User Interface Design

User interface design

• Designing effective interfaces

for software systems
 The user interface
• System users often judge a system by its
interface rather than its functionality.

• A poorly designed interface can cause a user

to make catastrophic errors.

• Poor user interface design is the reason why

so many software systems are never used.
 Graphical user interfaces
• Most users of business systems interact with
these systems through graphical interfaces
although, in some cases, legacy text-based
interfaces are still used
 GUI characteristics
Characteristic Description
Windows Multiple windows allow different information to be
displayed simultaneously on the user’s screen.
Icons Icons different types of information. On some systems,
icons represent files; on others, icons represent
processes.
Menus Commands are selected from a menu rather than typed
in a command language.
Pointing A pointing device such as a mouse is used for selecting
choices from a menu or indicating items of interest in a
window.
Graphics Graphical elements can be mixed with text on the same
display.
 GUI advantages
• They are easy to learn and use.
– Users without experience can learn to use the
system quickly.

• The user may switch quickly from one task to

another and can interact with several different applications.

• Information remains visible in its own window when attention is

switched.

• Fast, full-screen interaction is possible with immediate access to

anywhere on the screen
 User-centred design

• User-centred design is an approach to UI

design where the needs of the user are
paramount and where the user is involved
in the design process

• UI design always involves the development

of prototype interfaces
 User interface design process

Analyse and Produce paper- Evaluate design

understand user based design with end-users
activities prototype

Produce
Design Evaluate design
dynamic design
prototype with end-users
prototype

Executable Implement
prototype final user
interface
 UI design principles
• UI design must take account of the needs,
experience and capabilities of the system
users.

• Designers should be aware of people’s

physical and mental limitations (e.g. limited
short-term memory) and should recognise
that people make mistakes
 User interface design principles
Principle Description
User familiarity The interface should use terms and
concepts which are drawn from the
experience of the people who will make most
use of the system.
Consistency The interface should be consistent in that,
wherever possible, comparable operations
should be activated in the same way.
Minimal surprise Users should never be surprised by the
behaviour of a system.
Recoverability The interface should include mechanisms to
allow users to recover from errors.
User guidance The interface should provide meaningful
feedback when errors occur and provide
context-sensitive user help facilities.
User diversity The interface should provide appropriate
interaction facilities for different types of
system user.
 Design principles
• User familiarity
– The interface should be based on user-oriented
terms and concepts rather than computer concepts. For example, an
office system should use concepts such as letters, documents, folders etc.
rather than directories, file identifiers, etc.
• Consistency
– The system should display an appropriate level
of consistency. Commands and menus should have the same format,
command punctuation should be similar, etc.
• Minimal surprise
– If a command operates in a known way, the user should be
able to predict the operation of comparable commands
 Design principles
• Recoverability
– The system should provide some resilience to
user errors and allow the user to recover from errors. This might include
an undo facility, confirmation of destructive actions, 'soft' deletes, etc.
• User guidance
– Some user guidance such as help systems, on-line manuals, etc. should
be supplied
• User diversity
– Interaction facilities for different types of user should be supported. For
example, some users have seeing difficulties and so larger text should be
available
 User-system interaction
• Two problems must be addressed in interactive
systems design

– How should information from the user be provided to

the computer system?
– How should information from the computer system be
presented to the user?

• User interaction and information presentation may

be integrated through a coherent framework such
as a user interface metaphor
 Interaction styles
• Direct manipulation
• Menu selection
• Form fill-in
• Command language
• Natural language
Interaction Main advantages Main disadvantages Application
style examples
Direct Fast and intuitive May be hard to Video games
manipulation interaction implement CAD systems
Easy to learn Only suitable where
there is a visual
metaphor for tasks
and objects
Menu Avoids user error Slow for experienced Most general-
selection Little typing users purpose systems
required Can become complex
if many menu options
Form fill-in Simple data entry Takes up a lot of Stock control,
Easy to learn screen space Personal loan
processing
Command Powerful and Hard to learn Operating systems,
language flexible Poor error Library information
management retrieval systems
Natural Accessible to Requires more typing Timetable systems
language casual users Natural language WWW information
Easily extended understanding retrieval systems
systems are unreliable

Advantages and disadvantages

 Direct manipulation advantages
• Users feel in control of the computer and are
less likely to be intimidated by it.

• User learning time is relatively short.

• Users get immediate feedback on their actions

so mistakes can be quickly detected and
corrected
 Direct manipulation problems
• The derivation of an appropriate information
space model can be very difficult.

• Given that users have a large information

space, what facilities for navigating around that
space should be provided.

