A TECHNIQUE TO EVALUATE THE USABILITY OF CONTROL KEYPADS AND PANELS IS PRESENTED. THIS TECHNIQUE, WHICH IS CALLED CHOICE PARADIGM, IS APPLICABLE TO THE DESIGN OF USER-INTERFACES FOR PROGRAMMABLE EQUIPMENT SUCH AS PLC AND CNC MACHINES. A COMPUTER PROGRAM WAS DEVELOPED TO PRESENT USERS WITH TWO ALTERNATIVE INTERFACES FOR A CNC MACHINE. USERS DEVELOPED FOUR BENCHMARK TASKS WHILE THEIR PERFORMANCE WAS REGISTERED ON-LINE BY THE C-PROGRAM. TIME TO DEVELOP THE TASKS, TIME USING THE INTERACTIVE HELP FACILITY, AND INTERRESPONSE TIMES WERE THREE OF THE PERFORMANCE MEASURES RECORDED. USERS ALSO WERE ASKED TO WRITE FIVE FEATURES THAT THEY LIKED MOST ABOUT THE TWO USER-INTERFACES. THESE DATA ARE PRESENTED IN THIS PAPER, ALONG WITH A DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE LAYOUTS STUDIED AND THE PROCEDURE USED.
| Number of Pages : | 13 |
| Published : | 06/01/1990 |
