Userfocus.co.uk has published an article about the ISO 20282 - A ISO standards guide to measure usability of everyday products. It is published in 4 parts and David Travis discusses the guides here.
User focus link - http://www.userfocus.co.uk/articles/ISO20282.html
Guuui.com link - http://www.guuui.com/posting.php?id=2174
- Rajesh Sundaram
Monday, September 22, 2008
Monday, September 15, 2008
Interaction Design flaws - Tomshardware.com's language selection screen
One of the fundamentals in UI design is "Don't make the user think". The more he thinks, the more he gets confused. To explain this, let us take the Language selection screen in Tomshardware.com website.
Recently Toms Hardware, included an option to choose languages. And a new visitor will be greeted with a "Select a Language" screen. This happens only when the visitor visits the site for the first time. Once a language is selected, a permanent cookie will be set and the UI will not appear again.
The Interaction flaw : A new visitor may not know which one to click, whether to click the "Continue" button or any one of the links given below. The first line says "Toms Hardware English Website [Continue]". Also, the options "British" and "US English" appears again in the below given options making the user to think "which one should i click?"
So what could be the fix to this issue? The goal is to make the user select his language. So let us make it simple for him. Remove the "Continue" button and re-phrase the "Select another language" to "Select your language". This will reduce the amount of time taken spent at this screen.
Extension - Practical Issues : Many users has the habit of cleaning their browser cache once in a week or some specific period of time. So a "Select Language" screen popping up once in a week or some time later, is a real nuisance rather than a convenience. To fix this, the language selection screen should be removed. Let the user select his language on top of the web page. Track the IP address and locate the visitor's geography and open the relevant site. This is the optimal user experience.
Recently Toms Hardware, included an option to choose languages. And a new visitor will be greeted with a "Select a Language" screen. This happens only when the visitor visits the site for the first time. Once a language is selected, a permanent cookie will be set and the UI will not appear again.
The Interaction flaw : A new visitor may not know which one to click, whether to click the "Continue" button or any one of the links given below. The first line says "Toms Hardware English Website [Continue]". Also, the options "British" and "US English" appears again in the below given options making the user to think "which one should i click?"
So what could be the fix to this issue? The goal is to make the user select his language. So let us make it simple for him. Remove the "Continue" button and re-phrase the "Select another language" to "Select your language". This will reduce the amount of time taken spent at this screen.
Extension - Practical Issues : Many users has the habit of cleaning their browser cache once in a week or some specific period of time. So a "Select Language" screen popping up once in a week or some time later, is a real nuisance rather than a convenience. To fix this, the language selection screen should be removed. Let the user select his language on top of the web page. Track the IP address and locate the visitor's geography and open the relevant site. This is the optimal user experience.
Friday, September 5, 2008
HSBC & Verified by VISA - Too much security, too much nuance...
Some time ago, I was unable to use my HSBC credit card for online transactions. Most of the websites declined my card saying "Verified by Visa" denied the transaction. I was frustrated and did some googling. I found that "Verified by Visa" is a service which adds an extra layer of security.
So what kind of security it offers?
It goes like, the card holders should enroll their card number into this program, and the concerned bank/card issuer will send you a digital device which generates a random number. So whenever you try to make an online payment, if you select VISA and if the seller has enabled Verified By Visa for his shopping engine.. then you have to enter your card number, expiry date, name on card etc and after that you should type the random number displayed in your electronic device and then, a secret answer to a secret question. That's one whole stupid process. Many times my HSBC VBV never works, even though I reset my VBV secret question. Everything goes wrong and I end up receiving "Your profile has been locked". To reset, I have to call their phone banking, which never connects, and yeah I don't remember my phonebanking password. Boy, what a life.
What are the consequences?
Well I stopped using HSBC Visa card for online purchases. Getting into HSBC's online portal is another PITA. Everytime, I have to use their electronic device, then type a alphanumeric password. So many steps and so many things to remember. It is really frustrating, to see how too many security measures screw one's online experience. Too much of everything is too much trouble. And practically this VBV beats the purpose - "Safe and secure online shopping". I would re-phrase as "VBV-Secured Pain in the ***"
So what kind of security it offers?
It goes like, the card holders should enroll their card number into this program, and the concerned bank/card issuer will send you a digital device which generates a random number. So whenever you try to make an online payment, if you select VISA and if the seller has enabled Verified By Visa for his shopping engine.. then you have to enter your card number, expiry date, name on card etc and after that you should type the random number displayed in your electronic device and then, a secret answer to a secret question. That's one whole stupid process. Many times my HSBC VBV never works, even though I reset my VBV secret question. Everything goes wrong and I end up receiving "Your profile has been locked". To reset, I have to call their phone banking, which never connects, and yeah I don't remember my phonebanking password. Boy, what a life.
What are the consequences?
Well I stopped using HSBC Visa card for online purchases. Getting into HSBC's online portal is another PITA. Everytime, I have to use their electronic device, then type a alphanumeric password. So many steps and so many things to remember. It is really frustrating, to see how too many security measures screw one's online experience. Too much of everything is too much trouble. And practically this VBV beats the purpose - "Safe and secure online shopping". I would re-phrase as "VBV-Secured Pain in the ***"
Monday, September 1, 2008
Securing your fresh Windows XP install ..
