Word’s Interactive Leveled Design : (WILD Word)

Amy Yip: acyip@wam.umd.edu

Michael Schanberger: mpschan@wam.umd.edu

Farrah Fojas: FFojas@aol.com

Andy Mu: amu@wam.umd.edu

Haroon Baqai: hbaqai@hotmail.com

April 30, 2002

Abstract

The main idea behind creating a leveled MS Word structure was to facilitate users of different levels use the software according to their computer skills. We observed that the typical MS Word interface tends to intimidate many of the novice users, who have no idea about the various formatting and editing options that are available in the form of menus and different icons. On the other hand, advanced users are interested to see more options readily available instead of having to waste their time going through the various nested menus.

Our leveled structure of MS Word gives the option to the users to work at their own level and be able to switch to another level simply by clicking the mouse twice. The three distinct levels have different numbers of editing, formatting and drawing options available that best suit users possessing different levels of computer skills. Additionally, the presentation and placement of icons in these levels is also most appropriate for novice, intermediate and advanced users.

We are sure that our new design will attract a wider community of users and will remove the anxiety that many of the novice users have towards computer-usage.

Credits

Amy Yip

• Overall coordination of project
• Posting of final paper
• Organization of final paper
• Final project: credits, acknowledgements, references
• Usability test-high prototype
• Usability test design (task list, questionnaires)
• Low prototype design
• References
• User needs

Michael Schanberger

• Coordination of project
• Final project: presentation of design
• Images of high prototype
• High prototype design/development
• Usability test-high prototype
• Low prototype design
• References
• User needs
• Proposal

Farrah Fojas

• Final project: development process
• Usability test-high prototype
• Usability test design (task list, questionnaires)
• References
• User needs

Andy Mu

• Final project: introduction, presentation of design
• Usability test-high prototype
• Usability test-low prototype
• References
• User needs

Haroon Baqai

• Final project: abstract, conclusion
• Usability test-high prototype
• Low prototype problems/successes
• Reference
• User needs

Introduction

As more and more users enter the golden age of computing, it is increasingly necessary to facilitate the learning aspect of computers and applications. With word processing having gained tremendous popularity behind its speed and variety of options for writing papers and sending documents over email, users with absolutely no computing experience now find themselves interested in learning such applications as Microsoft Word. However, the current user-interface designs that utilize learning manuals and/or help texts stand to confuse and scare users further rather than encourage and provide support. Therefore, a solution needs to be formed in which users can start at a basic level and slowly build their way to more complicated issues, all according to their own learning speeds.

One article titled Reducing the Gap Between What Users Know and What They Need to Know. Knowledge Media Design Institute discusses the virtues of Microsoft Word and analyzes the effectiveness of all the options the application provides (Baecker). Their research discovered that, on average, users of Micrsoft Word only knows about half of the functionalities presented. In addition, the users only use about half of them on a regular basis. This indicates that many of the complex infrequent functions are not necessary on a regular basis and even more unnecessary for beginning users.

Considerable research has also been done on the more general topic of user-interface design. Major computer software companies recognize the issue of user design and user interface satisfaction. Corporations such as Microsoft have looked into the issue and have presented several interesting findings and conclusions. One of the main tenets of interface design is that simplicity can be powerful: “Simplicity does not mean lack of functionality, it means a fast initial learning curve and consideration for the number of concepts the user needs to understand” (Microsoft). With less concepts the users need to deal with, confusion is reduced and users can concentrate on learning the core tasks presented to them. Adding to this principle, Microsoft also recognizes that the user is a limited resource. A user can only handle so much information at one time, and exceeding this limit may actually be counter-productive, making the user forget information they have already learned.

IBM, an international computer giant, expounds upon the virtues of having a well thought-out user interface design. In an article online about user-centered design, IBM discusses the major steps that need to be taken in order to develop a successful interface (IBM). One of the main issues is evaluating the target audience. In the present situation, word processing should be targeted to almost every age group and education level. An eight year old in third grade may need it for a book report, while a sixty-year old grandmother might want to use it to compose a family newsletter. Therefore, in designing Microsoft Word, developers need to be aware of a much broader audience that requires a much greater latitude of needs.

Bruce Tognazzini, an expert in the field of human-computer interaction, also has much to say about the issue of machine and human performance. One of the three user-tasks Tognazzini suggests simplifying is the amount of machine manipulation (Tognazzini). A major step in manipulation reduction would be to significantly limit the amount of options or buttons the user can choose. Another principle Tognazzini discusses is decreasing data-entry: Minimize or eliminate data to be entered. Tognazzini asks the questions: Can the information be inferred? Is the information strictly necessary to perform the task? If not, is any secondary use valuable enough to offset the cost of entry? For beginning users and even regular users, the answer is yes to many of the options Microsoft Word provides. One item that could be eliminated is the font and font size bars for users who are just beginning to use Word or for those users who just want to write a simple note. The font and font size can be inferred to be a normal, often used font and the size could be a standard size (such as 12 pt Times New Roman).

