CMR INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY

USER INTERFACE DESIGN - 15CS832

MODULE 1 NOTES

1.1 Introduction
Defining the User Interface

User interface design is a subset of a field of study called human-computer interaction (HCI).
Human-computer interaction is the study, planning, and design of how people and computers
work together so that a person’s needs are satisfied in the most effective way.

The user interface is the part of a computer and its software that people can see, hear, touch,
talk to, or otherwise understand or direct. User interface has 2 components: Input, Output. Input
is how a person communicates his or her needs or desires to the computer. Ex. Keybord,mouse. Output
is how the computer conveys its results of its computations and requirements to the user. Ex. Display
screen.

1.2 Importance of good design:

With today’s technology and tools, and our motivation to create really effective and usable
interfaces and screens, why do we continue to produce systems that are inefficient and
confusing or, at worst, just plain unusable? Is it because:
1. We don’t care?
2. We don’t possess common sense?
3. We don’t have the time?
4. We still don’t know what really makes good design?

A well-designed interface and screen is terribly important to our users. It is their window to
view the capabilities of the system. To many, it is the system, being one of the few visible
components of the product we developers create. It is also the vehicle through which many
critical tasks are presented. These tasks often have a direct impact on an organization’s
relations with its customers, and its profitability.

Benefits of good design:

 Training costs are lowered because training time is reduced.

 Support line costs are lowered because fewer assist calls are necessary.
 Employee satisfaction is increased because aggravation and frustration are reduced.
 Customers benefit because of the improved service they receive.

Based on an actual system requiring processing of 4.8 million screens per year and illustrated
in
Table 1.1
Studies have also shown that the proper formatting of information on screens does have a
significant positive effect on performance. The benefits of a well-designed screen have also
been under experimental scrutiny.

A general rule of thumb: every dollar invested in usability returns $10 to $100 (IBM, 2001).

1.3 Human Computer Interface:

Human-computer interaction is the study, planning, and design of how people and computers
work together so that a person’s needs are satisfied in the most effective way.

A computer’s ability to deal with human communication was inversely related to what was
easy for people to do. The computer demanded rigid, typed input through a keyboard; people
responded slowly using this device and with varying degrees of skill. The human-computer
dialog reflected the computer’s preferences, consisting of one style or a combination of
styles using keyboards, commonly
referred to as Command Language, Question and Answer, Menu Selection, Function Key
Selection, and Form Fill-In.

Throughout the computer’s history, designers have been developing, with varying degrees of
success, other human-computer interaction methods that utilize more general, widespread, and
easier-to-learn capabilities: voice and handwriting. Systems that recognize human speech and
handwriting now exist, although they still lack the universality and richness of typed input.

Introduction of the Graphical User Interface:

A graphical user interface (GUI), often pronounced gooey, is a type of user interface that
allows users to interact with programs in more ways than typing such as computers.

The Xerox systems, Altus and STAR, introduced the mouse and pointing and selecting as the
primary human-computer communication method. The user simply pointed at the screen,
using the mouse as an intermediary.

A chronological history of GUIs is found in Table 1.2.

· pointer : A symbol that appears on the display screen and that you move to select objects
and commands. Usually, the pointer appears as a small angled arrow. Text -processing
applications, however, use an I-beam pointer that is shaped like a capital I.
· pointing device : A device, such as a mouse or trackball, that enables you to select objects
on the display screen.
· icons : Small pictures that represent commands, files, or windows. By moving the pointer to
the icon and pressing a mouse button, you can execute a command or convert the icon into a
window. You can also move the icons around the display screen as if they were real objects
on your desk.
· desktop : The area on the display screen where icons are grouped is often referred to as the
desktop because the icons are intended to represent real objects on a real desktop.
· windows: You can divide the screen into different areas. In each window, you can run a
different program or display a different file. You can move windows around the display
screen, and change their shape and size at will.
· menus : Most graphical user interfaces let you execute commands by selecting a choice
from a menu.

The Blossoming of the World Wide Web

A chronological history of the Internet is found in Table 1.3.

A Brief History of Screen Design

 Cathode ray tube display was first attached to a computer, more widespread interest in the
application of good design principles.
 1970s, when IBM introduced its 3270 cathode ray tube text-based terminal.
 1974, the 3270 was used in myriad ways in the office, and company-specific guidelines
for good screen design occasionally began to surface.
 1970s screen often resembled the one pictured in Figure 1.1.
 In 1980,guidelines for text-based screen design were finally made widely available and
many screens began to take on a much less cluttered look through concepts such as
grouping and alignment of elements, as illustrated in Figure 1.2.

