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User Interface Standards is created by Group 6 for 2009/2010 Software Engineering 4D03 Assignment 5. Group Members: Roshan Jesuratnam, Ashan Khan, Arturo Mata, Jaganvir Sandhu

This document specifically looks at Graphical User Interface (GUI) standards, over other types of interfaces which exist.

Contents 1 Overview 2 Standards 2.1 Windows 2.1.1   Window Management 2.1.2   Dialog Boxes 2.1.3   Properties Windows 2.1.4   Common Dialogs 2.2 Asthetics 2.2.1   Sizing 2.2.2   Formatting 2.2.3   Titles and Icons 2.2.4   Fonts and Colour 2.3 Interaction 2.3.1   Shortcuts 2.3.2   Mouseovers 2.3.3   User Input 2.3.4   Keyboard 2.3.5   Pointers 2.3.6   Accessibility 2.4 Messages 2.4.1   Errors and Warnings 2.4.2   Confirmation and Notifications 2.5 Text 2.5.1   UI Text 2.5.2   Style and Tone 2.6 Commands 2.6.1   Menus 2.6.2   Toolbars 2.6.3   Ribbons 2.7 Controls 3 Principles 3.1 Ten Usability Heuristics 3.2 Eight Golden Rules of Interface Design 4 Design 5 Techniques 6 Human Factors 7 References

Overview

TALK ABOUT TRIAL AND ERROR, SIMPLICITY,ETC

NO INDUSTRY STANDARDS BUT THERE ARE HEURISTICS AS A GENERAL GUIDLINE

EACH COMPANY HAS ITS OWN STANDARD WHICH IT FOLLOWS, THIS WIKI WILL EXPLAIN THE GENERAL, COMMON THINGS AMONG THEM.SDFSDG

The structure principle. The simplicity principle. The visibility principle. The feedback principle. The tolerance principle. The reuse principle.

APPLES AQUA INTERFACE DESIGN STANDARD WINDOWS NEW WINDOWS 7 STANDARD

DIFFERENT TYPES OF USERS

CONSSISTENCY

(Use http://www.isii.com/ui_design.html)

Standards

ADD MORE SHIT ON THIS, NEEDS MORE COWBELL

TAKE FROM APPLE AND MICROSOFT AND MORE CRAP
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aqua_(user_interface)
http://developer.apple.com/mac/library/documentation/UserExperience/Conceptual/AppleHIGuidelines/XHIGIntro/XHIGIntro.html
http://download.microsoft.com/download/e/1/9/e191fd8c-bce8-4dba-a9d5-2d4e3f3ec1d3/ux%20guide.pdf ********************
http://www.usabilitynet.org/tools/r_international.htm
http://www.beta-research.com/standards.html <---GOOD RESOURCE

Windows

  Window Management

  Dialog Boxes

  Properties Windows

  Common Dialogs

Asthetics

  Sizing

  Formatting

  Titles and Icons

  Fonts and Colour

Interaction

  Shortcuts

  Mouseovers

  User Input

  Keyboard

  Pointers

  Accessibility

Messages

  Errors and Warnings

  Confirmation and Notifications

Text

  UI Text

  Style and Tone

Commands

  Menus

  Toolbars

  Ribbons

Controls

Principles

These principles are in nature heuristics of interface design. They are guidelines that "should" be used in the design of interfaces, since there is no one industry standard. These general rules provide a basis to build on for an user interface designer.

The similarities between these two sets of guidelines is indicative of the rules interface designers should follow to offer end users efficient ease of use.

Ten Usability Heuristics

Jakob Nielsen, a user adovacate and principal of the Nielsen Norman Group for enhancing user experience, outlines the following heuristics;

• Visibility of system status
  System should indicate the state/progress it is in through appropriate feedback.
• Relate system and real world
  System should be 'natural' in order to speak the user's language. Concepts should be similar to real-world conventions.
• User Control and freedom
  Interface should encourage user to explore features and give them a sense on control over the system.
• Consistency and standards
  Interface should have same meanings of words as other applications. Other interfaces in the system should be used as a guideline when designing a new one.
• Error Prevention
  System should be designed to prevent errors from happening. By implementing various error handling mechanisms (autocorrect, messages, etc.), users should be able to fix and continue with workflow.
• Recognition rather than recall
  Controls of the interface should be easily visible in order to reduce short term memory load.
• Flexibility and effciency of use
  
• Aesthetic and minimalistic design
  
• Help users recognize, diagnose, and recover from errors
  
• Help and documentation
  

Eight Golden Rules of Interface Design

From the book Designing the User Interface, Ben Shneiderman outlines eight key rules of good interface design;

• Strive for consistency
  Consistency must be implemented within itself and other interfaces. This ensures a "global" understanding of where things are and where one would look for it. See Figure 1 for example.
• Enable frequent users to use shortcuts
  Expert users should not be bound by interaction styles that may slow progress. Thus, enabling shortcuts through speed keys, hidden commands, marcos, etc. will optimize pace of interaction while reducing the number of interactions.
• Offer informative feedback
  Major or infrequent actions should make aware the user, with descriptive and clear information of what is occuring.
• Design dialog to yield closure
  Sequences of actions should be grouped with a beginning, middle and end. This gives the user a sense of direction and accomplishment of the task.
• Offer simple error handling
  Design the interface in a manner which the chance of human error is impossible. However, since it is impossible to predict every behaviour, design it in a way such that it offers informative feedback explaining the details of the error and how it could be solved.
• Permit easy reversal of actions
  Allow users to undo their mistakes. This allows users to have a sense of security in case a mistake occurs. It also allows users to explore without consequences.
• Support internal locus of control
  Users should be the initiators of actions rather than responders. Actions should respond quickly with delay and offer response.
• Reduce short-term memory load
  Reducing sequences of events and commands allows the user to be aided in tasks. Keep the display simple so it is intuitive for the user.

Design

(Use http://www.ambysoft.com/essays/userInterfaceDesign.html)

PUT INTERACTIPON STYLES IN HERE

Techniques

http://www.ambysoft.com/essays/userInterfaceDesign.html

Human Factors

(Use http://www.beta-research.com/standards.html)

References