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5.4 User frustration 147

Table 5.1 Some commonly used emoticons.
Emotion Expression Emoticon Possible meanings
Happy Smile :) or :D (i) Happiness, or (ii) previous
comment not to be taken seriously
I
Sad Mouth down :( or :- Disappointed, unhappy
I
I
Cheeky Wink ) or ) Previous comment meant as tongue-
in-cheek 1
Mad Brows raised >: Mad about something ,
Very angry Angry face >:-( Very angry, cross
Embarrassed Mouth open :O Embarrassed, shocked

Sick Looking sick :x Feeling ill
Nai've Schoolboyish look <:-) Smiley wearing a dunce's cap to
convey that the sender is about to ask
a stupid question.

7
ters in place of words, e.g., "I 1 2 CU 2nite '. As well as being creative, the short-
hand can convey emotional connotations.
Expressive forms like emoticons, sounds, icons, and interface agents have been
primarily used to (i) convey emotional states andlor (ii) elicit certain kinds of emo-
tional responses in users, such as feeling at ease, comfort, and happiness. However, in
many situations computer interfaces inadvertently elicit negative emotional responses.
By far the most common is user frustration, to which we now turn our attention.

5.4 User frustration
Everyone at some time or other gets frustrated when using a computer. The effect
ranges from feeling mildly amused to extremely angry. There are myriads of rea-
sons why such emotional responses occur:

when an application doesn't work properly or crashes
when a system doesn't do what the user wants it to do
when a user's expectations are not met
when a system does not provide sufficient information to let the user know
what to do
when error messages pop up that are vague, obtuse, or condemning
when the appearance of an interface is too noisy, garish, gimmicky, or
patronizing
when a system requires users to carry out many steps to perform a task, only
to discover a mistake was made somewhere along the line and they need to
start all over again