 The advent of graphics yielded another milestone in the evolution of screen design, as
illustrated in Figure 1.3.

 The entry field was supplemented by a multitude of other kinds of controls, including list
boxes, drop-down combination boxes, spin boxes, and so forth. These new controls were
much more effective in supporting a person’s memory, now simply allowing for selection
from a list instead of requiring a remembered key entry.
Graphical Systems

Advantages

1. Symbols recognized faster than text

2. Faster learning
3. Faster use and problem solving
4. Easier remembering
5. More natural
6. Exploits visual/spatial cues
7. Fosters more concrete thinking
8. Provides context
9. Fewer errors
10. Increased feeling of control
11. Immediate feedback
12. Predictable system responses
13. Easily reversible actions
14. Less anxiety concerning use
15. More attractive
16. May consume less space
17. Replaces national
18. Easily augmented with text
19. Low typing requirements
20. Smooth transition from command language system

Disadvantages

1. Greater design complexity

2. Learning still necessary
3. Lack of experimentally-derived design principles
4. Inconsistencies in technique and terminology
5. Working domain is the present
6. Not always familiar
7. Human comprehension limitations
8. Window manipulation requirements
9. Production limitations
10. Few tested icons exist
11. Inefficient for touch typists
12. Inefficient for expert users
13. Not always the preferred style of interaction
14. Not always the fastest style of interaction
15. Increased chances of clutter and confusion
16. The futz and fiddle
17. May consume more screen space
18. Hardware limitations
1.4 Characteristics of Graphical Interfaces

The Graphical User Interface

A user interface is a collection of techniques and mechanisms to interact with something.

A graphical interface, the primary interaction mechanism is a pointing device of some kind.

The user interacts with is a collection of elements referred to as objects. They can be seen,
heard, touched, or otherwise perceived Objects are always visible to the user and are used to
perform tasks. They are interacted with as entities independent of all other objects. People
perform operations, called actions, on objects. The operations include accessing and
modifying objects by pointing, selecting, and manipulating. All objects have standard
resulting behaviors.

1.5 The Concept of Direct Manipulation

Direct Manipulation possess the following characteristics:

1. System is portrayed as extension of real world:

The system simply replicates actions and objects and portrays them on a different
medium, the screen.
2. Continuous visibility of objects and actions:
Objects are continuously [Link] action and motion occurs in physically obvious
and intuitively natural [Link] (1980) described this concept as “virtual reality,” a
representation of reality that can be manipulated. Hatfield (1981) is credited with calling it
“WYSIWYG” (what you see is what you get). Rutkowski (1982) described it as
“transparency,” where one’s intellect is applied to the task, not the tool.
3. Actions are rapid and incremental with visible display of results:
The results of actions are immediately displayed visually on the screen in their new and
current form.
4. Incremental actions are easily reversible:
Finally, actions, if discovered to be incorrect or not desired, can be easily undone.

Earlier Direct Manipulation Systems

The concept of direct manipulation actually preceded the first graphical system. The
earliest full-screen text editors possessed similar characteristics. Screens of text resembling a
piece of paper on one’s desk could be created (extension of real world) and then reviewed in
their entirety (continuous visibility).

Editing or restructuring could be easily accomplished (through rapid incremental actions) and
the results immediately seen. Actions could be reversed when necessary.

Indirect Manipulation

Direct manipulation of all screen objects and actions may not be feasible because of the
following:

 The operation may be difficult to conceptualize in the graphical system.

 The graphics capability of the system may be limited.

 The amount of space available for placing manipulation controls in the window border
may be limited.

 It may be difficult for people to learn and remember all the necessary operations and
actions.

Indirect manipulation substitutes words and text, such as pull-down or pop-up

menus, for symbols, and substitutes typing for pointing. Most window systems are a
combination of both direct and indirect manipulation.

1.6 Characteristics of the Graphical User Interface

1. Sophisticated Visual Presentation
2. Pick-and-Click Interaction
3. Restricted Set of Interface Options
4. Visualization
5. Object Orientation
6. Use of Recognition Memory
7. Concurrent Performance of Functions

1. Sophisticated visual presentation:

Visual presentation is the visual aspect of the interface. It is what people see on the screen.
The sophistication of a graphical system permits displaying lines, including drawings and
icons. It also permits the displaying of a variety of character fonts, including different sizes
and styles. The display of 16 million or more colors is possible on some screens. Graphics
also permit animation and the presentation of photographs and motion video.

