1. Usability Challenges:
   • Despite extensive marketing claims about software being user-friendly, people still encounter difficulties using even simple software tools.
   • Designers and programmers, who are users themselves, struggle to consistently understand what works and what doesn't in user interfaces.
2. Reasons for Emphasizing Usability and UX:
   • Legal Mandates (European Directive 90/270/EEC):
     • Software companies are required to take specific precautions in designing software, ensuring suitability for tasks, ease of use, adaptability to users' knowledge, and application of ergonomic principles.
   • Business Impact:
     • Human costs surpass software and hardware expenses, making efficient software crucial for maximizing the value of human assets.
     • Human errors lead to wasted time, money, customer satisfaction, and even human lives.
   • Market Demands:
     • There's an increasing expectation for easy-to-use software tools, and users are becoming less tolerant of design flaws.
3. Individual and Societal Impact:
   • Individual Perspective:
     • Computers are now perceived more as household appliances that should adapt to users' needs, akin to expectations from reliable appliances like washing machines.
   • Ethical and Social Perspective:
     • Computers play critical roles in society, including education, personal data management, and important operations, emphasizing the need for reliable and user-friendly interfaces.
4. Design Challenges and Evolution of Concepts:
   • Concepts:
     • Human Performance Early 20th-century ideas focused on maximizing worker performance akin to machines (Taylorism).
     • Ergonomics emerged during World War II, aiming to create machines leveraging human physical characteristics.
     • Human factors, a term from the '60s, incorporated cognitive aspects into ergonomics.
   • Evolution of Terms in Human-Computer Interaction:
     • Terms shifted from "man-machine interaction" in the '70s to "human-computer interaction" in the '80s, reflecting the overwhelming role of computers.
5. Key Terminology:
   • System Functionalities: The tasks a system can perform.
   • User Interface: Commands, displays, widgets, etc., facilitating user interaction.
   • User Experience: The overall impression and memories users have while using a system.
   • Services: Additional tools/resources provided to users beyond the system itself, influencing their experience.
   • User Interface (UI):
     • Definition: It focuses on the specific point where users interact with applications or systems.
     • Objective: Creating intuitive, user-friendly interfaces involving commands, displays, widgets, and outputs that facilitate seamless user interaction.
   • Web Design:
     • Background: Emerged due to the rapid growth of the World Wide Web, leading to the creation of websites.
     • Focus: Initially emphasized aesthetics and content, often neglecting usability. However, over time, it evolved to consider both good design and usability, aiming for a positive user experience.
   • Usability:
     • Definition: The extent to which a system, product, or service can be used by specified users to achieve specific goals effectively, efficiently, and satisfactorily.
     • Application: Principles of usability are applied to ensure ease of use, efficiency, and satisfaction in the interaction between users and systems.
   • Interaction Design (IXD):
     • Scope: Focuses on designing interactions between users and digital products, emphasizing how users engage with and experience a product's functionality.
     • Objective: Aims to create meaningful and compelling user experiences by designing intuitive interfaces and interactions.
   • User Experience Design (UXD):
     • Emphasis: Goes beyond mere usability to focus on the overall satisfaction of users.
     • Influence: Integrates elements from marketing to create experiences that not only function well but also evoke positive emotions and perceptions for users.
   • Design Thinking (DT):
     • Approach: A holistic and iterative approach to problem-solving that places emphasis on understanding users' needs, ideating solutions, and prototyping designs.
     • Mindset: Encourages a user-centric perspective, promoting empathy, creativity, and a willingness to iterate and improve designs based on user feedback.
   • Service design:
     • Scope: Involves designing the entire user experience connected to a service. Considers people, processes, products, systems, spaces, transactions, and devices.
     • Objectives: Stimulates curiosity and positive expectations. Aims to make the service pleasurable and encourages customer retention.

User Experience (UX) Definitions: