Bad usability usually leads colossal losses for product manufacturers. This seemingly basic concept is the key to enhancing user experience and increasing product sales. The point being: if it isn’t easy to use, why should anyone use/buy it?
Let’s take a few examples to understand what usability is and why it is important. Do you know what the following sign depicts?
You probably got it right without much thought. This is one of the goals of usability: Complete the task or tasks without making the user think too much. This is an example of high usability. Now let’s look at another example, do you know what the following sign is trying to communicate?
It’s obvious that the designer of this signage is trying to convey, “When there is a fire, do not use the elevators, rather use the stairs”. Now, imagine you are in a building which is on fire and you see this sign. As it takes more time to read, you’d probably use the drawings to understand the message.
The top and middle drawings are self-explanatory. However, the stairs image is where you, a person trying to escape, might take a while to decipher. Why? Well…the sign doesn’t tell you which way to go. It shows a person going downstairs, while there is another person going upstairs. In a real fire situation, this would lead to chaos and a safety nightmare! This is an example of low usability and the consequences it can lead too can be drastic.
What is Usability?
Usability refers how easily a user can interact with a product to perform a certain task. Considering how broad this definition is, it is not surprising that usability is applicable to many products and processes, such as signage, software, books, web sites, and household products.
Usability is very common in everyday life. For example, do you remember how difficult it was to record your favorite programs by using a VCR or how easy it can be to purchase a product from a web site that has no usability errors? I’m sure you’ve had your fair share of usability related issues.
Before you read on, take a minute to list your favorite products and web sites. Three each will do.
When is a Product or Web Site Usable?
There are several factors that can be considered for gauging the usability of a product. The key factors are:
Easy to learn: Users should intuitively know how to use the product and its features. The last thing you want is to have a user read through pages and pages of a user manual.
Memorable: After using the system, users should be able to re-use the system without going through the manuals again.
Satisfaction: Users should appreciate using the system. It should be a pleasurable experience.
Now, look back at the list you created. Odds are that the items you’ve listed excel at the factors listed above.
Usability is the key to making successful products and web sites.
~Rupen Sharma
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How to Change your Power Supply Unit
The Power Supply Unit, or PSU, is the most important part of any PC, powering each section of your computer, it is essential to make sure it is running smoothly.
There might be multiple reasons for you to change your PSU, but the most common would be that you want to upgrade, as some higher range graphics cards need more wattage than your current PSU can supply. Another reason would be that your old PSU has died. If you are here, you'll be relieved to hear it's also one of the easiest components to replace.
What you will need to change your PSU:
- One Screwdriver (Generally a phillips head screwdriver, depending on your setup)
- Some Cable Ties (To keep the new PSU's wires together to increase better airflow and minimize the mess)
- One new PSU, and in some situations, a good amount of patience.
How to change your PSU:
- First, what you need to do is disconnect your PC from all of the wires going into the back and unscrew or unlatch your case in order to access the innards
- At this point you'll want to lay your case on its side and get the static electricity out of your body by either touching the bottom of the case or having an Antistatic band available. The reason you need to do this is because under the circumstances there's a high chance you'll be touching some of the computer chips. If the static from your body is released upon the chips it could greatly damage them, so always be sure to get the static out of you before touching anything inside your PC!
- Now here comes the fiddly part, first let's start off with the CD or DVD drives (optical drives).
+ Depending on how many you have you'll want to pull on the cord coming from the PSU going into the back of the drive until it pops out, if you have an older computer, they might be rather hard to pull out but keep pulling at it and eventually they'll come free.
+ What you'll want to do is remember what sort of connector came out of where. It will generally be either a Molex or a SATA connector. Keep this in mind for when you need to reconnect everything. Below are some examples of Molex and SATA connectors.
Molex Connector
SATA Connector
- With the optical drives done, you should move on to the HDD (Hard Disk Drive).
+ And just as with the optical drive, you'll want to pull out the PSU cord going into the back of it.
- OK so far so good, optical and hard disk drives done, so lets go for the floppy disk drive. Like the other components, just pull it out.
- Almost done, now look to the biggest chip in the computer, known as the motherboard. It should have one large connection on it coming from the PSU, this one will have a small latch on it, so before trying to take it out, pull on the small latch until its free and then pull the connector up.