The meaningful interface elements visually presented to the user in a graphical system
include:

 windows - primary, secondary, or dialog boxes

 menus - menu bar, pulldown, pop-up, cascading

 icons - represent objects such as programs or files

 Assorted screen-based controls - text boxes, list boxes, combination boxes, settings, scroll
bars, and buttons

 mouse pointer and cursor.

The objective is to reflect visually on the screen the real world of the user as realistically,
meaningfully, simply, and clearly as possible.

2. Pick-and-click interaction:

To identify the element for a proposed action is commonly referred to as pick, the signal to
perform an action as click.
 The primary mechanism for performing this pick-and-click is most often the mouse and
its buttons. The user moves the mouse pointer to the relevant element (pick) and the
action is signaled (click).

 The secondary mechanism for performing these selection actions is the keyboard. Most
systems permit pick-and-click to be performed using the keyboard as well.

3. A restricted set of interface options:

The array of alternatives available to the user is what is presented on the screen or what may
be retrieved through what is presented on the screen, nothing less, nothing more. This concept
fostered the acronym WYSIWYG.

4. visualization:

Visualization is a cognitive process that allows people to understand information that is

difficult to perceive, because it is either too voluminous or too abstract. It involves
changing an entity’s representation to reveal gradually the structure and/or function of the
underlying system or process. Presenting specialized graphic portrayals facilitates
visualization.

The best visualization method for an activity depends on what people are trying to learn
from the data. The goal is not necessarily to reproduce a realistic graphical image, but to
produce one that conveys the most relevant information. Effective visualizations can
facilitate mental insights, increase productivity and more accurate use of data.

5. Object orientation:

A graphical system consists of objects and actions. Objects are what people see on the

[Link] can be composed of subobjects.

A) IBM’s Common User Access application breaks objects into three meaningful classes:

[Link]

[Link]

[Link].

Data objects present information. This information, either text or graphics, normally
appears in the body of the screen. It is, essentially, the screen-based controls for information
collection or presentation organized on the screen.

Container objects are objects to hold other objects. They are used to group two or more
related objects for easy access and retrieval. There are three kinds of container objects:

 Workplace

 Folders

 Workareas.
 The workplace is the desktop, the storage area for all objects. Folders are general-purpose
containers for long-term storage of objects. Workareas are temporary storage folders used for
storing multiple objects currently being worked on.

Device objects represent physical objects in the real world, such as printers or trash
baskets. These objects may contain others for acting upon. A file, for example, may be placed
in a printer for printing of its contents.

B) Microsoft Windows specifies the characteristics of objects depending upon the

relationships that exist between [Link] relationships are called collections, constraints,
composites, and containers.

A collection is the simplest relationship—the objects sharing a common aspect. A

collection

might be the result of a query or a multiple selection of objects. Operations can be applied to a
collection of objects.

A constraint is a stronger object relationship. Changing an object in a set affects some

other object in the set. A document being organized into pages is an example of a constraint.

A composite exists when the relationship between objects becomes so significant that the
aggregation itself can be identified as an object. Examples include a range of cells organized
into a spreadsheet, or a collection of words organized into a paragraph.

A container is an object in which other objects exist. Examples include text in a

document or documents in a folder. A container often influences the behavior of its content. It
may add or suppress certain properties or operations of objects placed within it, control access
to its content, or control access to kinds of objects it will accept.

Another important object characteristic is persistence. Persistence is the maintenance of a

state once it is established. An object’s state (for example, window size, cursor location, scroll
position, and so on) should always be automatically preserved when the user changes it.

 Properties or Attributes of Objects

Properties help to describe an object and can be changed by users. Examples of properties are
text styles (such as normal or italics), font sizes (such as 10 or 12 points), or window
background colors (such as black or blue).

 Actions

Commands are actions that manipulate objects. They may be performed in a variety of
ways, including by direct manipulation or through a command button. They are executed
immediately when selected. Once executed, they cease to be relevant. Examples of commands
are opening a document, printing a document, closing a window, and quitting an application.

Property/attribute specification actions establish or modify the attributes or properties of

objects. When selected, they remain in effect until deselected. Examples include selecting
cascaded windows to be displayed, a particular font style, or a particular color.
The following is a typical property/attribute specification sequence:

1. The user selects an object—for example, several words of text.

2. The user then selects an action to apply to that object, such as the action BOLD.

3. The selected words are made bold and will remain bold until selected and changed
again.

A series of actions may be performed on a selected object. Performing a series of actions on

an object also permits and encourages system learning through exploration.

