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A comprehensive study guide on user interface (ui) design, covering key concepts, principles, and processes. It explains the concept of usability, fundamental design principles, and the ui design process. It also discusses ways to understand user perspectives, define ui structure, establish standards, prototype the ui, and evaluate/test it. Special concerns for touch-screen interfaces are also addressed. The guide includes key definitions, such as system interface, user interface, navigation mechanism, input mechanism, output mechanism, and graphical user interface (gui). It emphasizes layout, content awareness, aesthetics, usage level, consistency, and minimizing user effort. The document also covers the user interface design process, including understanding users, organizing the interface, defining standards, developing prototypes, and evaluation/testing. Navigation design, input design, and output design principles are also discussed.
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Chapter 9 User Interface Design study guide solution Learning Objectives - Explain the concept of usability with regard to the user interface. Describe several fundamental user interface design principles. Explain the process of user interface design. Explain ways to understand the perspectives of the users of the user interface. Describe ways to define the structure of the user interface. Explain the standards that should be established for the user interface. Describe various ways to prototype the user interface. Discuss ways to evaluate and test the user interface. Discuss special concerns associated with touch-screen-enabled user interfaces. Be able to design a highly usable user interface. Key Definitions - System Interface: "connections" with other systems, where systems exchange information with each other. Designed as a part of program design. User Interface: "connections" with users. Focus of this chapter. The navigation mechanism provides the way for users to tell the system what to do The input mechanism defines the way the system captures information The output mechanism defines the way the system provides information to users or other systems Graphical user interface (GUI): most common type of interface in use today. Usability Concept - The system is easy to use and easy to learn Tasks are completed more efficiently and with more accuracy
Mistakes with system are reduced User satisfaction with new system is increased Adoption of system is more likely Interface Design Principles - Principles for User Interface Design - Layout Content awareness Aesthetics Usage level Consistency Minimize user effort Layout Concepts - The screen is often divided into three boxes Navigation area (top) Status area (bottom) Work area (middle) Information can be presented in multiple areas Like areas should be grouped together More Layout Concepts - Areas and information should minimize user movement from one to another Ideally, areas will remain consistent in Size Shape Placement for entering data Reports presenting retrieved data Content Awareness - All interfaces should have titles
Enables users to predict what will happen Reduces learning curve Considers elements within an application and across applications Pertains to many different levels Navigation controls Terminology Report and form design Minimize Effort - Three clicks rule Three clicks rule: Users should be able to go from the start or main menu of a system to the information or action they want in no more than three mouse clicks or three keystrokes Special Issues of Touch Screen Design - Ideal for information display but not data entry. Place content at top and navigation controls at bottom so finger does not obscure content area. Place labels on top of navigation controls. Size objects correctly for "fat fingers." Include adequate spacing between objects. Consider needs of left-handed and right-handed users. Bright colors/backgrounds can help reduce glare and hide fingerprints. Use each device's standardized gesture interactions to enhance the user's ease of learning and ease of use. User Interface Design Process - User Interface Design Process - Understand the Users Organize the Interface Define Standards
Develop Prototypes Evaluation / Testing Understand the Users - Users likely will have very different goals and intentions when using the system. Use personas to develop characterizations of various user groups. Interests Typical behaviors Goals and objectives Expectations Plan a user interface that will be satisfying for that particular user group. Use scenarios outline the steps that the users perform to accomplish some part of their work. Presented in a simple narrative tied to the related DFD. Document the most common paths through the use case so interface designs will be easy to use for those situations. Organize the Interface - Define the basic components of the interface and how they work together to provide functionality to users. Use Interface Structure Diagram (ISD) Shows how all screens, forms, and reports are related Shows how user moves from one to another Similar to DFD in using boxes and lines Boxes denote screens Lines show movement from one to another Different from DFD in having no standard rules or format For Web sites, use site map. Show how all the information on the site fits together. Helps establish the hierarchy of information on the site
Navigation Design - Basic Principles of Navigation Design - Assume users Have not read the manual Have not attended training Do not have external help readily at hand All controls should be clear and understandable and placed in an intuitive location on the screen. Basic Principles of Navigation Design - Prevent mistakes Limit choices Never display commands that can't be used (or "gray them out") Confirm actions that are difficult or impossible to undo Simplify recovery from mistakes Use consistent grammar order (action-object, object-action) Menu Tips - Menus enable users to select action from an organized display of action categories and options Broad and shallow design is preferred Logical categories can be objects (customers; orders) or actions (insert, design) Common menu formats include menu bars, drop-down menus, popup menus, tab menus, icon tool bars, and image maps. Menus may become less popular with trend toward touchscreens Common message types include: Error message Confirmation message Acknowledgment message Delay message
Help message Strive for clear, concise, and complete messages Should be grammatically correct and free of jargon and abbreviations (unless they are the users') Avoid negatives and humor (it gets old) Input Design - Basic Principles of Input Design - The goal is to simply and easily capture accurate information for the system Reflect the nature of the inputs Find ways to simplify their collection Online versus Batch Processing - Online processing immediately records the transaction in the appropriate database Batch processing collects inputs over time, holds them temporarily, and then processes all the transactions at one time in a batch Batch processing simplifies data communications and other processes; but master files are not updated real time Capture Data at the Source - Reduces duplicate work Reduces processing time Decreases cost Decreases probability of error Source Data Automation - Can be obtained by using the following technologies: bar code readers / scanners optical character recognition magnetic stripe readers smart cards