AS Level ICT

Health and safety guidelines covering the design and introduction of new

software

Creating less stressful software

• Ergonomically designed software is easier and less stressful to use

• Software designers can make software less stressful by:– Ensuring that the software is as bug-free as

possible– Ensuring that the text size and font chosen make

information easy to read– Ensuring that information is displayed on screen

in a logical way– Ensuring that the software is intuitive i.e. it

behaves in a way that the user would expect

Creating less stressful software

• Software designers can make software less stressful by:– Ensuring that the help screens provide

information that does actually help the user– Ensuring that the number of keystrokes or clicks

required to operate the software is kept to a minimum

– Ensuring that any music or animations can be switched off or skipped

– Ensuring that appropriate shortcuts are used to reduce the number of keystrokes or clicks required

Creating less stressful software

• Other things that can be done to improve software design:– The provision of a help desk that users can

consult if they have problems– Proper training of users when new software is

introduced– The provision fault logging procedures so that

problems that arise can be corrected

Designing less stressful software

• Ensuring that the order information appears on screen is logical, with the most important always appearing first

• Ensuring that all software is fully tested before it is introduced

• Minimal use of the mouse by the use of drop-down and pop-up menus

• The use of consistent design• Positioning buttons, menus, etc., where the user

will expect to find them• The use of simple, easy to understand help

screens

Examples of consistent design in toolbars

Microsoft Word

Microsoft Excel

Microsoft Access

Note the use of GUIs (Graphical User Interfaces) or Icons that are common to all the toolbars

Examples include:

Fast Save, Print, and Print Preview

Help

Examples of GUIs used with a toolbar

GUIs or Icons that

will activate particular tools on a Toolbar

Fast Save

Print

Clipboard

Text Justification

Examples of drop-down menus

Note that options that are not available are ‘greyed’ or ‘ghosted’

Examples of pop-up menus

The Microsoft Windows ‘Start’ Menu pops up when the ‘Start’ button is pressed The ‘AutoShapes’ Menu

in Microsoft Word pops up when the ‘AutoShapes’ button is pressed

Example of a key driven interface

This example is taken from the Microsoft Word Toolbar

Besides being able to select a command by clicking on the appropriate word with a mouse, these options can also be selected by the use of the keyboard

For example:

Pressing the ‘Alt’ and ‘f’ keys at the same time selects the File option

Pressing the ‘Alt’ and ‘o’ keys together at the same time selects the Format option

AS Level ICT

Health and safety guidelines covering the design and introduction of new

software