Many of these design principles have been utilized in designing advanced applications. For example, Microsoft Word does provide an easy way to type up a note using Notepad. Notepad does not offer the user any options, except save, print, open and close. However, this effort falls short mainly because it is a separate program and does not allow a gradual learning environment that moves on to more complicated options if the user chooses to learn more. Basically there are only two levels: Notepad (Figure 1) with little to no options and Microsoft Word (Figure 2) with 10 times as many options as Notepad. The gap in this situation is extremely large and does not successfully provide users with a mode of learning suited to varying learning curves. Arguments could be made that the option to hide and show different toolbars in Microsoft Word is a level-structured design. However, Word does not provide set levels with a set group of options. Users must manually set the options themselves which defeats the purpose in learning the application. Many of Microsoft’s efforts to simplify options fall short because of this issue of learning gaps. Another example is a search window which initially has very few options but upon clicking an advanced button gives you all the options available to advanced users. A middle ground that is provided in the Microsoft suite is Wordpad. The main difficulty with Wordpad as a middle step is the fact you must switch programs entirely and the transition from the Wordpad application to the Word application may not be easy or efficient. Having the levels in one application and adding features would increase familiarity and decrease anxiety.

Figure 2. Notepad.

Figure 2. Microsoft Word Application.

Yet another solution that is geared toward reducing complexity and simplifying the user interface is the addition of tabs to large menus. In Figure 3, a user is shown one menu of several and he/she must click on the different tabs to access different options. While this does simply the interface to only show a few options, significant complexity still exists in the fact that the user must determine which tab to choose and often will go through several just to find the appropriate option.

Figure 3. Options Menu in Microsoft Word

The suggested solution is a multi-level structured word processing program. A multi-level structured word processing program would allow users to choose a level of complexity. This means that users who choose, for example, level 1, would only be presented with a few options such as font size and margin adjustments. As they slowly move up the learning curve and in level, they will be given more and more options (i.e. adding tables, advanced formatting, inserting footnotes) with which to work. The multi-level structure would merely hide unnecessary or irrelevant options at the appropriate levels and bring them out again once the user feels a certain mastery of current word processing concepts. Furthermore, users are able to stay at the current level for an indefinite amount of time, giving them full control over learning and need. The level-structure would provide levels that have set options associated with them. Users will be allowed to go back and forth between levels as they please.

This solution accomplishes many of the ideals the previously mentioned designs did not. First and foremost, there are the crucial middle steps to provide a gradual transition. There are a total of three levels and each one contains a couple more options than the last, limiting the amount of stress put on the user. Second, users will not need to skip around menu tabs to find appropriate options. The user can either go directly to level three to access the option they want or they can follow the level structure to limit the amount of options. The multi-level structured word processing application can be an extremely powerful tool for almost anyone who wants to use word processing. It has been designed following well-researched guidelines published by some of the leading experts in the field.

Presentation of Design

Overview of Approach and Solutions

Once we had decided to do a multi-level Word design, how to do it and what it would look like became our first questions. We wanted it to work with Word as opposed to a Visual Basic project just imitating it. This would make usability testing easier because the subjects would be working with an interface that can accomplish the tasks given to the user, as opposed to pretending or doing a mock-walkthrough. But getting level switching interface and the different features of each level right were still a mystery. After creating a couple low-fidelity prototypes and showing them to possible test subjects, we refined what we wanted our interface to look like into what it currently is. But we still had to create the interface.

The only way we knew of being able to do some sort of programming with Microsoft Word was through macros. No other language or technique that we know of can perform any tasks in Word. Since none of our group members had any experience with macros and didn’t know how to write one, we researched to see if macros even would even be able to do the trick. We resorted to searching on the internet and buying a book, VBA for Dummies.

VBA for Dummies gave a good starting point for how to create a macro, how it is run, and general information about the language that is used for creating macros. That only gave us a starting point though. Most of the information on how to create toolbars was obtained through examples on the internet. After viewing code on how to create a toolbar, add buttons and menus to it, a first draft toolbar was created. How to switch levels became a tricky part though. We wanted to allow the user to know which level they were on, so simply clicking on buttons stating “Level 1,2,3” wouldn’t work.

At this point, Microsoft’s Online Development center was searched. Almost everything that we wanted to do was on Microsoft’s site. We were quickly able to make toolbars appear and disappear (crucial for switching levels), and we were able to add a combo box to the toolbar. Further information on how to turn on/off the docking capabilities of a toolbar was also obtained.

