user interface design best practices
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Good User Design PracticesTRANSCRIPT
User Interface Design: Best Practices
Design Language Comics
© 2007, Stacie Gomm, Utah State University
Design Language Comics
© 2007, Stacie Gomm, Utah State University
Design Language Comics
Imbedded User Languages
Stacie GommUtah State UniversityMay 2007
© 2007, Stacie Gomm, Utah State University
How do these relate?
How do you know that?© 2007, Stacie Gomm, Utah State University
The design of the key and keyhole concept is implicit
and it is has a languagewhich “speaks” to users
and let’s users know what they are supposed to do.
© 2007, Stacie Gomm, Utah State University
Does this “speak” to you?
© 2007, Stacie Gomm, Utah State University
Imbedded User Languages
This imbedded language is often overlooked or its
existence is not realized as users develop products which are used in our everyday lives.
© 2007, Stacie Gomm, Utah State University
Imbedded User Languages
The user language imbedded in every designed product
communicates to the users the use for/of that product.
© 2007, Stacie Gomm, Utah State University
Design of Everyday Things
The human mind is exquisitely tailored to make sense of the world. Give it the slightest clue and off it goes, providing explanation, rationalization, understanding. Consider the objects – nooks, radios, kitchen, appliances, office machines, and light switches – that make up our everyday lives. Well-designed objects are easy to interpret and understand. They contain visible clues to their operation. Poorly designed objects can be difficult and frustrating to use. They provide no clues –or sometimes false clues. They trap the user and thwart the normal processing interpretation and understanding (Norman, p. 2, italics added).
by Donald Norman
© 2007, Stacie Gomm, Utah State University
Design of Everyday Things
Included in every design are the affordances, mappings, visibility, and feedback and each of these
has it own implicit language which speaks to the user.
by Donald Norman
© 2007, Stacie Gomm, Utah State University
Design of Everyday Things
Affordances are the “perceived and actual properties of the thing, primarily those fundamental properties that determine just how the thing could possibly be
used” (Norman, p. 9).
by Donald Norman
Mapping is a technical term meaning the “relationship between two things, in this case
between the controls and their movements and the results in the world. … Natural mapping … leads to
immediate understanding” (Norman, p. 23). © 2007, Stacie Gomm, Utah State University
Design of Everyday Things
In good design things are visible. “There are good mappings, natural relationships, between the controls and
the things that are controlled” (Norman, p. 22).
Feedback is the notion of sending back to the user information about what action has actually been done --
what result has been accomplished (Norman, p. 27).
by Donald Norman
© 2007, Stacie Gomm, Utah State University
Design of Everyday Things
Norman suggests that when developing a product ALL of the following should be included in its user language:
•Visibility – By looking the user can tell the state of the device and the alternatives for action.
•Affordances – The designer provides a good conceptual model for the user, with consistency in the presentation of operations and results and a coherent, consistent system image.
•Good mappings – It is possible to determine the relationship between actions and results, between the controls and their effects, and between the system state and what is visible.
•Feedback – The user receives full and continuous feedback about the results of actions. (Norman, p.53)
by Donald Norman
© 2007, Stacie Gomm, Utah State University
NetestA testing system developed at Utah State University that is used to administer the Computer and Information Literacy (CIL) tests.
Lack of communication could interfere with the user being able to pass a test.
© 2007, Stacie Gomm, Utah State University
Netest – Trainee Interface
Visibility
This screen shows all of the options available to trainees.
© 2007, Stacie Gomm, Utah State University
Netest – Trainee Interface
Affordances
It is obvious which buttons perform which tasks.
© 2007, Stacie Gomm, Utah State University
Netest – Trainee Interface
Mappings
Mapping buttons to their action is done well in this program.
© 2007, Stacie Gomm, Utah State University
Netest – Trainee Interface
Feedback
The buttons actually do what is expected.
© 2007, Stacie Gomm, Utah State University
Netest – Testing Interface
Norman contends that when simple things need pictures, labels, or instructions, the design has failed (p.9).
© 2007, Stacie Gomm, Utah State University
Implications for Portal Design
When building a portal there exists a language that communicates to the user the actions which are expected by the user. When a designer designs the portal, there is a built in user language. The designer must realize this fact in order for his design to be able to communicate effectively with its users. This language is used by the user to communicate with the portal system.
© 2007, Stacie Gomm, Utah State University
Implications for Portal
Show sample Portals
Identify commonalities and what the user expects
© 2007, Stacie Gomm, Utah State University
Design of Everyday Things
When developing instructional products, according to Norman, this is what instructional designers should do:
1. Understand the causes of error and design and to minimize those causes.
by Donald Norman
© 2007, Stacie Gomm, Utah State University
Design of Everyday Things
2. Make it possible to reverse actions –to “undo” them – or to make it harder to do what cannot be reversed.
3. Make it easier to discover the errors that do occur, and make them easier to correct.
by Donald Norman
© 2007, Stacie Gomm, Utah State University
Design of Everyday Things
4. Change the attitude toward errors. Think of an object’s user as attempting to do a task, getting there by imperfect approximations. Don’t think of the user as making errors; think of the actions as approximations of what is desired. (p. 131)
by Donald Norman
© 2007, Stacie Gomm, Utah State University
Imbedded User Languages
“Good” designers have a realization and understanding of
the user language contained within their products and insure complete communication takes place between the product and
user.© 2007, Stacie Gomm, Utah State University
Imbedded User Languages
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© 2007, Stacie Gomm, Utah State University