User Interface
Design
Jie Cai
Tiem-Yen Liang
Soodtida Tangpraphaphorn
What is a User Interface?
UI is the basic format allowing a user to
operate a program
Command Line (CLI) is text-based
Graphical User Interface (GUI) relies on
pictures
Both user interfaces can be applied to
biomedical informatics
But when?
UI Components
Most common GUI configuration
WIMP – window, icon, mouse, pointer
CLI configurations can vary
Scripts
TUI – looks like graphic, but comprised of text
characters
Design Principles
Know your users!
Needs and goals
Special professional jargon
Computer literacy
Emulate a familiar system
Nobody loves an ugly GUI
Human-Computer Interaction
Study of interactions between computers
and people
Interdisciplinaryfield draws from informatics,
psych, cog. sci., comp. sci., etc.
Clear understanding of HCI improves user-
friendliness
Clinical Contexts
Identify need
Clinical, administration, research
A precise definition of the problem
Tech solution is unacceptable if it misses the
point
Technology addresses the need
Development driven by tech often fails
To do or not to do?
Buy It? Develop It?
Off-the-shelf software
Less expensive
Expensive to customize
If it works well enough, BUY it!
Custom development
Expensive
Can we actually do this?
If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it
When Things Go Awry
If the user is not comfortable with the
interface, he/she will give up
Mistakes can be ¢o$t£y
Case example (Ch. 5)
How to Make It All Better
User involvement
Model user habits indirectly
Direct user involvement better, but
complicated
Medical information specialists
Mediatebetween users and software
developers
How to Make It All Better (con’d)
User testing
Prototyping
Spiral model
Evaluation
Case example (Ch. 5)
THE END