VBA’s capabilities in macros did leave us a little empty though. There is no way of making the menu bar disappear. It is possible to edit the menu bar, but you can never fully remove it from the screen. Therefore, instead of writing a macro which we weren’t sure what kind of damage it might do to a person’s Word, decided not to write a macro that would remove the menus. Instead we left it to the usability tester to remove the items for our test subjects (all usability testers new how to return Word to its normal state). However, once removed, we were able to fully run our program and encountered no other problems.

Transition Diagram

Since our project is not really a transition interface, all screen shots and explanations are contained in the Design Presentation.

Design Presentation

Each level is described below with screenshots to show the differences between the normal Microsoft Word, and our WILD Word.

Level 1

The novice level provides the users with only the bare essentials for doing word processing. It allows the user to create a new document, open an existing document, save a document, save the document as something else, close WILD Word, and print. WILD Word’s new toolbar is also included.

By limiting the user to such few functions, we allow the user to learn a smaller set of actions quickly and effortlessly. Their ability to retain knowledge of what the six functions do should be easy. And the amount of time required to perform their word processing tasks should be significantly reduced since the number of options and clicks to get to those options are dramatically smaller. This level is perfectly designed for the new Word user who is unfamiliar with computers and need a starting point.

An overview of Level

Level 2

While Level 2 provides only a few new features and interface designs for the user to learn, but the functionality of the program is dramatically increased. Here we decided to introduce the concept of Menus. Though at first, it looks like the menus are identical to the original Word, they hold several key differences. One, the menu names are now accompanied by down arrows in an attempt to get the user to “pull down” a menu. Two, the menu “Table” has been removed since it is deemed a more advanced feature. Three, a considerable amount of features are removed from every drop down menu.

By removing advanced, and most likely, unused functions of Word, we allow the user to find buttons and menu items quicker since they have to search a smaller set. We tried to include the standard functions that we believe our users would use so that they aren’t forced to switch to Level 3. Therefore we decided to include things like formatting of text, spell checker, inserting pictures, viewing the document differently, and including Microsoft’s Help. This should allow the user to perform all of their normal tasks quickly and without having to resort to Level 3.

As with Level 1, Level 2 includes WILD Word’s toolbar. Another toolbar was created for this level. It contains some of Level 1’s buttons, but adds many useful buttons from the “Standard” and “Formatting” toolbars. A list of the buttons follows:

New Document	Open Document	Save Document	Print
Spell Checker	Font Selection	Font Size	Bold
Italic	Underline	Left Justify	Center
Right Justify	Numbering	Bullets	Font Color

For a list of differences between Level 2 and Level 3’s menus, consult the Level 3 description below.

An overview of Level 2.

Level 3

Level 3 is basically normal Microsoft Word. The only difference is that WILD Word’s toolbar is included. This means that all the Menu’s original items are returned and the “Standard” and “Formatting” toolbars return also. A list of differences between Level 2 and 3 can be seen below.

File Menu

Functions	Level 2	Level 3
New	X	X
Open	X	X
Close	X	X
Save	X	X
Save As…	X	X
Save as Web Page…		X
Search…		X
Versions		X
Web Page Preview		X
Page Setup	X	X
Print Preview	X	X
Print	X	X
Send To		X
Properties	X	X
Exit	X	X

View Menu

Functions	Level 2	Level 3
Normal	X	X
Web Layout	X	X
Print Layout	X	X
Outline	X	X
Task Pane		X
Toolbars	X	X
Ruler	X	X
Document Map		X
Header and Footer	X	X
Footnotes	X	X
Markup		X
Full Screen	X	X
Zoom	X	X

Edit Menu

Functions	Level 2	Level 3
Undo	X	X
Redo	X	X
Cut	X	X
Copy	X	X
Office Clipboard		X
Paste	X	X
Paste Special	X	X
Paste as Hyperlink		X
Clear		X
Select All	X	X
Find	X	X
Replace	X	X
Go to		X
Links		X
Object		X

Insert Menu

Functions	Level 2	Level 3
Break	X	X
Page Numbers	X	X
Date and Time…	X	X
AutoText		X
Field		X
Symbol		X
Comment		X
Reference	X	X
Web Component		X
Picture	X	X
Diagram		X
Text Box	X	X
File		X
Object		X
Bookmark		X
Hyperlink		X

Format Menu

Functions	Level 2	Level 3
Font	X	X
Paragraph	X	X
Bullets and Numbering	X	X
Borders and Shading	X	X
Columns	X	X
Tabs	X	X
Drop Cap		X
Text Direction		X
Change Case		X
Background	X	X
Theme		X
Frames		X
Autoformat		X
Styles and Formatting		X
Reveal Formatting		X
Object		X

Tools Menu

Functions	Level 2	Level 3
Spelling and Grammar	X	X
Language		X
Fix Broken Text		X
Word Count	X	X
AutoSummarize		X
Speech	X	X
Track Changes		X
Compare and Merge Documents		X
Protect Document		X
Online Collaboration		X
Letters and Mailings		X
Tools on the Web		X
Macro		X
Templates and Add-Ins		X
AutoCorrect Options	X	X
Customize	X	X
Options	X	X

Table Menu – not present in Level 2. Level 3 contains all options.

