This is the same assignment as assignment 2, except you have to give a new principle. Review your classmates' essays on Piazza to make sure you do not repeat one of them.

For this homework you should work alone. Review your SWE 205 notes. Extract a General Usability Principle (GUP). Your GUP should be as general as possible and must be articulated in one sentence. Examples are "Don't make me think" and "Use radio boxes instead of dropdowns when possible." Write a short (1 or 2 pages) essay about your principle.

Your essay should

• start with your principle
• state where it came from (one of our books, the lecture, etc.)
• explain the meaning behind the principle
• describe how it can be applied in at least two specific concrete situations
• give examples of where the principle was effectively applied and where it was not

You may not use the two example principles above.

Submit your report by posting it on Piazza in the folder "hw3". The subject should be "Alternate assignment 3 - your name". You can put the report up as an HTML file or formatted as PDF. No word processor files. No handwriting. Your file should have the name yourfirstname-initial followed by yourlastname-assignment3 (for instance, UPraphamontripong-assignment3.html or UPraphamontripong-assignment3.pdf).

Making your report available to me is your responsibility; if I cannot access your file then you will not get credit. Be sure to test access to your file before the due date.

Grading Rubric

The grading for this assignment will be as follows:
[Total: 20 points]

• (4 points) — State your principle
• (2 points) — State where it came from
• (4 points) — Explain the meaning behind the principle
• (4 points) — Describe how it can be applied in at least two specific concrete situations
• (4 points) — Give examples of where the principle was effectively applied and where it was not
• (2 points) — Put the report up as an HTML file or formatted as PDF and follow the naming convention

© Based on documents by Dr. Jeff Offutt (the original author) and Dr. Kinga Dobolyi, use with permission of the author. This document is made available for use by GMU students of SWE 432. Copying, distribution or other use of this document without express permission of the author is forbidden. You may create links to pages in this web site, but may not copy all or part of the text without permission of the original author.