Evaluation: Second Heuristic Evaluation

Adapted Generic principles for heuristic evaluation:

1. Feedback: The child should be aware of what is happening.
2. Everyday child language: Use language that a child would be comfortable with.
3. Consistency: Responses should be the same when similar options are selected by the child and it should share conventions currently in use.
4. Recognition not recall: The child should be able to recognise what they should/can do at a particular step.
5. Simple design: Keep things crisp and simple and aesthetically pleasing.
6. Error recovery: Prevent errors from occurring, but if they do, provide a suitable response and an appropriate solution.
7. Documentation: Any documentation should be simple and concise, as a child will not read it.

General scope of the system:

The system displays a 'scanning' message when the Scan button is pressed. This feedback makes it obvious what is happening. The scanner now beeps when a word has been scanned correctly, thus telling the user that they can now use the menu system on the word.

The language the system uses is simple and easy to understand for children between 7 and 11, which is especially important for the Dictionary definitions and the Thesaurus entries.

Everytime a word is scanned, the options in the menu remain the same. This ensures that the system is consistant. The system also shares conventions found in devices such as pocket translators/personal organisers and mobile phones, where you scroll through the menus.

The design of the menus ensure that the next step is easy to recognise. It has been made easier in the redesign as the menus have more precise headings e.g. instead of Dictionary it now says Dictionary definition, so the child doesn't expect a full dictionary when they click on it. Furthermore the addition of the beep sounds when the user scans a word, helps to enforce the recognition of what to do next.

The word scanner provides only two input controls, namely the scan button and the clickable scroll wheel. This makes interaction simple. The design of the menus is also crisp and simple, avoiding any unecessary clutter. Futhermore, the new design is more comfortable to use with the addition of grips to the sides of the device, this will make using it easier.

The system displays an error message when a word failed to scan and also tells the user what to do next, so that they can recover from what they did.

The documentation is short and concise and should only really be required when the user first attempts to scan a word.


Specific interface elements:

The new size of the device may effect its 'pocket sized' status. It can still fit inside an adult's pocket, but a child's pocket is smaller. However, the increase in size is minimal, so it is unlikely to effect it.

There is still a concern that the definitions and entries offered by the Dictionary and Thesaurus may be too difficult for the child to understand. This would be an ongoing problem with this device, no matter how many prototypes were developed. It would simply need to improve with every version of the product ever released AND it can be developed by the updates the device will receive when plugged into a PC with Internet Access.