Window Menu – both Level 2 and Level 3 include all options.

Help Menu

Functions	Level 2	Level 3
Microsoft Word Help	X	X
Show the Office Assistant	X	X
What’s This?		X
Office on the Web		X
Activate Product	X	X
WordPerfect Help		X
Detect and Repair		X
About Microsoft Word	X	X

An overview of Level 3.

WILD Word’s Toolbar

This toolbar allows easy changing from one level to another and provides a way for users to obtain help. This toolbar is included on every level of WILD Word.

There are three components to this toolbar. First is the combo box listing the levels. The user can click on the combo box and view all of its contents. Once they have selected a level, they can switch to that level by clicking the “Change Level” button. We decided not switch levels when the user selects a different item in the combo box for one main reason. Should the user use an arrow or a scrolling wheel to switch between user interfaces, we don’t want the interface changing on them as they switch. This would be a lot of movement for a novice user and might make them think they have broken the software. This allows them to make a choice and then switch with only three clicks.

The last component of the toolbar is the Help menu. We decided to make Help a menu because first time users will start to learn how drop down menus work, making their transition to Level 2 a little easier.

The Help menu contains two items; “Help” and “About”. “About” simply loads a message box with information about the CUPID team and asks the user if they wish to go to our website. “Help” brings up a webpage with useful information on how the leveled design works and how they should choose which level they should be on.

A preliminary version of our help is included below.

WILD Word’s Tutorial/Help/FAQ

Tutorial/Help

Welcome to WILD Word, a multi-level structured word processing application! The following is some quick information on WILD Word and how to get started.

Starting Up

To start WILD Word, double-click on the Word icon. This will load up the Word application. Afterwards, go to Tools, Macro, Macros, and select Leveled Design from the list. Click “Ok” and you’re done.

Level Structure

The level structure design allows you to switch between levels of complexity in WILD Word. Level 1 is the least complex, presenting you with only the basic options while Level 3 is the most complex and thorough, giving every available option Word has. Level 2 is intended to gradually add options so that you can learn a few options thoroughly at one time.

Switching Between Levels

Switching between levels is extremely easy. You should see a toolbar with a pull-down menu somewhere on your screen. To switch levels, click on the pull-down menu and select the level with which you wish to work. You may also go back and forth between levels.

Mock Tutorial of Design for Level 1

New Button: The new button allows the user to start a completely new document. Clicking on this button will open a new blank document.

Open Button: The open button is represented by a open folder. This allows the user to open a previously saved document to edit or view. Clicking on the folder will open a dialogue box that allows the user to navigate to the desired directory and find the file he/she desires.

Save As: The ‘Save As’ option will allow the user to change the name of the document from the name it was previously saved as. Also, it will allow the user to put the document in whatever folder they wish and not just the default location. Clicking on this option will open a dialogue box similar to the open button but instead of open, will present a save option.

Print Button: By pressing this button, the document will begin printing without any type of options or dialogue boxes popping up. This is the simplest form of print and allows easy printing.

Exit: This is an alternative to closing the entire program using the “x” box at the upper right hand corner of any Microsoft window. They operate in the same fashion and will prompt for the user to save if the document has not been saved since the most recent change.

Scroll Bars: The scroll bars allow the user to view the page if the page is too small for the window and not everything fits in the frame of the window. Also if you have multiple pages or a long document, the vertical scrolling allows you to access different areas of the document.

Further Help

Further help can be located in the help menu. The help menu will appear once you have accessed higher level options not explained within this tutorial. The explanation provided above only give you help on the very first level (Level 1). When you need help on an advanced topic, simply click on the Help option at the top of the application and then choose a method of obtaining help (search, index, etc.).

Click on a link to go to its discussion.

FAQ

WILD Word FAQs…

What are these Levels?

How do I switch Levels?

How do I get Microsoft’s Help wizard?

Level 1 questions…

What is a document?

How do I open a new document?

How do I open an existing document?

How do I save my document?

How do I save my document as a different name?

How do I print a document?

How do I exit Word?

What are these Levels?

If you look at normal Word, there are an awful lot of features, most of which you won’t use. So we designed these Levels to help you use a Microsoft Word that you feel comfortable with. Each level has different capabilities, with higher levels including more features.

Level 1 has the least features and is basically a bare bones word processor. If you are a first time Word user or if just need to sit down and start typing, Level 1 is for you.

If you need some of Word’s features, but not the advanced stuff, Level 2 is probably best.

If you want all the features Microsoft Word has to offer, Level 3 is for you.

