from Evaluation of Human-Computer Interaction Whilst Using the World Wide Web
by Nicolas J. Blaza · The Buckinghamshire College, a college of Brunel University · May 1996
1.1 Aims and Objectives
This report has been produced for The Buckinghamshire College, a college of Brunel University as part of the third year Business Information Technology degree.
The aim of this report is:
"To evaluate the human-computer interaction of people when using the World Wide Web. To compare the results with theory and strategies on the subject of graphical user interfaces."
To implement this, the author has devised these objectives:
- To compare and contrast current methods of accessing the World Wide Web, for example Netscape (versions 1.1 and 2.01), and NCSA Mosaic 2.0 beta 1.
- To evaluate people's perceptions of current software, using various students within the College — e.g. Social Science students, Textile students, and students from the Department of Computing and Electronics. What do these separate sets of people want in a Web application, and are there any conclusions to be drawn?
- To evaluate strategies of effective human-computer interaction; how do application designers develop their ideas? Do the Web applications in College follow these ideas, and are there any improvements that could be made?
- To evaluate what makes a "good" Web page, and what is the future of the World Wide Web?
1.2 Background to the Report
The author is interested in how software designers design the Graphical User Interface for the World Wide Web, known as the Web, or W.W.W.
The author has undertaken a questionnaire designed to outline the views of three different categories of people with varying levels of computer knowledge. It is based on the studies of Ben Shneiderman and uses his questionnaire as a basis for the evaluation.
The author has used two different Web browsers: Netscape (versions 1.1 and 2.01) and the National Center for Supercomputing Applications (NCSA) Mosaic (version 2.0 beta 1) on the Windows 3.1 operating system. A full evaluation of the two software applications is discussed in chapter 5.
1.3 Human-Computer Interaction
The author has also evaluated the theory behind interface design and human-computer interaction and has concluded with his own recommendations.
Human-computer interaction, or HCI, is the understanding of what it means to interact with technology — how we, the users, transmit what we want the machine to do, and how the computer reacts to what we have typed. Effective HCI means the two, people and machine, work efficiently together to "develop or improve the safety, utility, effectiveness, efficiency, and usability of systems" (Preece et al., 1994). In this context, "system" refers not just to the hardware and software but to the entire environment.
The growing interest in HCI over the past 20 years has been extraordinary; it is one of the most rapidly developing subjects in computer science (Preece et al., 1994). HCI is seen as a vital component of successful computer applications.
HCI is described as a multi-disciplinary subject. "The student has to embrace theories of human behaviour as well as the principles of computer systems design" (Preece et al., 1994). The author of this report has introduced these disciplines and then shown how to combine them.
Preece et al. (1994) write that in order to produce computer systems with good usability, HCI specialists need to:
- Understand the factors that determine how people operate and make use of computer technology effectively, and translate that understanding into the
- Development of tools and techniques to help designers ensure that computer systems are suitable for the activities for which people will use them, in order to
- Achieve efficient, effective and safe interaction both in terms of individual human-computer interaction and group interactions.
1.4 Usability and GUIs
Usability is a key concept of HCI, and is concerned with making systems easy to learn and easy to use. This can be achieved in a number of ways, one of which is by usability surveys. A poorly designed application can be extremely annoying to users.
This report sets out to see if the points above have been considered in the designing of Web applications.
1.5 Graphical User Interfaces (GUIs) to the World Wide Web
There are a number of Web browsers which allow the user to view the W.W.W. via a GUI. Because resources are limited, the author has based all his research on the browsers outlined in the introduction (Netscape v1.1 and 2.01, and NCSA Mosaic 2.0 beta 1) using the College network. There are a number of other applications available on the market, and one of the problems with the Web is the fact that the browsers are all as different as the Windows and other operating systems they run on. A Web site written for Netscape may not be accessible via Mosaic. It is the responsibility of the programmer to test and design Web pages that can be viewed by multiple products.
1.6 Literature Survey
The author has used the book Designing the User Interface by Ben Shneiderman as his key source of reference regarding the designing of user interfaces. Shneiderman is regarded as one of the world's leading authorities on User Interface Design (Appendix D).
There are numerous books on the subject of Human-Computer Interaction (HCI), aimed at varying levels of reader. Because the author is not actually designing a product, but merely evaluating them, the author has stuck to general books on the subject of HCI and evaluated the steps a software designer will take in order to produce a good User Interface. Two core texts have been used in this study; Jenny Preece has contributed to them both. The first is a collection of studies by various people on the subject of HCI and evaluates how designers have developed their applications. The other is a comprehensive account of the multi-disciplinary field of HCI.
Because this report is Internet-based, the author has also used numerous World Wide Web sites from around the world; these have been referenced at the back of the report.
The W.W.W. is an enormous source of information and is ever changing. Unfortunately, as will become apparent in chapter 2, it is not always an authority on facts — there is no one actually monitoring subjects. It has been important throughout the report to check any facts received from the Web with traditional "paper" sources, wherever possible.
© 1996 Nicolas J. Blaza. Reconstructed online edition, 2026.
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