From Computing and Software Wiki

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

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

DIFFERENT TYPES OF USERS

CONSSISTENCY

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

Standards

TAKE FROM APPLE AND MICROSOFT AND MORE CRAP
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 upon for an user interface designer.

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
• Relate system and real world
• User Control and freedom
• Consistency and standards
• Error Prevention
• Recognition rather than recall
• 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
• Enable frequent users to use shortcuts
• Offer informative feedback
• Design dialog to yield closure
• Offer simple error handling
• Permit easy reversal of actions
• Support internal locus of control
• Reduce short-term memory load

The structure principle. Your design should organize the user interface purposefully, in meaningful and useful ways based on clear, consistent models that are apparent and recognizable to users, putting related things together and separating unrelated things, differentiating dissimilar things and making similar things resemble one another. The structure principle is concerned with your overall user interface architecture.

The simplicity principle. Your design should make simple, common tasks simple to do, communicating clearly and simply in the user’s own language, and providing good shortcuts that are meaningfully related to longer procedures.

The visibility principle. Your design should keep all needed options and materials for a given task visible without distracting the user with extraneous or redundant information. Good designs don’t overwhelm users with too many alternatives or confuse them with unneeded information.

The feedback principle. Your design should keep users informed of actions or interpretations, changes of state or condition, and errors or exceptions that are relevant and of interest to the user through clear, concise, and unambiguous language familiar to users.

The tolerance principle. Your design should be flexible and tolerant, reducing the cost of mistakes and misuse by allowing undoing and redoing, while also preventing errors wherever possible by tolerating varied inputs and sequences and by interpreting all reasonable actions reasonable.

The reuse principle. Your design should reuse internal and external components and behaviors, maintaining consistency with purpose rather than merely arbitrary consistency, thus reducing the need for users to rethink and remember.

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