How do I switch Levels?

To switch levels, first click on the combo box. It looks like this.

Once you have selected the level you want, click on the “Change Level” button on the same toolbar. This will change levels for you.

How do I get Microsoft’s Help wizard?

Level 1 does not have access to Microsoft’s Help wizard. You must be at Level 2 or 3 in order to access it.

Simply click on the “Help” menu, and then click on “Microsoft Word Help”.

What is a document?

Documents are what Word saves and edits. A document is like a notebook. It can have many pages, and you can type on it. Word Documents allow you to do much more than just typing though. They allow you to add pictures to them, change font size and color, etc.

How do I open a new document?

While Word is open, click on the “New black document” button. It looks like a plain piece of white paper.

How do I open an existing document?

While Word is open, click on the “Open” button. It looks like a manila folder with an arrow over its top right corner. Once that is open, you will see a new window open. This is your “My Documents” directory. This is the default location of where your documents will be saved. Look for the document that you want to open, and double click it.

How do I save my document?

While Word is open, click on the “Save” button. It looks like a floppy disk. If you are saving for the first time, it will ask for a name to give it. Type in your desired name, then click save.

How do I save my document as a different name?

While Word is open, click on the “Save As” button. This will open the same window as when you saved the document for the first time. Simply rename it, and click save.

How do I print a document?

While Word is open, click on the “Print” button. It looks like a printer with a piece of paper coming out of the top. This will print one copy of your entire document. If it does not print, make sure that your printer is on, is connected and installed to your computer, and has enough paper and ink.

How do I exit Word?

You can close word one of several ways. You can click the “Exit” button that is on the Level 1 toolbar. You can also click the “X” button in the top right part of Word’s screen.

Development Process

Low Fidelity Prototype

Before coming up with our low-fidelity prototypes, our team had to consider user issues before designing our new MS Word interface. Such questions we had to answer were how many user levels will be available in our interface, what differentiates the level of expertise from one user to another, and which features should be available at each level? These were important to resolve during the initial design in order to provide an efficient interface for all users.

For our low-fidelity prototypes, our team originally came up with two designs for our Word’s Interactive Leveled Design (WILD Word). Although the key functions suggested for the levels in each prototype are the same, there are some considerable differences between the two designs. The most noticeable is the number of user levels each had. One design had only three user levels, novice, intermediate, and advanced, while the other had seven (with mock-ups of levels 1, 4, and 7).

Design One (level 1, 2 and 3)

To roughly test our initial prototypes, we talked to a couple of peers who considered themselves advanced users. They believed that there should be only three or four levels so that the user could easily distinguish the differences from one level to another. They thought that if there were too many levels, they might become confused as to what the differences are between them. We also gave potential users of different levels a series of tasks to execute using the current standard version of MS Word and a version with customized toolbars that simulates our level-structured design. The tasks were ordered in increasing difficulty and should have challenged the more novice users.

Example Task Sheet:

Novice Level

1. Open a new document.

2. Type the following text:

I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible with liberty and justice for all.

3. Use spell check to fix spelling mistakes.

Intermediate Level

1. Select the text United States of America and make it bold.

2. Select the whole paragraph and change the font to size 20 and color blue.

3. Select the paragraph and center it across the page.

4. Copy the paragraph and paste a copy right under it.

5. Double-space the second paragraph.

6. Add a page number at the center of the bottom of the page.

Advanced Level

1. On the next page, insert a table with 3 rows and 3 columns.

2. Delete the last row.

3. Make a numbered list that has the following items:

1. Bread

2. Butter

3. Eggs

4. Insert a WordArt at the top of the document that says "Pledge of Allegiance."

5. Change the page layout from portrait to landscape orientation.

6. Save the file on the Desktop as a Word document.

Novice level users found the task list challenging. When it came to a task they were unsure of, they found the array of tools overwhelming. They often guessed and picked the wrong icon. Having a simpler interface made them feel more confident. Having only functions they knew how to use prevented errors and increased the speed of performance.

Intermediate and advanced users were skeptical of using a level-structured MS Word. They felt more comfortable having all functionalities available to them even though they don’t normally use or know a lot of them. They did admit that novices, such as children and elders, may find the level design beneficial. They also suggested only having three levels instead of seven.

When it came to performance, having all of the functions displayed on the toolbars slowed their performance and caused errors. For example, even though they knew how to perform a certain task, similar looking icons would confuse users and cause them to click on the wrong tool. This suggests that a busy interface is a disadvantage even to experienced users.

After interacting with potential users, we decided that having seven levels was a bit excessive but having three may be too broad. It was sometimes hard to distinguish which complexity level certain functions belonged to. For example, inserting a table is a task that may be slightly higher than “intermediate” but not quite at the “advanced” level. Users also thought that including the level switching functionality should be on a toolbar and not a floating window. It was their opinion that the window would be hidden during full screen viewing of Word or that it would block part of Word’s interface and make it harder for them to work.

