Web Usability Made Easier
Adaptation
personalization vs.customization
Aleksandra Stoeva
Current State of World Wide Web
More than 1,000,000,000 websites
Users: The World
What do people want online?
–“They're not aimless "surfers" looking for a fix or a novelty.Instead, the average Net user seems to be a goal-orientedperson interested in finding information and communicatingwith others.” (Sean Carton. (2000) What Do People WantOnline. Retrieved February 20, 2007, fromhttp://www.clickz.com/showPage.html?page=824471)
Usability
What is usability applied to the WWW?
–the extent to which a site can be used by a specified group of usersto achieve specified goals with effectiveness, efficiency, andsatisfaction in a specified context of use
How can adaptation help?
–Content (consider: age, occupation, other interests)
–Presentation of information (language, level of experience)
Where can adaptation be applied?
–Browser
–Web Application
Forms of Inference
Requires activity history, but whose?
–Web log mining
one user
–Clustering
Generalize (from group to user)
–Data usage
–Profile
Adaptive vs. Adaptable
Personalization
–Full Control: system
–Faster from user perspective
–Relatively more data
–e.g. EBay
Book suggestion
Youwant X?
That’s what Ineeded!
Customization
–Full Control: user
–Slower from user perspective
–Relatively less data
–e.g. !My Yahoo
Color
Layout
Adaptive vs. AdaptableContinued
Problems
–Reduced awareness
–Reduced level of trust
–Sociological problem
W – workload
U – unpredictability
C - competency
Solutions
–Provide feedback
–Support undo and redo
–Adaptable automation
–Friendly interface
Browser vs. Web Application
Browser - individual
–Customization
Security level
Content
Accessibility
–Personalization
The last thing I saved in…
Cookies
–Advantage or Disadvantage?
Browser vs. Web ApplicationContinued
Web Application
–Individual
Personalization requires registration
–Can do: Infer Shortcuts, Remember States
–Cannot do: Infer appeal, Aid during/before registration
Customization
–Specify own rules
–Wizards
–By Groups
Browser - Interface to IS
Support for dynamic changes in context
–Computing
Memory availability (e.g. respond properly to CPUusage)
–Communication
Respond to network’s characteristics (e.g. bandwidthavailability)
– Input/Out
Support different types of devices and interaction modes(e.g. GUIs adapting to screen size)
– User
Interface tailored based on user history
– Location
Define the security domain
Implications
Personalization techniques, agents
Additions to the browser
–Context monitor
–Context manager
Disadvantages
–CPU time used by the manger
–Space required for extra data (user adaptation)
Customization saves CPU time, language and otherpreferences better asked than inferred
Adaptation System Out
Advantages
–Resources
Not yours
–Scope
Group information
Disadvantages
–Scope
Only this web application
Summary
Intermediaries – more is better
–In browser
Consider constrains – CPU, memory
–In web application
Properly combined use of personalizationand customization
–Consider
Constrains
Human factors