ABSTRACT
Several researchers, using different conceptualizations and models of fit, claim that fitting the human-computer interface to attributes of the user and of the task at hand enhances performance. It has been argued that fitting the human-computer interface to the user and the task enhances performance. This chapter reviews these claims and determines whether such claims have theoretical and practical value. It provides an overview of three types of fit: physical, cognitive, and affective. The chapter discusses several examples of how researchers have conceptualized and advocated fit as a design goal. The user-computer fit can be refined to take account of the distinction between informational and tool level fit. Research on Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) in information systems (IS), as opposed to computer engineering, has traditionally concentrated on the design of software-based human-computer interfaces rather than hardware, treating the hardware as given.