With these issues in consideration, for our final design, we added a new toolbar that allows users to switch between levels. We also decided on having three user levels (Level 1, 2, and 3). Each level is described below with screenshots to show the differences between the normal Microsoft Word, and our WILD Word.

High Fidelity Usability Test (Questions and Task List)

Pre-Test Questions:

Purpose: To determine what level the user is at, what their preferences are, and how they deal with unfamiliarity in the program. Knowing this can help us determine what features to have in each level and how to organize the help features.

1. How would you rate your experience using MS Word on a scale of 1 to 9? 1 being beginner and 9 being advanced:

Beginner Intermediate Advanced

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9

2. On a scale of 1 to 9, would you prefer using toolbar buttons or the menu to access features? 1 being toolbar buttons and 9 being the menu.

Toolbar buttons Menu

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9

3. a) On a scale of 1 to 9, how much of the Word features do you use regularly? 1 being none of the features (you don’t use Word) and 9 being all.

None All

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9

b) Which features do you use?

4. What would you like to be able to do in MS Word but don't know how?

5. If you see a feature that you're not familiar with, do you try to learn
that feature or do you choose to ignore it? Why?

Post-Test Questions:

Purpose: To determine how the user felt about each level Knowing this can help us determine what features to have in each level and how to organize the help features.

1. On a scale of 1 to 9, 1 being uncomfortable and 9 being very comfortable, how comfortable did you feel using this new leveled design?

Uncomfortable Very Comfortable

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9

2. Which task did you have the most difficulty doing? Why?

3. a) On a scale of 1 to 9, did you feel the level you worked at had sufficient features, too little, or too much for you? 1 being not enough features, and 9 being too many features.

Not Enough Sufficient Too Many

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9

b) If too little, list the features you needed that weren't available. If too much, list the features you could have done without.

4. a) On a scale of 1 to 9, would you rather work with this level-designed interface or the current MS Word interface? 1 being the level-designed interface and 9 being the current MS Word interface.

Level-design Current MS Word design

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9

Why do you prefer that interface?

5. a) On a scale of 1 to 9, do you feel working with this interface will prevent you from learning new features to get to the next user level or help you learn features of Word more efficiently? 1 being that this interface will prevent you from learning and 9 being it will help you to learn the features.

Prevent learning Help learning

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9

b) How will this interface prevent or help?

Task List:

Novice Level

1. Open a new document.
2. Change the level to 1.
3. Type the following text exactly:
4. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible with liberty and justice for all.
5. Save the document onto the desktop. Title this file “pledge”.
6. Print the document.
7. Exit the program.

Intermediate Level

1. Open the document titled “Pledge” from the desktop.
2. Change the level to 2.
3. Cut the portion that says i plege allegence and paste it at the beginning of the paragraph.
4. Use spell check to check for errors
5. Select the text United States of America and make it bold.
6. Select the whole paragraph and change the font to size 20 and color blue.
7. Select the paragraph and center it across the page.
8. Copy the paragraph and paste a copy right under it.
9. Double-space the second paragraph.
10. Add a page number at the center of the bottom of the page.
11. Save the document as a text file to the desktop. Title the file “pledge2”.
12. Print the document on the HP 812C printer.
13. Exit the program.

Advanced Level

a. Open the document titled “Pledge2” from the desktop.

b. Change the level to 3.

c. Insert a page break after the text.

d. On the next page, insert a table with 3 rows and 3 columns.

e. Delete the last row.

f. Make each cell 1” in width by 0.5” in height and fill in each cell with the word “CMSC434”

g. Make a numbered list under the table that has the following items:

1. Bread

2. Butter

3. Eggs

h. Insert a WordArt at the top of the document that says “Pledge of Allegiance.”

i. Insert a clipart from the desktop called “picture” right under the WordArt.

j. Change the page layout from portrait to landscape orientation.

k. Save the file on the Desktop as a Word document. Title the file “pledge 3”.

l. Print to the default printer.

m. Exit the program.

The usability test was designed to find out what users liked and disliked about the new MS Word Leveled Interface. Pretest questions were prepared to see what kind of user we were testing. We wanted to see where the user stood experience-wise with MS Word and if they were the type who would give up if they did not know how to do something or if they would play around and try to learn the feature. We also wanted to know what features the user would like to know how to use in MS Word and find out if our interface could possibly aid them in learning this feature.

After the pretest questions, the users were given one of three tests (beginner, intermediate, or advanced) according to their rating of experience with MS Word. If they rated their experience between a one and three they were given the beginner test, if they rated their experience between a four and a six they were given the intermediate test, and if they rated their experience between a seven and a nine they were given the advanced test.