How to Secure your Windows XP?
Whenever you install windows XP fresh, along with the hardware drivers, make sure you install these 3 software first.
My objective is to use the freeware alternatives. So when it comes to software firewall, I trust Comodo's Firewall Pro which is absolutely free and works like a charm. Not a resource-hog like Zone Alarm. Initially, you may feel a little annoyed by constant confirmations thrown by the Firewall pro's Defense+ mechanism. But let that be. After some days, the firewall will train itself to your applications and won't alert you. You may be required to allow the Firewall software to obtain a life-time free license.
Anti-Virus - Avast 4.8 Home Edition (Free)
Avast and AVG are two contendors in free anti-virus space. Personally I like Avast because it detects most of the viruses and helps me keep my system clean and safe.
Anti-Malware / Spyware - Spybot Search & Destroy (Free)
One of the best anti spyware around. Though a little slow, it is an acceptable trade-off for being a free software. SS&D actually helped me to clean the malware in my system previously. This nifty piece of sofware's malware signature are constantly updated and keeps your system clean.
Next Level - 3 steps to troubleshoot Malware/Trojan attacks
Installing the above 3 software may not guarentee that your system may run trouble free. In some unfortunate circumstances a virus, or malware or trojan may enter your system. In such cases, don't panic. Try the following methods.
Step 1 : Run your Anti-virus and Anti-malware software first. Enable a boot-time scan in your Anti-virus and then restart the system. Boot time scan will detect and remove most viruses.
Step 2 : Run msconfig.exe and find out if any unwanted programs are included in the Startup tab. In most cases, the trojans/viruses run as a EXE or DLL file with a random-generated filename. Check-out those suspicious files. Enable boot-time scan and restart the system. This should help in finding the trojans/viruses.
Step 3 : On a little advanced level use these two software. HijackThis and LSPFix. Hijack this is a tool which will generate a complete list of processes (as a text file) that forms your windows startup. Most of the illicit processes can be found this way. Also HijackThis offers some swiss knife tools like - Removing an entry in the next startup, etc. Such options are useful to force-disable notorious malwares which uses system startup to launch itself. LSPFix is a winsock repairer. If your windows XP's winsock layer is damaged, you cannot access internet. LSPFix will try to identify if your winsock is damaged and rectifies it.
Conclusion:
Doing the above should get rid of your problems in most cases. Always remember to update your virus signature files and spyware signature files.
Whenever you install windows XP fresh, along with the hardware drivers, make sure you install these 3 software first.
- Software Firewall
- Anti-virus
- Anit-Malware/Spyware/Trojan
My objective is to use the freeware alternatives. So when it comes to software firewall, I trust Comodo's Firewall Pro which is absolutely free and works like a charm. Not a resource-hog like Zone Alarm. Initially, you may feel a little annoyed by constant confirmations thrown by the Firewall pro's Defense+ mechanism. But let that be. After some days, the firewall will train itself to your applications and won't alert you. You may be required to allow the Firewall software to obtain a life-time free license.
Anti-Virus - Avast 4.8 Home Edition (Free)
Avast and AVG are two contendors in free anti-virus space. Personally I like Avast because it detects most of the viruses and helps me keep my system clean and safe.
Anti-Malware / Spyware - Spybot Search & Destroy (Free)
One of the best anti spyware around. Though a little slow, it is an acceptable trade-off for being a free software. SS&D actually helped me to clean the malware in my system previously. This nifty piece of sofware's malware signature are constantly updated and keeps your system clean.
Next Level - 3 steps to troubleshoot Malware/Trojan attacks
Installing the above 3 software may not guarentee that your system may run trouble free. In some unfortunate circumstances a virus, or malware or trojan may enter your system. In such cases, don't panic. Try the following methods.
Step 1 : Run your Anti-virus and Anti-malware software first. Enable a boot-time scan in your Anti-virus and then restart the system. Boot time scan will detect and remove most viruses.
Step 2 : Run msconfig.exe and find out if any unwanted programs are included in the Startup tab. In most cases, the trojans/viruses run as a EXE or DLL file with a random-generated filename. Check-out those suspicious files. Enable boot-time scan and restart the system. This should help in finding the trojans/viruses.
Step 3 : On a little advanced level use these two software. HijackThis and LSPFix. Hijack this is a tool which will generate a complete list of processes (as a text file) that forms your windows startup. Most of the illicit processes can be found this way. Also HijackThis offers some swiss knife tools like - Removing an entry in the next startup, etc. Such options are useful to force-disable notorious malwares which uses system startup to launch itself. LSPFix is a winsock repairer. If your windows XP's winsock layer is damaged, you cannot access internet. LSPFix will try to identify if your winsock is damaged and rectifies it.
Conclusion:
Doing the above should get rid of your problems in most cases. Always remember to update your virus signature files and spyware signature files.
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