• Direct manipulation interfaces can be complex to

program and make heavy demands on the
computer system.
 Control panel interface

Title JSD. example Grid Busy

Method JSD
OUIT
Type Network Units cm

Selection Process Reduce Full

PRINT

NODE LINKS FONT LABEL EDIT

 Menu systems
• Users make a selection from a list of
possibilities presented to them by the system.

• The selection may be made by pointing and

clicking with a mouse, using cursor keys or by
typing the name of the selection.

• May make use of simple-to-use terminals such as

touchscreens
 Advantages of menu systems
• Users need not remember command names as
they are always presented with a list of valid
commands.

• Typing effort is minimal.

• User errors are trapped by the interface.

• Context-dependent help can be provided. The

user’s context is indicated by the current menu
selection
 Problems with menu systems
• Actions which involve logical conjunction (and) or
disjunction (or) are awkward to represent.

• Menu systems are best suited to presenting a small

number of choices. If there are many
choices, some menu structuring facility must be
used.

• Experienced users find menus slower than

command language
 Form-based interface
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 Command interfaces

• User types commands to give instructions to the

system e.g. UNIX

• May be implemented using cheap terminals.

• Easy to process using compiler techniques

 Problems with command interfaces
• Users have to learn and remember a command
language. Command interfaces are therefore
unsuitable for occasional users.

• Users make errors in command. An error

detection and recovery system is required.

• System interaction is through a keyboard so

typing ability is required.

• Commands of arbitrary complexity can be

created by command combination
 Command languages
• Often preferred by experienced users because they
allow for faster interaction with the system.

• Not suitable for casual or inexperienced users.

• May be provided as an alternative to menu commands

(keyboard shortcuts).

• In some cases, a command language interface and a

menu-based interface are supported at the same time.
 Natural language interfaces
• The user types a command in a natural
language. Generally, the vocabulary is limited
and these systems are confined to specific
application domains (e.g. timetable enquiries)

• NL processing technology is now good enough

to make these interfaces effective for casual
users but experienced users find that they
require too much typing
 Multiple user interfaces
Command
Gr aphical user
language
interface
interface

Command
GUI
language
manager
interpreter

Operating system
 Information presentation
• Information presentation is concerned with
presenting system information to system users.

• The information may be presented directly (e.g. text

in a word processor) or may be transformed in
some way for presentation (e.g. in some graphical
form).

• The Model-View-Controller approach is a way of

supporting multiple presentations of data
 Information presentation

Information to Presentation
be displayed software

Display
 Model-view-controller

View state view modification Controller state

messages User inputs
View methods Controller methods

Model queries
and updates Model edits
Model state

Model methods
 Information presentation
• Static information

– Initialised at the beginning of a session. It does not

change during the session.
– May be either numeric or textual.

• Dynamic information

– Changes during a session and the changes must be

communicated to the system user.
– May be either numeric or textual.
 Information display factors
• Is the user interested in precise information or
data relationships?
• How quickly do information values change?
Must the change be indicated immediately?
• Must the user take some action in response to
a change?
• Is there a direct manipulation interface?
• Is the information textual or numeric? Are relative values
important?
Alternative information presentations
Jan Feb Mar April May June
2842 2851 3164 2789 1273 2835

4000

3000

2000

1000

0
Jan Feb Mar April May June
Analogue vs. digital presentation
• Digital presentation

– Compact - takes up little screen space

– Precise values can be communicated

• Analogue presentation

– Easier to get an 'at a glance' impression of a value

– Possible to show relative values
– Easier to see exceptional data values
 Dynamic information display

1
0 10 20
4 2

Dial with needle Pie chart Thermometer Horizontal bar

 Displaying relative values

Pressure Temper atu re

0 100 200 300 400 0 25 50 75 100
 Textual highlighting

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Ch. 16 User interface design

OK Cancel
 Data visualisation
• Concerned with techniques for displaying large amounts of information
• Visualisation can reveal relationships between entities and trends in the
data
• Possible data visualisations are:
– Weather information collected from a number of sources
– The state of a telephone network as a linked set of nodes
– Chemical plant visualised by showing pressures and temperatures in a
linked set of tanks and pipes
– A model of a molecule displayed in 3 dimensions
– Web pages displayed as a hyperbolic tree
 Colour displays
• Colour adds an extra dimension to an
interface and can help the user understand
complex information structures.

• Can be used to highlight exceptional events.

