UNIVERSITY EXAMINATIONS: 2015/2016
EXAMINATION FOR THE DIPLOMA IN INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
DIT 406 HUMAN COMPUTER INTERACTION
DATE: AUGUST 2016 TIME: 1½HOURS
INSTRUCTIONS: Answer Any THREE Questions.
QUESTION ONE
(a) Outline five usability measurement criteria. (5 Marks)
(b) List five psychological and five physical reactions from users to poor interface design. (10 Marks)
(c) State five common mistakes in user interface design. (5 Marks)
QUESTION TWO
(a) Discuss three benefits that prototyping provides to user interface design . (6 Marks)
(b) Name and define two properties of an effective metaphor. (2 Marks)
(c) Neilsen produced some design guidelines for web sites. List four issues covered under Nielsen
guidelines. (4 Marks)
(d) Explain what is meant by “user-centered design”. (2 Marks)
(e) Discuss three characteristics of web sites that make web page design to different from printed
media. (6 Marks)
QUESTION THREE
(a) Gestalt’s principles of interface design emphasize that the way items are grouped determines how
users understand them. Briefly discuss the following Gestalt principles: (10 Marks)
(i) Proximity
(ii) Common fate
(iii) Closure
(iv) Good continuity
(v) Figure/Ground
(b) Discuss the aim of interface design evaluation and state who should be involved in the exercise.
(4 Marks)
(c) (i) Define the term ‘affordance’. (2 Marks)
(ii) List four actions afforded by common interface controls. (4 Marks)
QUESTION FOUR
(a) Differentiate between the Constructivist and Ecological theories of human perception. (8 Marks)
(b) Discuss six factors that need to be considered when analyzing a human computer interaction
problem. (12 Marks
QUESTION FIVE
(a) The disabled, the elderly and children are user populations with special needs. For each of these
populations, suggest ways how current interfaces could be improved to better serve each of these
populations.. (12 Marks)
(b) Examine the following interface.
(i) State four things wrong with the interface. (4 Marks)
(ii) Name two of the Eight Schneiderman’s Golden Rules that have been violated by this interface.
Give a brief explanation of those rules. (4 Marks)
