Cognitive walkthroughs are performed at any stage of design using a
prototype, a conceptual design document, or the final product. This is a more specific
version of a design walkthrough, focusing on cognitive principles.
Based on a user's goals, a group of evaluators steps through tasks, evaluating
at each step how difficult it is for the user to identify and operate the interface
element most relevant to their current subgoal and how clearly the system provides
feedback to that action. Cognitive walkthroughs take into consideration the
user's thought processes that contribute to decision making, such as memory load and
ability to reason.
For example, finding the Usability First website can be broken down to several
levels of tasks. At a general level, it requires opening up a browser, remembering
the URL and typing it in the text box at the top of your browser. Or, if you
do not remember the URL, you must choose a search engine, think of a search
term, view the results, scroll through the results, and then click on the link.
Each of these actions can be further decomposed.
This approach is intended especially to help understand the usability of a
system for first-time or infrequent users, that is, for users in an exploratory
learning mode.
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