a) Please provide BRIEF answers to the following questions:

1. Name three different dialogue styles?
2. Give two reasons why formative evaluation must be low cost.
3. What is haptic interaction?
4. Briefly explain why predictive text-entry may not reduce errors with mobile telephones.
5. What is external consistency?

[2 marks per answer, 10 marks in total]

b) Briefly explain why it is important to choose an appropriate font and point size when designing interactive software and any associated documentation.

[3 marks]

c) Minimal manuals have been proposed as a means of helping users to get started with interactive systems. Instead of relying on large documents with hundreds of pages of detailed references, users are given a short summary of the initial functionality. Briefly describe how you would design an interface so that users could gradually learn more about a system once they had become familiar with the content in the minimal manual.

[5 marks]

d) The Johnson Corporation has won a contract to develop on-line documentation for a new device that will play digital music in a range of formats such as MP3 and WMA. The device will be sent to customers with a minimal manual. If they want to learn how to exploit more advanced features of the device then they will have to access a web site. Briefly describe how you would plan the formative evaluation of this documentation.

[7 marks]