The tests included tasks we found users at that level would like to have. For example, the beginner may only want to type something, print it and save it. Whereas, the intermediate user may want to cut and paste things, change the fonts, and modify the way the document looks. For each level we provided tasks that would require using the “new” features for that level that the previous level did not have. From this test we are hoping to see if our predictions about what beginner, intermediate, and advanced users can do and what they want to do are correct.

After the tests, the user was given a posttest questionnaire to assess how they felt about the new interface: the comfort level, the amount of features offered at the level, and general preferences. We found the following from our usability tests:

With user number one we found that this individual was an advanced user, who used MS Word frequently for his papers and assignments. He completed his task in less than 10 minutes, however, this user found some trouble inserting a clip art. In general, the user did not have a preference for the leveled structure interface because he already knew a majority of the features and if he did use the leveled structure interface he would be using level three, which would look just like what Word offers already.

User number two was an intermediate MS Word user. This user had no problems with the test, except for the fact that it said to change the font to “blue” and did not specify which blue. The user completed his task within five minutes. He found that having less of the useless features cluttering the screen was helpful in making it faster to find the necessary tools. This user felt that this interface would help the user learn faster and that our current interface has a sufficient number of features. Overall, he appeared quite satisfied.

User number three was also an intermediate user. This user is the curious type that likes to figure out how to use new features. He stated that he has always wanted to learn how to use macros. This user completed his task in about 4 minutes and had no problems. A feature he said he would have liked to have on the intermediate level was the ability to create tables. His reasoning was that most users may not need to insert clip art like the advanced users, but most do use tables. He prefers the current MS Word interface because he is comfortable with the current design and change makes him uncomfortable.

User number four was a beginner. He has never used MS Word before. It took him about nine minutes to complete his task. The hardest part was finding where commands were in the menu. He felt that there were a sufficient number of features on the current beginner interface because if there were more than the user would be overwhelmed and if there were less the user would not be able to do some of the basic things that would be needed like saving or printing a document. This user prefers this interface because it allows the beginner user to not be overwhelmed by the many features offered at the advanced level. He feels that this will help learning.

User number five is an Information Systems Major with a fair amount of knowledge about the different features that Microsoft Word offers. He is an intermediate user. He felt uncomfortable using the leveled structure and suggested more levels. His preference for the current Word interface could be attributed to the fact that he is “more used to the regular MS Word.”

User number six a Computer Science major, also with a fair amount of knowledge and experience with the numerous features that Microsoft Word offers. This user had little trouble using the leveled structure. However, she was uncomfortable using the new design because of her familiarity with the current MS Word interface. Her primary problem during this test was not completing the task, but figure out what “picture” meant in the directions.

Subject number seven of the usability test was a woman in her early 50s. She used Microsoft Word daily, as part of her job, and therefore rated herself as an intermediate user. She had almost no preference between toolbars and menus and believed she uses most of MS Word’s features regularly, specifically bullets and tables. A feature she did not know how to use but would like to learn is the mail merge feature.

During the test, we found that she did not know how to open a file from a specific directory and was given assistance. She completed the rest of the tasks correctly. However, when unsure under which menu a certain feature was located (e.g., page numbering), she would randomly choose menus and browsed what was under them. This slowed down her performance greatly and caused some frustration. She also erred at her first attempt to insert a page number. The toolbar icons seemed to confuse her as she chose bullet numbering by mistake. This confusion with the toolbars also added some frustration.

After the test, when asked how she felt with the leveled design, the subject rated her experience as comfortable. The task she had most difficulty doing was inserting a page number. She felt there were sufficient features available on the interface, but still preferred the current version of MS Word because she was familiar with the current interface.

Subject number eight was a young workingwoman in her 20s. She uses MS Word regularly in her clerical duties. She rated her experience with MS Word as falling between intermediate and advanced. She preferred using menus compared to toolbars. As far as the features, she regularly used text formatting and bullets. She would also like to learn how to do layouts.

Since the subject rated herself as being in between intermediate and advanced, she was asked to perform the task lists for both levels. Even though she said that she preferred menus to toolbars, she often used toolbar icons to access a feature rather than the menus. The subject experienced some difficulty when it came to table manipulation. She had trouble locating the feature she needed to use in order to format the table cells. Frustration was evident in the user as she looked for the correct feature. The rest of the tasks were completed successfully, but not with confidence an advanced user would have had.

After the test, the subject said that she felt comfortable with the new, leveled design, but preferred the current MS Word interface. She felt the interface had too many options to choose from, making it hard to find a specific feature, i.e. table cell formatting. She also thought the leveled design will prevent her from learning new features by not having these features available for her to familiarize with.