• Common mistakes in the use of colour in

interface design include:

– The use of colour to communicate meaning

– Over-use of colour in the display
 Colour use guidelines
• Don't use too many colours
• Use colour coding to support use tasks
• Allow users to control colour coding
• Design for monochrome then add colour
• Use colour coding consistently
• Avoid colour pairings which clash
• Use colour change to show status change
• Be aware that colour displays are usually lower
resolution
 User support
• User guidance covers all system facilities to support
users including on-line help, error messages,
manuals etc.

• The user guidance system should be integrated with

the user interface to help users when they need
information about the system or when they make
some kind of error.

• The help and message system should, if possible, be

integrated
Help and message system
Application

Help Error message

interface system

Message
presentation
system

Help Error message

frames texts
 Error messages
• Error message design is critically important.
Poor error messages can mean that a user
rejects rather than accepts a system

• Messages should be polite, concise, consistent

and constructive.

• The background and experience of users

should be the determining factor in message
design
Design factors in message wording
Context The user guidance system should be aware of what the user is
doing and should adjust the output message to the current
context.
Experience As users become familiar with a system they become irritated
by long, ‘meaningful’ messages. However, beginners find it
difficult to understand short terse statements of the problem.
The user guidance system should provide bothtypes of message
and allow the user to control message conciseness.
Skill level Messages should be tailored to the user’s skills as well as their
experience. Messages for the different classes of user may be
expressed in different ways depending onthe terminology which
is familiar to the reader.
Style Messages should be positive rather than negative. They should
use the active rather than the passive mode of address. They
should never be insulting or try to be funny.
Culture Wherever possible, the designer of messages should be familiar
with the culture of the country where the system is sold. There
are distinct cultural differences between Europe, Asia and
America. A suitable message for one culture might be
unacceptable in another.
 Nurse input of a patient’s name

Please type the patient name in the box then click ok

Bates , J.

OK Cancel
 System and user-oriented error messages

User-oriented error message

System-oriented error message

?
Error #27 Patient J. Bates is not registered
Invalid patient id entered Clic
k on P
atientsorf a list of registered patients
Clic
k on Retr
y to re-input a patient name
Clic
k on Helporf more inf
ormation
OK Cancel
Patients Help Retry Cancel
 Help system design
• Help? means ‘help I want information”.

• Help! means “HELP. I'm in trouble”.

• Both of these requirements have to be taken

into account in help system design.

• Different facilities in the help system may be

required.
 Help information
• Should not simply be an on-line manual.

• Screens or windows don't map well onto paper

pages.

• The dynamic characteristics of the display can

improve information presentation.

• People are not so good at reading screen as

they are text.
 Help system use
• Multiple entry points should be provided so
that the user can get into the help system
from different places.

• Some indication of where the user is

positioned in the help system is valuable.

• Facilities should be provided to allow the user

to navigate and traverse the help system.
Entry points to a help system
Top-level
entry

Entry from
application

Entry from error

message system

Help frame network

 Help system windows
Help frame map Mail redirection

Mail may be redirected to another

network user by pressing the
redirect button in the control
panel. The system asks for the
name of the user or users to
whom the mail has been sent

You are here more next top ics

Help history

1. Mail
2. Send mail
3. Read mail
4. Redirection
 User documentation
• As well as on-line information, paper
documentation should be supplied with a
system.

• Documentation should be designed for a range

of users from inexperienced to experienced.

• As well as manuals, other easy-to-use

documentation such as a quick reference card
may be provided
 User document types

System System Novice Experienced System

evaluators administrators users users administrators

Functional Installation Introductory Reference Administrator’s

description document manual manual guide

Description of How to install Getting Facility Operation and

services the system started description maintenance
 Document types
• Functional description
– Brief description of what the system can do
• Introductory manual
– Presents an informal introduction to the system
• System reference manual
– Describes all system facilities in detail
• System installation manual
– Describes how to install the system
• System administrator’s manual
– Describes how to manage the system when it is in use
 User interface evaluation
• Some evaluation of a user interface design
should be carried out to assess its suitability.

• Full scale evaluation is very expensive and

impractical for most systems.

• Ideally, an interface should be evaluated

against a usability specification. However, it is
rare for such specifications to be produced
 Usability attributes

Attribute Description
Learnability How long does it take a new user to
become productive with the system?
Speed of operation How well does the system response match
the user’s work practice?
Robustness How tolerant is the system of user error?
Recoverability How good is the system at recovering from
user errors?
Adaptability How closely is the system tied to a single
model of work?
 Simple evaluation techniques
• Questionnaires for user feedback.

• Video recording of system use and subsequent

tape evaluation.

• Instrumentation of code to collect information

about facility use and user errors.

• The provision of a grip button for on-line user

feedback.