 Application versus Object or Data Orientation

An application-oriented approach takes an action:object approach, like this:

Action> 1. An application is opened (for example, word processing).

Object> 2. A file or other object selected (for example, a memo).

An object-oriented object:action approach does this:

Object> 1. An object is chosen (a memo).

Action> 2. An application is selected (word processing).

 Views

Views are ways of looking at an object’s information. IBM’s SAA CUA describes four kinds
of views: composed, contents, settings, and help.

Composed views present information and the objects contained within an object. They are
typically associated with data objects and are specific to tasks and products being worked with.
Contents views list the components of objects. Settings views permit seeing and changing
object properties. Help views provide all the help functions.

6. Use of recognition memory:

Continuous visibility of objects and actions encourages use of a person’s more powerful
recognition memory. The “out of sight, out of mind” problem is eliminated.

7. Concurrent performance of functions:

Graphic systems may do two or more things at one time. Multiple programs may run
simultaneously. When a system is not busy on a primary task, it may process background
tasks (cooperative multitasking). When applications are running as truly separate tasks, the
system may divide the processing power into time slices and allocate portions to each
application (preemptive multitasking). Data may also be transferred between programs. It may
be temporarily stored on a “clipboard” for later transfer or be automatically swapped between
programs.
1.7 The popularity of Web
 While the introduction of the graphical user interface revolutionized the user
interface, the Web has revolutionized computing. It allows millions of people
scattered across the globe to communicate, access information, publish, and be
heard. It allows people to control much of the display and the rendering of Web
pages.
 Web usage has reflected this popularity. The number of Internet hosts has risen
dramatically.

 Users have become much more discerning about good design. Slow download
times, confusing navigation, confusing page organization, disturbing animation,
or other undesirable site features often results in user abandonment of the site for
others with a more agreeable interface.

1.8 Characteristics of Web Design

 A Web interface possesses a number of characteristics, some similar to a GUI

interface, and, as has already been shown, some different.
GUI versus Web Design

Characteristics GUI WEB

Devices User hardware variations limited. User hardware variations enormous.
User hardware characteristics well
defined Screens appear exactly Screen appearance influenced by
as specified. hardware being used.
User Focus Data and applications. Information and navigation.
Data Typically created and used by known Full of unknown content.
and trusted
Information Sources are trusted. Properties Source not always trusted. Often not
generally known. Typically placed into placed onto the Web by users
system by users or known people or known people and organizations.
and organizations.
User Tasks Install, configure, personalize, start, Link to a site, browse or read pages, fill
use, and Open, use, and close data out forms, upgrade programs. register
files. Familiarity with applications for services, participate in transactions,
often achieved. download and save things.
Presentation Windows, menus, controls, data, Two components, browser and page.
toolbars Presented as specified by Within page, any combination of
designer. Generally standardized by text, images, audio, video, and
toolkits and style specifications. animation. May not be presented as
guides. specified by the designer—dependent
on browser, monitor, and user Little
standardization.
Navigation Through menus, lists, trees, dialogs, Through links, bookmarks, and
and wizards. typed URLs.
Interaction Interactions such as clicking menu Basic interaction is a single click. This
choices, pressing buttons, selecting can cause extreme changes in context,
list choices, and cut/copy/paste occur which may not be noticed.
within context of active program.
Response Time Nearly instantaneous Quite variable, depending on
transmission speeds, page content, and
so on. Long times can upset the user.
System Unlimited capability proportional to Limited by constraints imposed by the
Capability sophistication of hardware and hardware, browser, software, client
software. support, and user willingness to allow
features because of response time,
security, and privacy concerns.
Task Targeted to a specific audience with Limited by browser and network
Efficiency specific tasks. capabilities.

