Pmaina-paraphrasing

HCI Theories" Please respond to the following:

Imagine you are the manager of a medium-sized IT department. While walking through the hall one day, you overhear a senior-level software developer telling a newly hired developer to focus on improving his coding skills rather than learning about theories related to human-computer interaction. Take a position on whether you agree or disagree with the senior software developer. Support your decision.

Unfortunately; I cannot side with the senior-level software developer on his viewpoint on most important focus. Coding skills are obviously important for software developers; however, there are other concepts that should not be overlooked. Without understanding how a user is most likely going to interact with software there is no reason to begin developing a new program. Human-computer interaction, HCI, was brought forward when computer use moved from a rather small amount of users to anyone being able to interact with a computer (Carroll, 2015). There was a very quick realization that there was no way every personal user would easily learn how to interact with a computer; therefore, HCI was developed to provide a push for usability for all. Because the point of HCI is to ensure developers have a grasp on how a user will interact with a piece of technology it becomes a vital part of design and development, well, should be if taking the proper approach. HCI is extremely important for the good of the product as well as ease of use for the user. Looking back I remember how difficult some people found understanding the interaction process with a computer. I cannot imagine how it would have ended had people not taken the time to study the interaction process and worked to streamlining it for as many people as possible. This is a critical understanding every developer needs to take the time to focus on prior to continuing on with his or her career.

Reference:

Carroll, J. (2015). Human Computer Interaction. Retrieved from https://www.interaction-design.org/literature/book/the-encyclopedia-of-human-computer-interaction-2nd-ed/human-computer-interaction-brief-intro

From the e-Activity, discuss the idea that all applications have to be visually consistent. Argue whether you agree or disagree with the idea and why.

The thought of consistency has drastically changed over the years. In the beginning consistency meant everything looked the same as well as functioned the same. John Grubber in the video we were to watch explained that it was truly a uniformity that was being followed rather than consistency. The reason for this was that every single application appeared the same down to where the close button appeared on the header. This is great when you truly do not desire functionality of a system to grow and evolve; however, developers soon realized that users are not as unable to manage changes in appearance so long as there is consistency in function. Changing the shape of a button, color used to highlight when utilizing a drop menu, or size did not change how easily a user moved from one version or application to another. Functionally consistent is the focus that needs to be met when designing. Another important aspect is that it is not just application to application, but within an application as well. A user does become custom to where something is or how a specific bottom functions; therefore, changing the function or placement of something from screen to screen within the application can and will cause issues. A good example is a bank app I have on my phone. On one of the screens the menu came from the bottom but on the next it moved in from the side. This becomes frustrating when switching between and attempting to remember which place the menu needs accessed from. A simple focus on consistency would have prompted a change to this somewhat minor detail that does have effect on the user.

(I utilized the video for week 2's e-Activity found at  http://vimeo.com/21742166?ab  for the basis of this post)