Tutorial Mismatches: Investigating the Frictions due to Interface Diferences when Following Sofware Video Tutorials

Abstract

Video tutorials are the main medium to learn novel software skills. However, the User Interface (UI) presented in a video tutorial may difer from the learner’s UI because of customizations or diferences in software versions. We investigate the frictions resulting from such diferences on a learners’ ability to reproduce a task demonstrated in a video tutorial. Through a morphological analysis, we frst identify 13 types of “interface diferences" that difer in terms of availability, reachability and spatial location of features in the interface. To better assess the frictions resulting from each of these diferences, we then conduct a laboratory study with 26 participants instructed to reproduce a vector graphics editing task. Our results highlight interesting UI comparison behaviors, and illustrate various approaches employed to visually locate features.