Only limited by the amount of Actual user audience usually not well
programming undertaken to support it. understood. Often intended for anyone
and everyone.
Consistency Major objective exists within and Sites tend to establish their own
across [Link] by platform [Link] standards set within
toolkit and design guidelines. a site. Frequent ignoring of GUI
Universal consistency in GUI products guidelines for identical created through
generally toolkits and design guidelines.
components, especially controls.
User Integral part of most systems No similar help systems. Accessed
Assistance and applications. through standard mechanisms. The
little available help is built into the
Documentation, both online and page oriented to product or service
offline, offered.
Integration Seamless integration of all Apparent for some basic functions
applications into the platform within most Web sites (navigation,
environment is a major objective. printing, and so on.) in accomplishing
this objective. Sites tend to achieve
individual distinction rather than
integration.
Security Tightly controlled, proportional to Renowned for security exposures.
degree of willingness to invest Browser-provided security options
resources and effort. Not an issue for typically understood by average users.
most home PC users. When employed, may have
function-limiting side effects.
Reliability Tightly controlled in business Susceptible to disruptions caused by
systems, user, telephone proportional to degree
of willingness line and cable providers,
Internet service providers, to invest
resources and effort. hosting servers,
and remotely accessed sites.
Printed Pages versus Web Pages

 Page size: Printed pages are generally larger than their Web counterparts. They are also
fixed in size, not variable like Web pages. The visual impact of the printed page is
maintained in hard-copy form, while on the Web all that usually exists are snapshots of
page areas. The visual impact of a Web page is substantially degraded, and the user may
never see some parts of the page because their existence is not known or require scrolling to
bring into view. The design implications: the top of a Web page is its most important
element, and signals to the user must always be provided that parts of a page lie below the
surface.

 Page rendering: Printed pages are immensely superior to Web pages in rendering. Printed
pages are presented as complete entities, and their entire contents are available for reading
or review immediately upon appearance. Web pages elements are often rendered slowly,
depending upon things like line transmission speeds and page content. Design implications:
Provide page content that downloads fast, and give people elements to read immediately so
the sense of passing time is diminished.

 Page layout: With the printed page, layout is precise with much attention given to it. With
Web pages layout is more of an approximation, being negatively influenced by deficiencies
in design toolkits and the characteristics of the user’s browser and hardware, particularly
screen sizes. Design implication: Understand the restrictions and design for the most
common user tools.

 Page resolution: the resolution of displayed print characters still exceeds that of screen
characters, and screen reading is still slower than reading from a document. Design
implication: Provide an easy way to print long Web documents.

 Page navigation: Navigating printed materials is as simple as page turning. Navigating the
Web requires innumerable decisions concerning which of many possible links should be
followed. Design implications are similar to the above— provide overviews of information
organization schemes and clear descriptions of where links lead.

 Interactivity: Printed page design involves letting the eyes traverse static information,
selectively looking at information and using spatial combinations to make page elements
enhance and explain each other. Web design involves letting the hands move the
information (scrolling, pointing, expanding, clicking, and so on) in conjunction with the
eyes.

 Page independence: Because moving between Web pages is so easy, and almost any page
in a site can be accessed from anywhere else, pages must be made freestanding. Every
page is independent. Printed pages, being sequential, fairly standardized in organization,
and providing a clear sense of place, are not considered independent. Design implication:
Provide informative headers and footers on each Web page.

1.9 Principles of User Interface Design

 It should be useful, accomplishing some business objectives faster and more efficiently
than the previously used method or tool did. It must also be easy to learn, for people want
to do, not learn to do.

 The interface itself should serve as both a connector and a separator: a connector in that it
ties the user to the power of the computer, and a separator in that it minimizes the
 possibility of the participants damaging one another. We will begin with the first set of
published principles, those for the Xerox STAR.

Principles for the Xerox STAR

 The illusion of manipulable objects: Displayed objects that are selectable and
manipulable must be created. A design challenge is to invent a set of displayable objects
that are represented meaningfully and appropriately for the intended application. It must be
clear that these objects can be selected,

 Visual order and viewer focus: Effective visual contrast between various components of
the screen is used to achieve this goal. Animation is also used to draw attention, as is sound.
Feedback must also be provided to the user.

 Revealed structure: The distance between one’s intention and the effect must be
minimized. The relationship between intention and effect must be tightened and made as
apparent as possible to the user.

 Consistency: Consistency aids learning. Consistency is provided in such areas as element

location, grammar, font shapes, styles, and sizes, selection indicators, and contrast and
emphasis techniques.

 Appropriate effect or emotional impact: The interface must provide the appropriate
emotional effect for the product and its market. Is it a corporate, professional, and secure
business system? Should it reflect the fantasy, wizardry, and bad puns of computer games?

 A match with the medium: The interface must also reflect the capabilities of the device on
which it will be displayed. Quality of screen images will be greatly affected by a device’s
resolution and color-generation capabilities.

General Principles
The design goals in creating a user interface are described below. They are fundamental to the
design and implementation of all effective interfaces, including GUI and Web ones. These
principles are general characteristics of the interface, and they apply to all aspects.

