Batch)

Luckily at the last moment I got a chance to attend June Batch of HFI’s 10-days 4 part Usability Training Program (18th June -to- 28th June).

These courses are designed to gear up participants to become certified Usability analyst.

1) User-Centered Analysis and Conceptual Design (UCA) – 3 Days
2) The Science and Art of Effective Web Design (Design) – 3 Days
3) Practical Usability Testing (UT) – 2 Days
4) Putting Research into Practice (PRP) – 2 Days

Once I will be through with these courses, I will post my experience over here.

For enquiry of above courses for next batch contact Archana.

Archana Saraf
Senior Marketing Support Executive
Human Factors International
Ph: 91 – 22 - 40107400
Cell : 9324233477

email : archana@humanfactors.com

Thanks,

Prash

Microsoft Surface - The next generation of computer

The software giant announced at the D5 conference that it’s built a new touchscreen computer—a coffee table that will change the world. Go inside its top-secret development with PopularMechanics.com, then forget the keyboard and mouse: The next generation of computer interfaces will be hands-on.

http://link.brightcove.com/services/link/bcpid932579976/bclid932553050/bctid933742930

Have a look at the above video, it is an amazing technology.

Creativity

Characteristics of the Creative Person

1. curious
2. seeks problems
3. enjoys challenge
4. optimistic
5. able to suspend judgment
6. comfortable with imagination
7. sees problems as opportunities
8. sees problems as interesting
9. problems are emotionally acceptable
10. challenges assumptions
11. doesn't give up easily: perseveres, works hard

Positive Attitudes for Creativity

1. Curiosity
2. Challenge
3. Constructive discontent
4. A belief that most problems can be solved
5. The ability to suspend judgment and criticism
6. Seeing the good in the bad
7. Problems lead to improvements
8. A problem can also be a solution
9. Problems are interesting and emotionally acceptable

Miscellaneous Good Attitudes

1. Perseverance
2. A flexible imagination
3. A belief that mistakes are welcome

Source

Design Standards - when can it be in place?

When can a company/individual put the standard in place (as per my understanding)

• (most important) if they have will to implement the standards
• If they have appropriate resources in place
• If they have proper plan in place
• If they have right staff in place

Pagge Paadi to Maatana Madh - Kutch (2006)

barCamp mumbai

This is to inform everyone that BarCampMumbai UniversityLevel is coming up.

Date: 11.02.07Venue: K. J. Somaiya Engineering College, Vidyavihar (E), Mumbai - 77

For more details, please visit the wiki at http://barcamp.org/BarCampMumbaiU

Looking for Sponsors:
BarCampMU is a university level event, and while it might not have the level of participants that a regular BarCamp has, it is a step in the right direction, and I am sure it will encourage students to think out of the box, think different and beyond the university syllabus. However, even a small event needs sponsors, and any sponsorship of any kind will be greatly appreciated.

If you are interested in sponsoring the event in any way, please leave me a line at scdoshi@gmail.com or call me or message me at 9821889957.

Spread the word:
Let everyone know about BarCampMU, blog about it, post it on user groups, mailing lists, etc. Just spread the word. Please.

Everyone is welcome:
Professionals are just as welcome as students. In fact, if you have the time, please make it a point to come and speak on some topic. Industry - Student networking in one if the key advantages of BarCampMU.

"Guru" bhai aavya chhe!!!

Overall the film was really good, it really inspires a young entrepreneur to work for himself and it throws a message to them that keep trying untill you succeed. Abhishek has acted damn well and Aishwarya looks different.

What I felt funny was that last sequence of the movie, Abhishek totally tried acting like his dad and couple of dialogues were look like picked up from Agnipath and Amar Akabar Anthony.

Cricket: Dancing Sreesanth in SA!!!

Cricket: This is Sreesanth, of India, responding to Andre (the Giant) Nel of South Africa by scoring a six and..... (more) I think India should definately this sort of attitude ,,,,, a fire back. Common India!!!! Dikhaa do.

What is SPAM Emails?

Try to understand what is Spam?
Many people including some people working in an Internet security products company is unable to identify the SPAM emails. I got this spam email forwarded to me from one of my friends who himself is working for a software company:

Subject: FW: FW: FW: Please Read and Froward it!!
Dear Reader,
I am writing this behalf of my loving husband.
Everything was fine, me, my husband and our two children. We had a happy family. My husband was an Engineer in a big company. He comes home early and helps me with the house chores and plays with the children.
Our dreams were shattered in front of our eyes last week. It was a drunken lorry driver, came on the wrong side and hit us and went.
It killed my little baby girl and left my husband paralyzed. My husband is still in the hospital. His brain is damaged and he needs an operation. I need 5 lakhs s to save his life. I collected about 3 lakhs from my friends and family. I need another 2 lakhs.
I don't want to lose him. He was such a wonderful husband & father. He still doesn't know we lost our little girl. I am looking after my son now. Without my husband I won't be able to take care of him.

