COMP 675 HUMAN-

P r o f. F r a n z J. K u r f e s s
Concordia University
Computer Science Department

C O M P U T E R I N T E R FA C E
DESIGN
F i n a l E x a m Fa l l 1 9 9 9
This is the final exam for the COMP 675 class. It is an individual
take-home exam, and you are not allowed to discuss it with
anybody else, work on it in a group, or seek help from someone
else. You may use textbooks, course notes, or other material, but
you must formulate the text for your answers yourself. With the
exception of definitions and short quotations with
acknowledgements, any text or other material that is taken from
other sources will not count, and you may risk a lower grade or
other sanctions for plagiarizing as described in the student
handbook.

Student Name:

Student ID:

I hereby certify that the work presented in this exam is

completely my own. I have not received help from
anybody else, and all the material is written by myself
in my own words.
COMP 675 HCID F INAL E XAM F ALL 99

Signature:

Date:

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P ART 1: M ULTIPLE C HOICE Q UESTIONS

Mark the answer you think is correct. Unless otherwise noted, there is
only one correct answer. Each question is worth 3 points, for a total of
30 in Part 1.

1) What is an important advantage of command-line interfaces

over graphical user interfaces?

 The mental load for the user is low (recall over

recognition).

 The user is not distracted by an abundance of menus,

icons, toolbars, etc.

 They work well for repetitive jobs like payroll processing

or billing.

 Complex operations can be performed more efficiently,

e.g. through command languages.

2) Why should modal dialog boxes be used with care?

 They are very disruptive and prevent users from

continuing their task.

 They have high resource requirements on the computer

system.

 They frequently lead to application or system crashes.

 They are difficult to program because they have to work
across applications.

3) Under which circumstances is the use of CAPITAL LETTERS

appropriate in screen layout and design?

 Never, because text in capital letters is more difficult to

read.

 To better distinguish text from the numbers when text and

numbers are mixed.

 To emphasize important items like field names, titles, or

main categories.

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 It should be used as often as possible because it reduces

the number of bits required for the representation of
characters.

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4) The automatic code generation feature of user interface

development tools can be very useful, but it can also be a
disadvantage. What is the potential problem with automatic
code generation?

 In the long run, it might put software developers out of

work.

 The generated code can be inefficient and unnecessarily

complex.

 Automatically generated code is very difficult to port

across different platforms.

 The generated code typically contains more errors than

code written by programmers.

5) Out of the following user interface prototypes, which one has

the lowest fidelity?

 A simulation of the interactive user interface, e.g.

implemented in Visual Basic.

 A storyboard presentation.
 A textual description in a few paragraphs.
 A series of drawings prepared with a graphics package.
6) In which phase of the UI design cycle should evaluation be
performed?

 Throughout the design cycle.

 After the elicitation of user requirements.
 After prototyping.
 After implementation
7) Which usability testing method can be applied before the
actual design of the product or system begins?

 Contextual inquiry.
 Focus groups.

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 Heuristic evaluation.
 Co-discovery.

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8) What is an important purpose of developing prototypes for a

user interface?

 Developers use them to get familiarized with the tools

they use.

 Users can give early feedback, which can be more easily

integrated into the design process.

 Prototypes can be used for marketing purposes long

before the actual product is available.

 This way the user interface design can be completely

separated from the development of the underlying system.

9) Although humans often rely on spoken natural language to

communicate with each other, spoken language is not used
very heavily in human-computer interfaces. What is an
important reason for that?

 The bandwidth of the auditory channel is more limited

than that of the visual channel.

 Computers would have to understand many different

languages and dialects.

 It requires speech recognition by computers, which as of

now is too error-prone and consumes too many resources.

 Speech output by computers sounds rather unnatural.

10) Why have menus become a practically indispensable part
of current user interfaces?

 They allow an efficient formulation of complex input

commands.

 They minimize cursor movements, thus making input

actions more efficient.

 They provide quick access to frequently used commands

(recognition over recall).

 They can be adapted easily to the specific preferences of

individual users.

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COMP 675 HCID F INAL E XAM F ALL 99

P ART 2: S HORT Q UESTIONS

In this part of the exam, you must answer the questions in one or two
paragraphs. Each question is worth 10 points, for a total of 20 in Part
2.

1) What are important aspects that make the design of Web

pages different from regular, non-Web based graphical user
interfaces?

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2) Compare the use of menus, toolbars, and keyboard shortcuts

for the selection of commands by identifying their respective
advantages and drawbacks. Give examples for situations in
which their use is appropriate and inappropriate.

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P ART 3: E VALUATION T ASK

In this part of the exam, you need to evaluate user interface and
usability aspects of a specific type of application programs: Web
search engines. Your task is to select a search engine, and evaluate it
with respect to the interaction capabilities and main benefits it offers
to users, and the possible difficulties and drawbacks users have to
face. The task consists of two subtasks: First, you will define
important user requirements and evaluation criteria for search
engines in general, and then you will use these requirements and
evaluation criteria for the assessment of the specific example of a
search engine that you selected. Part 3 of the exam contributes up to
50 points to the exam.

User Requirements
Identify and briefly describe three to five important user requirements
on Web-based search engines, with particular emphasis on their
usability and interaction aspects.

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

Evaluation Criteria
Based on the user requirements, specify three to five important
evaluation criteria for such search engines. As far as possible, make
your criteria quantitative so that they can be used to measure the
performance of the search engine and its user interface in your
evaluation.

1.

2.

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3.

4.

5.

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Search Engine Evaluation

Briefly sketch the evaluation plan for the search engine you selected,
and then perform and describe the evaluation. Use a set of keywords
relevant to this course as a test case to illustrate your evaluation.

Selected Search Engine:

Keywords:

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