+Depending on your PC, there might another four point connection near the fan on your PSU, this one will also have a latch on it. So like the one before, push on the latch and pull it out.
- With all the connections taken out take your screwdriver and take out the 4-5 screws at the back of your PC case that are holding the PSU in place, it's generally found at the top of the case. It's now safe to remove your PSU from the case.
- Now you'll want to place your new PSU into place, screw it into place. And now connect all the all the connections back into place, you'll want to use your cable ties to keep order inside of your PC.
- Once you have connected everything back up put your case back on and you're ready to go!
~Natasha Shepherd
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Q:
How do I record over a CD-RW? I tried to record over it, but that didn't work it says to make it a blank CD first.
A:
We all know the difference between a CD-R and a CD-RW right? Once you fill up a CD-R, that's it, but a CD-RW allows you to re-write data and use the disk over and over again.
Keep in mind, though, that unlike a floppy or Zip disk, you cannot erase just one file from a CD-RW, but must reformat the entire disk to re-use it. The disk makers claim you can do this up to 1000 times (like any of us are gonna try it ;-)
The process for reformatting varies according to your CD burning software, but most programs will have an "Erase Disk" button somewhere.
In addition, as we often mention, Windows XP and Vista have built-in CD burning. If you put in a CD-RW that you want erased, double-click the CD recording drive, then under "CD Writing Tasks", click "Erase this CD-RW". The CD Writing Wizard will walk you through an easy 2-step process giving you a blank CD-RW to use.
REMEMBER: This will delete all files from the CD-RW, you cannot erase single files. There are, however, products out there that make your CD-RW's act like really big floppies.
Oh, did I mention that this tip also applies to DVD-Rs? Well, it does!
~ David
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Folder Toolbar
I found this one by accident. I was dragging a folder to the Recycle Bin but instead I dropped it at the top of the screen. Surprise! A toolbar appeared at the top displaying the contents of the folder. Pretty cool.
I noticed that not all the files were listed, then I saw a double arrow on the right side and clicked it. There I found the rest of my files.
Then the novelty wore off, so what to do? Well, if you right click an empty area of the toolbar and select "Toolbars" you can uncheck the folder name from the list.
If you like the toolbar but don't want it showing all the time, you can also choose "auto-hide" for it to appear when you mouse over (as long as you don't have other toolbars already on auto-hide).
What a nice surprise.
~ Chad
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Q:
What are "zipped" files?
A:
A zip file is basically a "package" of one or more compressed files. If you download a lot of software, you'll run across these all the time.
They are not difficult to work with. You'll need an "unzipping" program in order to access them, something like Winzip or Winrar are both good choices.
Once unzipped, you simply run the install program (if there is one) and you're all set. In fact, Winzip will automatically run the installation program for you if it finds one!
You can download Winzip from:
http://www.winzip.com
You can get Winrar here:
http://www.rarlabs.com/
It is a shareware program, so if you use it you should pay for it. It doesn't have an expiration though, so you can "evaluate" it for as long as you like.
If you have Windows XP or Vista, you don't need a program—just double click a zipped file to open it.
A menu will appear from which you can save individual files to your computer. Just click & drag or copy the file you want and drop it in the desired location. It's that easy!
Also, in the left-hand column there is a link to "Extract all files".
This will open a wizard to guide you through the extraction process. You can choose where you want the files to go, etc.
Did you ever imagine that unzipping file could be so easy?
~ Andrew
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Drop Down History
Have you ever been looking for a page on a particular web site and haven't been able to find it? You may know the site name ( www.sitename.com) but the actual page name eludes you.
Well, with Internet Explorer and Mozilla Firefox, you can type in just the name of the site, like www.worldstart (note you don't really need the ".com" part) then hit your down arrow. A list of all the pages you've visited on the site will be displayed.
Cool huh?
~ Steve
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In today's world, most of us are using a Microsoft Windows operating system. When compared to the other operating systems that are currently available, it seems like the best choice. Similarly, the usage of the mouse is more in Windows than in any other operating system.
If your mouse happens to stop working for a day or two, you would have a really tough time trying to get your work done on your computer. You would have to spend most of your time working with your keyboard, trying to recollect all the shortcut keys and the combination keys to use and all of this would have to be done from your memory. How about something a bit better? Instead, if we have the option of moving and clicking the pointer (cursor) by using the keyboard, wouldn't that be so much easier? Yes, I do believe so!
