New developments in Human-Computer Interaction are characterized by the increased focus on design approaches driven by the increasing heterogeneity of the user population, the decreasing tolerance of user frustration, the diversification of their needs and tasks, their idiosyncratic characteristics and reactions and their changing needs (Hudlicka, 2003). The user is in the center of the process and his/her needs drive the nature of the interface and the function allocation of tasks between the user and the machine. In addition, regarding the web and its applications, the need for more usable systems is becoming a necessity since an increasingly large proportion of the population with less computer expertise is using the web (Nielsen, 2000). These concerns are also valid for the widespread use and adoption of e-learning (in this work the focus is on web-based learning).
As Hudlicka (2003) points out, a major component of these emerging requirements and of effective HCI in general is the ability of these emerging systems to address user affect. It is critical that systems designers assess the range of possible affective states that users may experience while interacting with the system. This summarizes the main broad aim of the affective HCI. Some important research questions that researchers should be addressing in the affective HCI field include the following (Hudlicka, 2003):