Please help me save my husband the one person I dearly love. I already lost my daughter and I don't want to lose my husband as well. Please help us.
Thank you very much for your love & support. May God bless you.

Yours Truly,
Nirosha Silva

(I know you don't like to forward mails. I am really sorry to bother you. If you have a heart and like to help a family, please forward this mail. Every mail you forward will add 5cents to AOL and they will deposit it to my bank account. This will help me save my husband.)

////////////////// Points to be noted here. ////////////////////////////////

1.) In the subject the Mail Server itself shows that its a SPAM

2.) The Content

3.) IT states "Every mail you forward will add 5cents to AOL", Here note that there is no Track Back url.

4.) If any service provider wants to pay for this kind of activities they might get a small space for donation in their website.

Note: If you are going to make a donation online, see if that the website is a legitimate one.

Also you might have noted and experienced as well that you would get money if you forward this mail to 100 people etc and so on. So inorder to do this the SPAMMERS they use the reputed companies name like Microsoft Corporation, AOL and so on. Also sometimes it comes with some attachments which might be a virus file.

Though there are Spam Blockers installed in the system, people anyway manage to get thest kinds of email and forward it to their friends in their contact list.

So it is in the hands of us, not to encourage these kinds of emails.

(Source: http://yuvi-internetsecurity.blogspot.com/)

Unit of Measurement

Below mentioned information will be useful for designers and developers which has been picked up from elementK's training files on CSS:

Unit of Measurement

pixels (px)
A standard screen measurement. One pixel equals one physical pixel on a computer screen, which varies with screen resolution. (For this reason, some consider pixels to be a relative unit of measurement.)

inches (in)
A standard English measurement. One inch is equal to 2.54 centimeters.

centimeters (cm)
A standard metric measurement. One centimeter is equal to almost 2/5 of an inch.

millimeters (mm)
A standard metric measurement. Ten millimeters are equal to one centimeter.

points (pt)
A standard print measurement. One point is equal to 1/72 of an inch. In reality, point values are not this precise on the Web, and vary according to the font face in use.

picas (pc)
A standard print measurement. One pica is equal to 12 points.

===========================

If you intend to use absolute units of measurement for any CSS property, pixels tend to be the most reliable across different browsers and operating systems. Pixels also make the most sense for the screen. Points and picas, for example, are units of print measurement that have no real meaning on a computer screen.
If you want your length values to scale from user to user, and from one output device to the next, use relative units of measurement. The following table lists the relative units of measurement in CSS.

Unit of Measurement

ems (em)
A standard print measurement. Ems are relative to the width of the uppercase M character of the parent element's font, or the inherited font size when applied to the font-size property.

x-height (ex)
A standard print measurement. The x-height is defined by the size of the lowercase x character of the parent element's font, or the size of the x character of the inherited font size when applied to the font-size property.

percent (%)
A fraction value based on the computed value of an inherited length.

You Tube acquired for $US1.65 billion by Google

The news that strike me today is "Google to acquire You Tube for $US1.65 billion." Now I am quite exciting to see new user interface changes on youtube.com which is already a nicely navigable site, but then Google is known for its usability designs.

Really,,, Lagge Raho Munna Bhai

Just a saw the movie yesterday nite and I must say that pls Lagge Raho Munna Bhai... you are doing Awesome. As the slogan suggest, the movie is not just about Munna Bhai and Circuit. This time they have a new friend called Bapu, Our 'Gandhi Bapu". The movie is not just about the GundaGiri but also about GandhiGiri. Its really a thought provoking movie like Rang De Basanti with a suttle funny events.

Should watch it with friends & family and try to implement GandhiGiri.

Tarikh pe Tarikh (Date keeps postponing)

Many people must have heard of this dialogue "Tarikh pe Tarikh" from Damini movie, it must be really frustrating experience to the people who are suffering from that syndrome of Government. It seems to be that government is reluctant to make decisions faster.

The same happened yesterday. The verdict for the Bomb Blasts happened in Mumbai, 1993. It killed more then 300 people and injured 700+ people, 139 people caught under the conspiracy act, 13 people died in the jail, few ran away, main accusers are still not caught, and again, after 13 years of long period verdict had been postponed for another month.

Isn't it really a "Andha Kanoon"???