Windows does have a facility to use on a keyboard that allows you to move the pointer in the absence of a mouse. Interested? Well, then let's see how we can enable this feature and use it.
To enable this feature:
1.) Go to Control Panel.
2.) Select Accessibility option.
3.) From the dialogue box, click on the Mouse tab.
4.) Tick the checkbox of Use Mouse Key.
5.) Click OK to close the Accessibility Options window.
Note: You can also press Left Alt key + Left Shift Key + Num Lock together to open the MouseKeys dialogue box. Then press Enter to keep MouseKeys ON. Press Cancel to keep MouseKeys OFF.
We can also see a small mouse icon on the task bar (when the MouseKeys option is enabled).
Also, make sure your Num Lock key is ON. We can use the numeric pad (the number pad on the right hand side of your keyboard) as MouseKeys, but only if the Num Lock is ON.
So, now you may be wondering which keys you can use to actually move the mouse pointer, right?
Okay, well, we have enabled the MouseKeys feature and have also made sure that the Num Lock is ON. So, now on the numeric keypad, you are going to use the keys:
2, 4, 6 and 8 to move the cursor on the screen toward Down, Left, Right and Up.
To left click (single), press 5.
To right click (single), press – (minus).
To double click (left), press + (plus).
To increase the speed of the pointer movement, double click the mouse icon on the taskbar and select the Settings button from the dialogue box. Now you can increase the speed of the pointer by selecting the Pointer Speed option.
Also, Click to check the box that says, "Hold down Ctrl to speed up and Shift to slow down." Now, if you press the Ctrl key while holding the arrow key, the pointer speed will increase and if you hold the Shift key while holding the arrow key, the pointer speed will decrease.
Note: If you want to use the numbers from the numeric keypad while using the MouseKeys, select the OFF radio button from Use MouseKeys when Num Lock is the option. If you select ON again, the numeric keypad will be used as MouseKeys.
So, from now on, even if your mouse goes bad, you still have options to move the cursor!
~ M. Nagarajan
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There are some things people do to their laptops that can put them in great danger. One major example is letting their laptop charge for longer than it needs to. Most laptop owners are under the impression that if they leave their laptop on the charger for as long as possible, they'll be able to get more "juice" (power) out of it. And that's just simply not true. In reality, you're just damaging it and putting it at risk of over heating or exploding. Listed below are a few other harmful things you should be sure to keep your laptop away from. Here we go!
*Over charging.
*Not handling it with care.
*Incorrectly replacing its batteries.
*Leaving it turned on for too long.
*Leaving it in a high humidity climate.
*Tampering with the battery compartment.
*Switching to non-manufacturer batteries.
*Refusing to turn it off after it's become extremely hot.
*Trying to repair or reuse a battery that has no more power.
*Using a charger that didn’t originally come with the laptop.
*Charging it in an area around too many other cords (extension cords, for example).
Despite what you might think, over charging your laptop will not give it more "juice." It will only make it hotter. You should also always use the charger that came with your laptop. When your laptop gets too hot, you should turn it off or at least put it into Safe Mode. You need to keep your laptop in a cool area as much as possible. Now, when replacing the battery, you should refer back to the manual that came with your laptop to get the correct instructions for doing so. You should only use batteries that have been approved by the manufacturer as well.
The above guidelines apply to cell phones as well. You should only use the charger that originally came with your phone and once it's fully charged, take it off the charger. Even more, you should only replace the battery with one that has been manufacturer approved and finally, if your phone gets too hot, just turn it off completely. If you follow these rules, I promise your precious devices will last much longer!
~ Tweety Dimes
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If you’re like me, you’ve got a lot of events to go to and people to see everyday. I used to keep a journal to manage all of my appointments, but now, I just use Windows Calendar! It’s really easy to get started and once you’ve got it going, you won’t want to stop. Let's check it out!
To start up Windows Calendar in Windows Vista, go to Start, All Programs. Then choose Windows Calendar.