Overall the usability test went smoothly and efficiently. It took most of the users a relatively short period of time to complete the tasks and respond to the pre and posttest questions. There were a couple of major problems that the subjects had while using the leveled structure. According to one of the subjects, the division of levels in the structured design was not very uniform. He thought that the Advanced Level was a really huge jump from the intermediate level and although he used MS Word very frequently, there were some features that he had “never seen in his life.” He suggested having more levels for different users and said that it would help him and other users learn the different features associated with these levels more easily. Another problem was subjects’ inaccuracy at evaluating their own MS Word user experience. They tended to be overconfident with their ability or familiarity with Microsoft Word. They rated their experiences higher than what their performance showed when doing the tasks. This may appear as a problem with the leveled design to serve users most efficiently. We also observed that when subjects encountered a problem, they refused to ask for assistance or refer to online help. Often, they resorted to trial by error until they find the solution to the problem. This increased the time of performance and inaccuracy. Perhaps the most important obstacle for our design was a natural problem that some of the subjects faced – their hesitance in using a new MS Word design. They were just somewhat hesitant in using this new version of MS Word. Part of the reason is that they are quite used to the regular MS Word, so for them to use a new version of MS Word was somewhat intimidating and confusing at first. In general, people do not like change, thus, this new interface was unpopular because of this reason. Even when the new design seemed more beneficial to them, they still preferred the current MS Word interface.

Conclusion

What Was Implemented

Our final product was in the form of a three-leveled structured interface of MS Word, namely novice, mediocre and advanced.

The novice level provides users the ability to create a new document, open an existing document, save and print a given document, obtain help – which is offered in a very simple language – and switch between different levels. In order to attract novice users and not to intimidate them, various options (new file, open, print etc…) are provided using reasonably large sized icons.

The mediocre level, in addition to the features in the novice level, provides a few standard formatting options. This includes copy, cut, paste, format painter and highlighted text style. Additionally, users are given the option to implement various printing and document-viewing options like the web-layout and print layout views and setting margins for the document. Keeping the fact in mind that these users are still not very advanced, most of these formatting/viewing options are made available in the form of icons.

The advanced level almost resembles the standard Microsoft Word interface. It provides all the features that are offered in MS Word. It is meant for those users who are comfortable using MS Word and like to use the advanced formatting, editing and viewing options. This level also gives them the opportunity to use various function keys that expert users prefer using to expedite their tasks.

Future Work Possibilities

We were very ambitious in making this interface an exemplary one but due to time constraints and lack of resources we were unable to achieve everything we desired it to have.

After conducting the various usability tests and showing our work to various people in the field, we realized that in the future, following additions and refinements could be made to our interface in order to improve it further and to make it usable by a wider community of users. We suggest the following possible improvements:

1. We were only able to make three distinct designs for MS Word. However, several people suggested that various computer users cannot be divided into only three levels and that there exist a large number of users with very different computer skills. In this context, some of the people who used our interface also pointed out that the difference in the number of options provided for any two levels in our interface was very large. We understood that fact; as a matter of fact, we had initially planned on developing 7 levels to our interface but we were not able to do so because of time limitations.

2. Also, because of time constraints, we were not able to provide a complete help system that meets the needs of users at different levels. We suggest that in the future, different help menus could be prepared for each of the various levels. The complexity of description and the length of these menus is suggested to be different for each level. For instance, novice users could be offered help in larger fonts, using simple English terms without using any computer jargon. Advanced computer users could be offered help in the typical MS Word way, whose lists of help topics can definitely scare a novice user away from the computer!

3. Future teams can possibly develop a complete guided tour/tutorial of each level, as a new user enters the program. This tutorial has to be user-friendly and should give very concise description of each level, the list of available options in that level and ways to use those options. However, to avoid user frustration by having to go through this tutorial every time they open the software, there should be an option to turn it off.

4. Because of the unavailability of a typical usability test laboratory, we were only able to conduct our usability tests on users who are around us as friends, colleagues and roommates. We wished to conduct these tests in a more professional way, on a wider range of people, in order to get better feedback from a larger number of users.

Recommendations to Future Developers

For future developers who could build on our ideas, we suggest the following:

1. Conduct an extensive survey to determine a close enough number of levels of user skills. Based on that fact and using the details obtained by this survey, develop a sophisticated leveled structure with more levels and a few number of new options added at each level.
2. Conduct a wider usability test on the developed interface with users of all different levels being exposed to the developed model and get their detailed feedback. Based on the user response, modify the design of the interface and then re-conduct the test.

Acknowledgements

We wanted to thank everyone who has helped us along the way with this project. This includes:

Professor Ben Shneiderman who helped us come up with the idea for the project. Jenny Yip, Denley Wong, Kim Yip, and Peggy Wang who kindly gave up their time to be subjects of our high prototype usability test and provided great feedback and suggestions. Jane Lieberman and Andrew Hunt for their time in helping us think of problems with our low prototype design and providing ideas to improve it.

References

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