Cognitive dimensions
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Cognitive dimensions are design principles for notations & programming language design, described by researcher Thomas R.G. Green. The dimensions can be used to evaluate the usability of an existing interface, or as heuristics to guide the design of a new one.
- abstraction gradient
- closeness of mapping
- consistency
- diffuseness/terseness
- error-proneness
- hard operations: hard mental processing
- hidden dependencies
- premature commitment
- progressive evaluation
- role-expressiveness
- secondary notation & escape from formalism
- viscosity: difficulty making changes
- visibility
- side by side ability: making comparisons (juxtaposability)
T. R. G. Green and M. Petre. Usability analysis of visual programming environments: A `cognitive dimensions' framework. Journal of Visual Languages and Computing, 7:131--174, 1996.
- http://www.cl.cam.ac.uk/~afb21/CognitiveDimensions/
- http://www.usabilityfirst.com/glossary/term_1193.txl