Wow! As you can see, it has today’s date, an appointment book and even a to-do list (called Tasks). The first thing you’re going to want to do is schedule a new appointment. Let’s pretend for a moment that you're friends with the President and Vice President of the United States. The President calls to let you know he wants to see you at 1 p.m. on June 30, 2008. So, you whip out Windows Calendar, double click on the 1 p.m. option and enter the specifics in the Details box on the right. That's all you have to do!
Now, if you ever happen to double book yourself or you need to change the details for a specific appointment, simply right click on the date and choose what you need to do from the options shown. It's as easy as that!
Happy scheduling!
~ Brandon Zubek
Re-Posted By Computer Software Solution Services
Online News
Did you know you can read pretty much everything you read in a newspaper on the Internet? Well, now that you know, you can! There are several Web sites online that have daily news from around the world, from within your state and even within your city or town. Let's check it out!
For starters, sites such as www.msn.com, www.yahoo.com and www.google.com have all kinds of news. They offer everything from world news to sports to entertainment. Some Web sites even have other news categories, such as business, health and technology.
All you have to do when you go to one of those sites is look for the News link and click on it. That link will take you to the main news section on the site and you can then search through the stories to find something you'd like to read. Some of the Web sites even offer a place for you to enter in your zip code so that you can read your local news. Most of the sites usually have pictures as well!
You can also go to your newspaper's Web site to read their news. If you happen to miss a newspaper one day or somehow misplace it, you can always log in to your newspaper's site to read that day's articles. (The Web address should be in the newspaper somewhere). Originally used pictures also accompany most of those stories as well.
It's a really cool idea if you like reading things on your computer instead of in little black print on paper. You can grab your morning coffee, log on to your computer and catch up on the daily news!
~ Erin
Re-Published by Computer Software Hardware Tips
Well, I'm really going to be talking about your computer, but that's besides the point! So, you know about the My Computer folder we all use quite often, right? It's the main folder that holds all of the different hard disk drives you use for different things on your computer. For example, the C: drive, the A: drive (if you have a floppy disk drive) and all of those removable disk drives for flash drives, etc. Yep, they all sit right there in the My Computer folder!
Okay, so now that we've established that, how can you actually get to it? Most of you probably have an icon for it sitting on your desktop. That's a very easy way to access it, but what if you don't want to use an icon for it? I know I like to keep my desktop as clean as possible so that I can see my beautiful wallpaper better! So, if you're like me, what can you do?
There just so happens to be another way to access the My Computer folder! All you have to do is go to your Start menu and look for it. When you click on Start, look to the right and you will see an option for My Computer. Just click on that and you will be able to choose the particular drive you want to go to from there. That method actually saves you a little bit of clicking time and since you use your Start menu for so many different things anyway, you might as well add one more to it, don't you think?! You will see options for My Documents, My Pictures, My Music and My Network Places in the list as well. Check it out for yourself!
~ Erin
Yes, there is! If you've ever wanted to customize some of your keyboard settings, you've come to the right place, because that's exactly what I'm going to show you how to do today. Let's check it out!
To begin, go to Start, Control Panel and click on the Printers and Other Hardware link, then Keyboard (for Windows XP). If you're using an older version of Windows, go to Start, Control Panel and look for the Hardware icon or even one that just says Keyboard.
Once you click on that, the Keyboard Properties dialogue box will open up on your screen. Under the Character Repeat section, you can choose how long or short you'd like before a character (a letter, etc.) repeats itself when you're holding down a key. Perhaps sometimes you're typing along and a double letter somehow shows up. It may be because you held on to that one key just a little too long. If that seems to happen to you a lot, you can change the repeat delay to a longer amount of time. That way, you'll have more time to move on to the next letter or word. To change that, just use the arrow slider to move in either direction.
Next, you can check on the repeat rate of your keyboard. If you sometimes hold down a key for soooooooooooo long, it may take forever for that one letter to repeat itself. You can fix that by moving the arrow slider to the Fast side. Or, if you like it slower, you can move the slider to the Slow side. Once you have it where you would like it, you can test the rate to see how fast or slow it will go.
The last thing you can do is play with the cursor blink rate. Depending on how fast you would like your cursor to blink while it's standing still, you can have it blink at a fast rate, a medium rate or even no rate at all.
Once you've made all your changes, just hit OK and they will take effect. Welcome to keyboard heaven!
~ Erin