 Aesthetically Pleasing
— Provide visual appeal by following these presentation and graphic design principles:
 Provide meaningful contrast between screen elements.
 Create groupings.
 Align screen elements and groups.
 Provide three-dimensional representation.
 Use color and graphics effectively and simply.
 Clarity
— The interface should be visually, conceptually, and linguistically clear, including:
  Visual elements
 Functions
 Metaphors
 Words and text
 Compatibility
— Provide compatibility with the following:
 The user
 The task and job
 The product
— Adopt the user’s perspective.
 Comprehensibility
— A system should be easily learned and understood. A user should know the
following:
 What to look at
 What to do
 When to do it
 Where to do it
 Why to do it
 How to do it
— The flow of actions, responses, visual presentations, and
information should be in a sensible order that is easy to recollect and place in
context.
 Configurability
— Permit easy personalization, configuration, and reconfiguration of settings.
 Enhances a sense of control.
 Encourages an active role in understanding.
 Consistency
— A system should look, act, and operate the same throughout.
Similar components should:
 Have a similar look.
 Have similar uses.
 Operate similarly.
— The same action should always yield the same result.
— The function of elements should not change.
— The position of standard elements should not change.
— In addition to increased learning requirements, inconsistency in design has a
number of other prerequisites and by-products, including:
— More specialization by system users.
— Greater demand for higher skills.
— More preparation time and less production time.
— More frequent changes in procedures.
— More error-tolerant systems (because errors are more likely).
— More kinds of documentation.
— More time to find information in documents.
— More unlearning and learning when systems are changed.
— More demands on supervisors and managers.
— More things to do wrong.

 Control
--The user must control the interaction.
 Actions should result from explicit user requests.
  Actions should be performed quickly.
 Actions should be capable of interruption or termination.
 The user should never be interrupted for errors.
— The context maintained must be from the perspective of the user.
— The means to achieve goals should be flexible and compatible with the
user’s skills, experiences, habits, and preferences.
— Avoid modes since they constrain the actions available to the user.
— Permit the user to customize aspects of the interface, while
always providing a proper set of defaults.
 Directness
— Provide direct ways to accomplish tasks.
 Available alternatives should be visible.
 The effect of actions on objects should be visible.
 Efficiency
— Minimize eye and hand movements, and other control actions.
 Transitions between various system controls should flow easily and
freely.
 Navigation paths should be as short as possible.
 Eye movement through a screen should be obvious and sequential.
— Anticipate the user’s wants and needs whenever possible.
 Familiarity
— Employ familiar concepts and use a language that is familiar to the user.
— Keep the interface natural, mimicking the user’s behavior patterns.
— Use real-world metaphors.
 Flexibility
— A system must be sensitive to the differing needs of its users, enabling a level and
type of performance based upon:
 Each user’s knowledge and skills.
 Each user’s experience.
 Each user’s personal preference.
 Each user’s habits.
 The conditions at that moment.
 Forgiveness
— Tolerate and forgive common and unavoidable human errors.
— Prevent errors from occurring whenever possible.
— Protect against possible catastrophic errors.
 Predictability
— The user should be able to anticipate the natural progression of each task.
 Provide distinct and recognizable screen elements.
 Provide cues to the result of an action to be performed.
— All expectations should be fulfilled uniformly and completely.
— When an error does occur, provide constructive messages.
 Recovery
— A system should permit:
 Commands or actions to be abolished or reversed.
 Immediate return to a certain point if difficulties arise.
— Ensure that users never lose their work as a result of:
 An error on their part.
 Hardware, software, or communication problems.
 Responsiveness
— The system must rapidly respond to the user’s requests.
— Provide immediate acknowledgment for all user actions:
  Visual.
 Textual.
 Auditory.
 Simplicity
— Provide as simple an interface as possible.
— Five ways to provide simplicity:
 Use progressive disclosure, hiding things until they are needed.
— Present common and necessary functions first.
— Prominently feature important functions.
— Hide more sophisticated and less frequently used functions.
 Provide defaults.
 Minimize screen alignment points.
 Make common actions simple at the expense of uncommon actions being
made harder.
 Provide uniformity and consistency.
 Transparency
— Permit the user to focus on the task or job, without concern
for the mechanics of the interface.
 Workings and reminders of workings inside the computer should be
invisible to the user.
 Trade-Offs
— Final design will be based on a series of trade-offs balancing
often- conflicting design principles.
— People’s requirements always take precedence over technical
requirements.